Baseball 2011

Apple pie, Baseball and Fords...what more can be considered American?  When I first learned we were having a boy, I never imagined he would love to play sports. Ryan is not into sports, and I really don't get into sports either.  So I never thought that we would be sitting at baseball four times a week when he was just 7 years old.

We live in a small town.  One that apparently can't get enough people together to have baseball available for younger people. So we went out of town and found Damon a great team!  The first few practices were tough, as the other boys on the team had played together for a year.  But once he got the hang of it, he fit right in!

They started out with practice four times a week. And then when games started, we had games 2 times a week and practice once a week. And I'm not talking about an hour practice, they were out there for two full hours. The coach had them running the bases, practicing catching pop flies and working on batting.  He was a great coach and I hope he comes back next year.

Damon started out a little rough, trying to remember what he had learned in T-ball the year before. But once things really started going, you could tell what his skills would be and where he would have issues.  The biggest issue---talking!!!  Who would have guessed that????  Because there were older boys on the team, Damon was placed out in the outfield for most of the games.  We were fine with that, he has to start at the bottom and work his way up to getting to play a base.
But we noticed that out in the outfield, he would stand there and talk to the other kids around him.  There were even a few times where had he been paying attention, the ball would have been his to put back into play.  But because he was not paying attention, he missed the ball and missed a good opportunity to show the coach he knew what he was doing.

But as the season went on, he grew better at not talking (or dancing) out in the outfield. And I guess that a few talks with the coach probably helped as well!

They didn't keep score at the games, though I know the boys in the dugout were out there counting whenever they scored.  And of course Damon was out there making sure that when his team scored, he knew that they had a point. He was very interested in making sure they won. And when they didn't win, it was because the other team cheated. Oh to be 7 again. 

This is his team picture. The head coach is on the right, with the assistant coach on the left. Damon is down front, right in the middle!

The season ended at the end of June with a great win over Charter Oak-Ute.  And even Damon said he was ready for the season to be done. But then again, a week later he was asking already for more baseball!!!