There may still be snow hiding in the northern recesses of my yard, but the season of America’s game is officially upon our household. My oldest is starting his sixth season and has, for the first time, tryouts for the 10 year-old Bismarck All Stars traveling team this Saturday. I know he ranks baseball as his second favorite sport next to football, but lately he’s been all about (ironically enough) his third-ranked sport – basketball. I just thought with tryouts this weekend he would be more inclined to condition himself and get reacquainted with the game of baseball.
I’m not the type of parent that will ever coerce my kids to participate in a sport if their heart isn’t in it, but I spent a fair amount of time gently encouraging him to reconsider my offer to work with him a bit before tryouts. Apparently shooting buckets with his buddies was more of a priority. Hopefully he won’t have a reason to regret that decision come Saturday.
Admittedly, the evening wasn’t an entire loss. I did have the opportunity to work with my youngest on the more fundamental aspects of catching a baseball – like actually getting the ball to touch his glove. It’s sometimes painful to have to ‘start over’ with the basics with son #2, but in a lot of ways I’m fortunate that I have the opportunity to do it all again.