Baseball Picnic (a better ending)
So last Thursday, after our bitter loss and the end of our otherwise excellent Double-A Little League season, our team got together at La Loma field for a picnic and to hand out trophies and goof off. We had a lot of fun.
I got there with Emmett, JZ, and EM and a bag of burritos. (It was a BYOF setup for minimal planning.) I looked out onto the field and didn't recognize a damn person. They were all in civvies! Weird how much it changed them to be out of uniform, but that's how I always saw them all year. It was the first time I saw Ellen in pigtails, or Emma with her hair out of a ponytail. Eli was swimming in his stylishly oversized clothes, instead of looking quick and taut in his uni.
When I got there everybody was out in the field playing 500. They were pushing and shoving and giggling and I realized I was seeing them without any game pressure or practice focus for the first time ever. Of course, some of the kids never really seemed to put too much pressure on themselves - Josh GW was always kind of carefree.
But Noah always felt the pressure. Not in a bad way - he totally rose to the occasion when he was pitching. His stepmother told me that last year he'd had a terrible time in baseball. The coaches only let their own kids play first base. (Wha? Noah's our best firstbaseman!) He used to come back from practices crying, and opted to stay back in Double-A another year instead of going up to Triple-A. She said he had a great year and it really boosted his confidence. Also, last year, he was one of those hitters who had a terrible time staying in the box against the pitches - fearful and diving away. But he had conquered his fear this year. Noah had his slumps as a hitter, but he also had our longest hits of the season.
Aidan is another kid who had a terrible time in organized sports last year. Apparently he had an awful time on his soccer team last year and he hated it. His parents had to really work with him to even consider joining a team sport this year, and he was a late addition to our team. Lucky us! Aidan turned out to be our Most Improved Player, a very able first baseman by the end of the season, and one of our best contact hitters through the last quarter. I think he got on base about 80% of the time over our last five games. In this picture, he's talking with his Dad, Todd, who got a little choked up talking what the season meant to Aidan. (Todd was a huge help to me when Tim was out.) Being on the Angels this year was a huge turnaround experience for Aidan. He loved it and loved being on the team. And I loved having Aidan on our team. He tried so hard and learned so much. He also had one of the two best game faces at the plate (along with Emma). Totally focused and intense. (Btw, you can see Tim behind Aidan in this picture, and our other coach, Rob to the right.)
I brought a bunch of tennis balls to pitch batting practice. Ellen went up in her socks, trying to bat left handed to stay out of the puddle on the right hand side. I got her turned around though, and she started smacking line drives all over the field. I don't know if it was just the ball-fear was lessened with tennis balls, or she was just building on that last great hit of the season. But she was launching shots. It was great to see. At the picnic I learned that the reason why Ellen had five siblings is because her father was a widower and had remarried (she was a widow too), and they have a blended family. Guh. Heartbreaking to even think about Ellen losing her Mom. But she was absolutely happy and having fun at the picnic. She was a goofy joy all season, and I was really proud of her coming back to play again after getting overwhelmed by her ball fear. Go Ellen!
Josh G also took some hacks at the tennis balls. He'd ended the season getting pretty good at catcher, but still struggling at the plate. He had the same problem Noah did the previous year - bailing out on the pitches. But with tennis balls, he was drilling shots to all corners. It was lovely. I think it put a nice cap on the season for both Ellen and Josh G. to have the tennis ball batting practice. Of course, the balls just fly too. But just the muscle memory of launching the ball, and making regular contact was thrilling for them.
Emmett got some batting practice in too.
Here's Albert with his trophy. Tim and I were so proud of him for stepping up at the end of the season and pitching so well. Completely unexpected. Albert had a good year. I think baseball is one of his "safe places." Where he feels accepted and has friends and feels competent. I think this year Noah got the same thing from playing.
Here we're handing out trophies and you can see Nathan, Emmett, Eli (in orange), and Josh G. up front. Eli and Nathan were both so valuable to the team. Eli for his energy and baserunning, Nathan for his absolute competence at everything. They can play for me anyday.
I kept trying to find a place and time to tell each of the kids how proud I was of them. It just made them embarrassed so I shut up. But it was good to see Nathan so relaxed after watching him cry after our tournament loss.
Doesn't Emma look good at the plate? She too was having fun with her batting practice too, after a year with less success at the plate.
Here's another shot of the kids waiting for their trophies as Tim said something nice about each one of them. You can see John up front, here.
We had a great time. And after talking to the parents I felt like we did a good job as coaches. We taught skills, built confidence, gave everybody a chance and they all had fun. Which seemed pretty easy at the time, but apparently is not as common as a I presumed.
