Patrick had his first baseball game of the season today. But my nightmare began last week, when he had the first practice.
Patrick had NO idea what to do in the field. How to catch, how to bat, where to throw the ball, WHERE TO RUN! Seriously, he was on first base, and when he had to run to 2nd, he instead ran back to home base. A few kids chuckled, naturally, while everyone else yelled "the other way! Run to 2nd!" All the kids were pretty good on the field, beyond anything I had imagine. Patrick did T-ball last year, and nobody was keeping scores at the games, nobody had a clue what to do, it was all just fun practice and fun time at the games. But, Coach Pitch... a whole other story, and I came to know this only after I signed Patrick up.
I was worried. The weather didn't allow for another practice, so after that first practice for him (he missed the 2 first practices since we were out of town) he went straight to playing his first game. We practiced at home with him, and I got him a bunch of baseball gear to do so. One of the biggest issues, is that he has trouble understanding the game, but to explain this you need basically a whole team to learn and practice the dynamics of the game, so after only one real team practice, my only resort was prayer.
And messaging the coach.
As my husband says, I "went full crazy mom" and messaged the coach the night before. I was worried that at the game Patrick would run the opposite direction again. That he wouldn't hit a single ball with the bat. That he wouldn't catch or even run to try to catch a ball. And if he ever ran and picked up a ball, that he would paralyze (it has happened) not knowing what to do. IF this happens to 5-6 years old in Tee ball, not big deal, but if it happens to 7-8 years old in Coach Pitch... well, you may have to reconsider if this is the right place for your child.
In the message, I told the coach about his learning difficulties and his developmental delays. I told him Patrick loved baseball, but I also understood that the kids would want to win the games and probably were expecting to, considering how good they were. I said if he thought Patrick shouldn't play the first few games until he got better, that I was OK with that. That if he wanted to put him only in positions where his mistakes wouldn't affect the team much, that I was OK with that, too. Whatever he wanted to do, I would be OK with it. I wanted him to know that I was not going to get upset if he didn't get my son in the game. I also asked him for suggestions on how to help Patrick get better.
He gave me a long and wonderful response. He said the kids and parents in the team are great and everyone will do their best to make Patrick feel welcomed and help him improve. He gave us ideas to help him at home and where to take him to batting cages. He also said he would have him in the games "for as long as he is enjoying it and he is safe". To not worry about scores, but about improving and having fun, and that it's all a team effort, not a single person's mistake or win. And if at any point we felt this was not the right place for him, then he would help us get him back to Tee ball or other teams.
I felt much better. Doesn't he have a great coach? I really felt more at peace, even though I was still prepared for the worst. All I really hoped was that he wouldn't be the cause for laughs or blames. That's it. If that's accomplished, I would have called it a successful game.
Well, Patrick played, and he exceeded our expectations. He got a chance to bat 3 times, and the 3 times he was able to move on to the bases! He even scored a run for his team! He does need to learn to run faster, because even though he made it to all the bases, sometimes it happened by luck (ball far away from him). But I'm also OK with a bit of luck. What's a player, any player, without it? And just for the record, I believe his "luck" comes from mommy's prayers 😉
Yes, they keep scores and play by plays in an awesome app. I told you they were serious about it! Also, they have him there by his first name (Patrick is his middle name) in case you are like, who is Timothy?
Seeing that he improved so much from last week's practice to today's game gives me so much hope and makes me so excited. I can't wait to have the family practicing with him again this week, and I can't wait for the other 9 games that he will have this season. My son proved me wrong! And I'm so proud of him. The team lost 11-8, but it was a good game. The first inning was really bad (and that's where the other team got the big advantage), but from then on, they got better and better, unfortunately they didn't get a chance to turn the score around. We will get them next time!
And how can I forget that Patrick made me chuckle during the game, too: The first time he hit and ran to first place, I went into the back of the field and got close to him to remind him to run to second base, and to yell "run! run! run!" when he had to do it. But when I approached him and said "Patrick, when he hits, you have to go to 2nd base, OK?" He slowly turned his head to me and said with a serious face "you can't be here" and looked back to the pitcher 😮😁 So needless to say, from now on I will limit myself to behind the fence and cheer him and his team from there!
Yay for Patrick!
PS - I'm not sure if this is a welcome back to my blog, I know I haven't written in a long time. To be honest I'm not sure how often I will be writing, BUT I do want to write about homeschooling, as some people have asked about it, and that I will do in the next few weeks.
