Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Without a doubt, baseball is one of my favorite sports. My 9 year-old son has played ever since Kindergarten and we have so much fun at the games. We were lucky enough to get on a team with a fantastic group of parents. Everyone is very supportive of each other and not at all harsh when the kiddos make errors. And, believe me, it happens every game! They are still learning so much.

We have second, third and fourth graders on our team, so it's a broad range of talent and thanks to our great coaches, the kids work as a team. They win as a team and they lose as a team. It is never the responsibility of one player to win and never the fault of one player when we lose. They have always been very clear on this.

It is through sports I learned to work with others and be a graceful winner and loser. Both are equally important in life. My son is learning it and I'm grateful to his coaches for putting the emphasis on attitude.

I hope he always likes to play a sport, even if it's an individual sport (i.e. golf, tennis, track, etc...) versus a team atmosphere.

Going to the games has become somewhat of a social event in our life and while some may think "how boring" - they don't know our crew! I enjoy hanging out with these people who are made up of the same fabric as us. They are good people and have come to be our extended family. We look out for each other and each other's kids as they run amuck around the baseball fields we travel to.

So, for me, these games are times I enjoy spending with good friends. Catching up. Laughing. Supporting each other. And just hanging out. More importantly, I have enjoyed watching my son learn about a great game, working with others, supporting friends and being outdoors getting exercise!

He got the Game Ball last night for scoring the winning run. Did it matter to us that a walk caused him to cross the plate? Absolutely not! That kid was beyond thrilled it was his foot that got to touch home plate and put the winning run in the books.

The single most important thing kids should get out of sports is self-esteem. So all you parents and coaches out there screaming at the kids at the top of your lungs...cut it out! Seriously, we played a team the other night whose coach yelled at the batter to "Relax! And hit it!" Ummmm...did you just hear yourself? The "relax" part of the sentence came out as if he were yelling at him to get out of the way of a speeding bus!

Don't get me wrong...we do our share of "yelling" to our kids, but not in a tone that makes it sound like we are going to leave them at the ballpark if they don't play perfect.

Hug your kid after each game and tell them, "Great job." And try to include the word "fun" in there somewhere about the game! Too many kids are so hard on themselves when they don't play as well as they hoped and then here come the parents chiming in that they could have done better. Hello? It's our job to build them up.

And I say this to remind myself to do it, too.