Last night my wife found my son crying in his room, and though having a six year old crying isn't unusual, it is when there isn't another crying child trying to blame something on them. My wife went in to his room, sat down beside him and asked him what was wrong. To her surprise, and at the same time joy, he was crying because he was disappointed his baseball season was over.
At 6pm Wednesday night we had our awards ceremony for all the kids on the team. The head coach gave them each their trophies and then announced that we are going to be back to coach next year's team as well and if anyone wanted to request us, feel free, we would be happy to have them back.
Only two said they wouldn't be back. One has sold their house and is moving 3 hours away and the other will be going up to another age bracket. But, the rest said they would be back. We look forward to next year.
What I learned this year is sometimes, no matter what we teach our children, what they take away from it can be completely different. The smile of a child when they get their first hit ever is a smile you can't forget. Sometimes your eyes just have to shut as you swing like a big leaguer trying to get your first home run!
What I've also learned from these 6 and 7 year old kids was that when they started, they didn't know what they were doing, they didn't know each other, and they looked like a bunch of clowns out on the field. But by the last game, they were playing together, getting outs, knew everyone's names, and had made friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime.
My goal this year was to take a player that didn't want to play and make him want to come back next year. Well, I got my wish. We had one player that clearly didn't want to be there, but needed something such as baseball to help him mature and grow. We taught him that the ball was nothing to fear and hearing him at the award ceremony say he can't wait to play again next year is all I wanted to hear.
So, out of the tears of a child came the memories of why I coach for the love of the game!
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