Patrick had NO idea what to do in the field. How to catch, how to bat, where to throw the ball, WHERE TO RUN! Seriously, he was on first base, and when he had to run to 2nd, he instead ran back to home base. A few kids chuckled, naturally, while everyone else yelled "the other way! Run to 2nd!" All the kids were pretty good on the field, beyond anything I had imagine. Patrick did T-ball last year, and nobody was keeping scores at the games, nobody had a clue what to do, it was all just fun practice and fun time at the games. But, Coach Pitch... a whole other story, and I came to know this only after I signed Patrick up.
I was worried. The weather didn't allow for another practice, so after that first practice for him (he missed the 2 first practices since we were out of town) he went straight to playing his first game. We practiced at home with him, and I got him a bunch of baseball gear to do so. One of the biggest issues, is that he has trouble understanding the game, but to explain this you need basically a whole team to learn and practice the dynamics of the game, so after only one real team practice, my only resort was prayer.
And messaging the coach.
As my husband says, I "went full crazy mom" and messaged the coach the night before. I was worried that at the game Patrick would run the opposite direction again. That he wouldn't hit a single ball with the bat. That he wouldn't catch or even run to try to catch a ball. And if he ever ran and picked up a ball, that he would paralyze (it has happened) not knowing what to do. IF this happens to 5-6 years old in Tee ball, not big deal, but if it happens to 7-8 years old in Coach Pitch... well, you may have to reconsider if this is the right place for your child.
In the message, I told the coach about his learning difficulties and his developmental delays. I told him Patrick loved baseball, but I also understood that the kids would want to win the games and probably were expecting to, considering how good they were. I said if he thought Patrick shouldn't play the first few games until he got better, that I was OK with that. That if he wanted to put him only in positions where his mistakes wouldn't affect the team much, that I was OK with that, too. Whatever he wanted to do, I would be OK with it. I wanted him to know that I was not going to get upset if he didn't get my son in the game. I also asked him for suggestions on how to help Patrick get better.
He gave me a long and wonderful response. He said the kids and parents in the team are great and everyone will do their best to make Patrick feel welcomed and help him improve. He gave us ideas to help him at home and where to take him to batting cages. He also said he would have him in the games "for as long as he is enjoying it and he is safe". To not worry about scores, but about improving and having fun, and that it's all a team effort, not a single person's mistake or win. And if at any point we felt this was not the right place for him, then he would help us get him back to Tee ball or other teams.
I felt much better. Doesn't he have a great coach? I really felt more at peace, even though I was still prepared for the worst. All I really hoped was that he wouldn't be the cause for laughs or blames. That's it. If that's accomplished, I would have called it a successful game.
Well, Patrick played, and he exceeded our expectations. He got a chance to bat 3 times, and the 3 times he was able to move on to the bases! He even scored a run for his team! He does need to learn to run faster, because even though he made it to all the bases, sometimes it happened by luck (ball far away from him). But I'm also OK with a bit of luck. What's a player, any player, without it? And just for the record, I believe his "luck" comes from mommy's prayers 😉
Yes, they keep scores and play by plays in an awesome app. I told you they were serious about it! Also, they have him there by his first name (Patrick is his middle name) in case you are like, who is Timothy?
Seeing that he improved so much from last week's practice to today's game gives me so much hope and makes me so excited. I can't wait to have the family practicing with him again this week, and I can't wait for the other 9 games that he will have this season. My son proved me wrong! And I'm so proud of him. The team lost 11-8, but it was a good game. The first inning was really bad (and that's where the other team got the big advantage), but from then on, they got better and better, unfortunately they didn't get a chance to turn the score around. We will get them next time!
And how can I forget that Patrick made me chuckle during the game, too: The first time he hit and ran to first place, I went into the back of the field and got close to him to remind him to run to second base, and to yell "run! run! run!" when he had to do it. But when I approached him and said "Patrick, when he hits, you have to go to 2nd base, OK?" He slowly turned his head to me and said with a serious face "you can't be here" and looked back to the pitcher 😮😁 So needless to say, from now on I will limit myself to behind the fence and cheer him and his team from there!
Yay for Patrick!
PS - I'm not sure if this is a welcome back to my blog, I know I haven't written in a long time. To be honest I'm not sure how often I will be writing, BUT I do want to write about homeschooling, as some people have asked about it, and that I will do in the next few weeks.
