Zack had his first tee ball game this past Saturday. Our little Yankee squad played the Dragons. We had a rocky start but once the ball got rolling, so to speak, everything went great.
The rocky start resulted from an utter lack of organization for our team. We arrived with just a couple minutes to spare. We have practices at Zack's campus, but games are held at the larger JIS campus which houses the Middle School and High School. The gate to the ball field is very difficult to find if you've never been there before (which we hadn't). One of the two coaches was several minutes late.
I started warming up with Zack and ended up helping a couple other boys warm up too. We also found out that since we "signed up late," you know, two weeks before the season started, Zack didn't have a uniform. I was a little perturbed that they didn't bother to tell me that so I could prepare Zack, maybe at least order him a jersey to match. The coach gave Zack her hat, so that helped a bit. But, to make matters much worse, as she started assigning everyone their positions she informed Zack that he would have to sit on the bench and wait his turn to play. The bench. In t-ball. In which there are no positions, runs, or outs. C'mon, lady, you've got to be kidding me.
I didn't know she had said this to Zack because I was out helping the kids find their "positions" around the field. I came back to the dugout to find Zack on the verge of tears leaning against the gate. After I gave the woman a look that could have melted her eyeballs out she started stuttering that "well, I guess he could really go anywhere." To which I replied, "Um, well, *yeah...* it's *tee ball.*" Zack couldn't be consoled so he sat with Daddy for the first half of the inning.
I think the coach felt really bad because she put Zack to bat first and that perked him up a lot. After that she put him on the pitcher's mound and all kids were put in random positions close to real baseball positions around the field. After that things went really smoothly. The "innings" consisted of every child taking a turn at bat. The fielder closest to the ball would pick it up and throw it to first. There were no outs and no score. The kids had a really good time and I had a blast playing third base coach.
The rocky start resulted from an utter lack of organization for our team. We arrived with just a couple minutes to spare. We have practices at Zack's campus, but games are held at the larger JIS campus which houses the Middle School and High School. The gate to the ball field is very difficult to find if you've never been there before (which we hadn't). One of the two coaches was several minutes late.
I started warming up with Zack and ended up helping a couple other boys warm up too. We also found out that since we "signed up late," you know, two weeks before the season started, Zack didn't have a uniform. I was a little perturbed that they didn't bother to tell me that so I could prepare Zack, maybe at least order him a jersey to match. The coach gave Zack her hat, so that helped a bit. But, to make matters much worse, as she started assigning everyone their positions she informed Zack that he would have to sit on the bench and wait his turn to play. The bench. In t-ball. In which there are no positions, runs, or outs. C'mon, lady, you've got to be kidding me.
I didn't know she had said this to Zack because I was out helping the kids find their "positions" around the field. I came back to the dugout to find Zack on the verge of tears leaning against the gate. After I gave the woman a look that could have melted her eyeballs out she started stuttering that "well, I guess he could really go anywhere." To which I replied, "Um, well, *yeah...* it's *tee ball.*" Zack couldn't be consoled so he sat with Daddy for the first half of the inning.
I think the coach felt really bad because she put Zack to bat first and that perked him up a lot. After that she put him on the pitcher's mound and all kids were put in random positions close to real baseball positions around the field. After that things went really smoothly. The "innings" consisted of every child taking a turn at bat. The fielder closest to the ball would pick it up and throw it to first. There were no outs and no score. The kids had a really good time and I had a blast playing third base coach.
My little slugger
Run, boy!
Coming in for the score!
I have a feeling the next game will go a bit more smoothly. I hope since I'm not sick I can be more help in practice tomorrow. And I need to order a jersey for Zack no matter how much it pains me to buy a Yankees jersey...
1 comment:
Sigh, brings back so many memories.
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