C and D

C and D

Monday, May 19, 2014

Disorganized Sports

This spring we decided to sign up Declan for T-Ball. Declan is very obsessive when he gets into something and recently it was baseball. We would play catch every night so we thought T-Ball might be fun for him.

Alli and I have coached youth soccer for years so we have had plenty of experience with youth sports but this was our first encounter with youth sports as Parents!!! I did volunteer to be a coach because they were asking for volunteers but we received an email from our coach. She was a competitive softball player her whole life and is an elementary school teacher which made both Alli and I very happy because we knew it would be organized...or so we thought.

Let me first say that I LOVE BASEBALL. I grew up watching the NY Yankees and it was passed down from my mother's side of the family. I have very vivid memories of playing wiffle ball in the backyard with my Pop & of reading the newspaper every morning and going over the Yankee box score. I can still recall going to my grandparents house and there always being a game on TV.

Fast forward to Declan's first T-Ball practice. 10 kids of varying abilities throwing baseballs everywhere, half the kids playing in the dirt, with no real structure. As I am watching this I realize that baseball is the most boring game for kids to play! One person at bat and every other player in the field waiting for the ball. Our coach had no plan we just played with no direction. After a few minutes of witnessing this disaster I just grabbed a few baseballs and walked onto the field. I started throwing balls to all the kids while we waited for the hitter to change his helmet to give to the next kid. I just wanted to keep them engaged and give them a few reps. I thought she might get mad but she was actually thankful. By no means am I Joe Torre but I just wanted the kids to have fun and actually practice.


My first thoughts on Youth baseball:

1.  I have spent a lot of time with Declan playing catch but never thought to teach him about where to run to after you hit the ball off the tee. It was pretty clear that no other parent had either because every time a kid hit the ball off the tee the batter would run straight to the ball... PARENT FAIL!
Lesson: Don't assume kids know anything.

2.  There has to be structure at practices/games. If you leave little boys bored they will find something to keep busy. In baseball that involves dirt!
Lesson: Prepare to have dirty kids with red clay all over them if practices/games are boring.

3.  We have played three games so far and the best coaches were two women. They drew circles in the dirt at the positions they wanted their kids to play and then assigned the kids to these circles. They switched the kids after the first inning. (BRILLIANT IDEA)
Lesson: Steal good ideas when you see them (We had circles next game)

4.  Women coaches should never wear Spaghetti strapped loose fitting tank tops when coaching youth baseball.
Lesson: Sports bras were made for a reason.






Some pictures of Decky's baseball adventure:

1.  Practicing in backyard
 2. First Glove
 3. Heading to 1st practice

 4. New baseball pants & cleats

Little game at the Chastain's house!

 GAMEDAY!!!







Sunday, May 4, 2014

Cousins trip to the Columbia Zoo!

The beautiful thing about technology is that we can FaceTime with my sisters boys almost every day. Decky and Carrig love to see Matthew & TJ and they will FaceTime to show them a new toy, to sing Happy Birthday, to show them a cut, pretty much anything.

Needless to say that when the Cousins all get together it is on! All four boys running around causing all sorts of trouble. They get early onset selective hearing. To get them to listen around each is like pulling teeth.

A few weeks back all the boys came to my game at Univ. of South Carolina. We planned on going to the Columbia, SC Zoo the next day. Here are a few pictures:

When they checked into the Hotel


At the game. (think TJ took Coach Ghehm's Chapstick)


All four boys on one turtle!


Aunt Nancy with TJ & Decky!


Alli with Matt


Uncle Scott, the boys, and myself!


After a long, hot day of playing with their Cousins this is what the car ride home looked like!