It was a good season.
I got there with Emmett, JZ, and EM and a bag of burritos. (It was a BYOF setup for minimal planning.) I looked out onto the field and didn't recognize a damn person. They were all in civvies! Weird how much it changed them to be out of uniform, but that's how I always saw them all year. It was the first time I saw Ellen in pigtails, or Emma with her hair out of a ponytail. Eli was swimming in his stylishly oversized clothes, instead of looking quick and taut in his uni.
When I got there everybody was out in the field playing 500. They were pushing and shoving and giggling and I realized I was seeing them without any game pressure or practice focus for the first time ever. Of course, some of the kids never really seemed to put too much pressure on themselves - Josh GW was always kind of carefree.
But Noah always felt the pressure. Not in a bad way - he totally rose to the occasion when he was pitching. His stepmother told me that last year he'd had a terrible time in baseball. The coaches only let their own kids play first base. (Wha? Noah's our best firstbaseman!) He used to come back from practices crying, and opted to stay back in Double-A another year instead of going up to Triple-A. She said he had a great year and it really boosted his confidence. Also, last year, he was one of those hitters who had a terrible time staying in the box against the pitches - fearful and diving away. But he had conquered his fear this year. Noah had his slumps as a hitter, but he also had our longest hits of the season.
Aidan is another kid who had a terrible time in organized sports last year. Apparently he had an awful time on his soccer team last year and he hated it. His parents had to really work with him to even consider joining a team sport this year, and he was a late addition to our team. Lucky us! Aidan turned out to be our Most Improved Player, a very able first baseman by the end of the season, and one of our best contact hitters through the last quarter. I think he got on base about 80% of the time over our last five games. In this picture, he's talking with his Dad, Todd, who got a little choked up talking what the season meant to Aidan. (Todd was a huge help to me when Tim was out.) Being on the Angels this year was a huge turnaround experience for Aidan. He loved it and loved being on the team. And I loved having Aidan on our team. He tried so hard and learned so much. He also had one of the two best game faces at the plate (along with Emma). Totally focused and intense. (Btw, you can see Tim behind Aidan in this picture, and our other coach, Rob to the right.)
I brought a bunch of tennis balls to pitch batting practice. Ellen went up in her socks, trying to bat left handed to stay out of the puddle on the right hand side. I got her turned around though, and she started smacking line drives all over the field. I don't know if it was just the ball-fear was lessened with tennis balls, or she was just building on that last great hit of the season. But she was launching shots. It was great to see. At the picnic I learned that the reason why Ellen had five siblings is because her father was a widower and had remarried (she was a widow too), and they have a blended family. Guh. Heartbreaking to even think about Ellen losing her Mom. But she was absolutely happy and having fun at the picnic. She was a goofy joy all season, and I was really proud of her coming back to play again after getting overwhelmed by her ball fear. Go Ellen!
Josh G also took some hacks at the tennis balls. He'd ended the season getting pretty good at catcher, but still struggling at the plate. He had the same problem Noah did the previous year - bailing out on the pitches. But with tennis balls, he was drilling shots to all corners. It was lovely. I think it put a nice cap on the season for both Ellen and Josh G. to have the tennis ball batting practice. Of course, the balls just fly too. But just the muscle memory of launching the ball, and making regular contact was thrilling for them.
Emmett got some batting practice in too.
Here's Albert with his trophy. Tim and I were so proud of him for stepping up at the end of the season and pitching so well. Completely unexpected. Albert had a good year. I think baseball is one of his "safe places." Where he feels accepted and has friends and feels competent. I think this year Noah got the same thing from playing.
Here we're handing out trophies and you can see Nathan, Emmett, Eli (in orange), and Josh G. up front. Eli and Nathan were both so valuable to the team. Eli for his energy and baserunning, Nathan for his absolute competence at everything. They can play for me anyday.
I kept trying to find a place and time to tell each of the kids how proud I was of them. It just made them embarrassed so I shut up. But it was good to see Nathan so relaxed after watching him cry after our tournament loss.
Doesn't Emma look good at the plate? She too was having fun with her batting practice too, after a year with less success at the plate.
Here's another shot of the kids waiting for their trophies as Tim said something nice about each one of them. You can see John up front, here.
We had a great time. And after talking to the parents I felt like we did a good job as coaches. We taught skills, built confidence, gave everybody a chance and they all had fun. Which seemed pretty easy at the time, but apparently is not as common as a I presumed.
It was a good season.