1st Season of T-Ball

I signed B up to play t-ball back in March. I searched the YMCA website and found that his birthday fell in the cut off. The born between dates were something like 3-17-2009 to 5-17-2011 and guess what Blake was born on May 12th of 2011 so he feel right in there! I was so excited for him to play. I volunteered to be a co-coach because I wasn't sure I could coach a group of 3 and 4 year olds. I was worried about my competitive nature coming out and that wouldn't be good for this age group. I also wasn't sure how B was going to react to playing ball. I wasn't sure if he was going to be stuck to my side or if he was going to be Mr. Independent. The only way I was going to be able to figure out how he would react was go put him out there.

Anyway we had practice every Monday night. We missed the first practice because B was sick and we were late to the second practice. I felt like we weren't starting the season off very good. He cried the entire first practice because he was cold. The first game he wouldn't run the bases or stand out in the field. Practice started to slowly get better. He was like a little pro out there fielding the ball and running it to first base. Then when it came to game time he would freeze up. He started to cry during one game and informed us "I not like those screamers!" He was referring to a group of parents that would cheer for the players when they crossed home plate. We finally got him some ear plugs. Between the ear plugs and him becoming more comfortable with what he was doing t-ball became fun! He was excited to go to games and practice every week. He started to look forward to seeing his t-ball friends and his coach!

B was the youngest child in the league, I think, but for sure on our team. I caught a lot of grief from people about making him play when he was too young and whatever nonsense they were saying that I wasn't paying any attention to. He's our kid so if we want him to play t-ball at 2 1/2 years old we can do it! I knew that he was young so we were going to have to help him ease into it slowly. It turned out to be better that I didn't coach this year because it took him a little while to get used to the idea of me being out there to help everyone and not just him. At the beginning of the season he wanted someone to do everything with him, running to first base after he got the ball, running the bases with him after he hit, help him hit, stand with him in the field. By the end of the season he was hitting the ball on his own, running the bases by himself and running the ball to first base if he fielded it in a game. He still likes for someone to stand right behind him in the field but that's partly because all the other kids have people out there with them too! So for all the people who thought it was a terrible idea for us to have our kid play t-ball at such a young age take a look a these photos and then tell me it was a bad idea. Go ahead!

It was such a fun season! I can't wait for him to play again next spring and to try out soccer this fall!