There was so much rain this spring and it always seemed to fall on weekends. We could never get a second weekly practice in, which I think hurt the boys' development. With a couple of exceptions, they really improved much from the beginning of the season. In the end, that's on me, as the head coach. I've been down about it the last couple of days.
Part of what has made me blue, I think, is the nagging feeling that this might have been the last run for the Dodgers. We've been together - coaches, teammates and families - playing baseball in the WNSL, fall and spring, for more than five years. I love every one of these boys like they were my own. The families have grown particularly close. Like so many things, though, I look up and our time together has flown by.
For the first time this spring, I noticed a couple of boys, Braden and Cyrus, who didn't really seem to want to be out there, playing baseball at a relatively competitive level. A couple more, Aidan and Jonathan, struggled all season long at the plate. In our game Thursday night, Aidan stuck out with the bases loaded and walked to the dugout in tears. He looked up at me and, through his tears, said "it's not fun." What he meant, of course, was striking out is not fun. But still.
In the fall, we often lose a few of our regulars to flag football or soccer. I'm not sure if the ones we lose will come back in the spring or not.
In addition, the boys on our team who go to Percy Priest Elementary School - which is almost all of them - are scattering to the wind this fall and attending different middle schools. J.T. Moore, Oak Hill, USN and Harding Academy. I suspect some of our regulars will play middle school baseball at their middle schools. So, this might be it for the Dodgers.
Lastly but perhaps most significantly, JP is playing travel soccer with some classmates from USN this fall. The school soccer coach assured me that there were other boys who played two sports and that there wouldn't be many conflicts with the schedules. Still, JP missed an important baseball tournament game for travel soccer tryout last Tuesday night and I couldn't help but wonder if that was a harbinger of things to come.
My position, of course, always has been BASEBALL > SOCCER, but I'm not sure that's how JP will continue to see things once he starts playing soccer at a more competitive level. What would I do if he came to me and said, "Dad, I don't want to play baseball anymore. I want to concentrate on soccer?" I really don't know.
I love our group of families so much. Our baseball family, as Braden's mom, Michelle, once aptly described it. I've loved this time together, with small children and small problems. Most of all, I've loved watching these boys, MY boys, struggled persevere and in the end, succeed in ways big and small on the baseball field.
We've had birthday parties together, often at Harpeth Hills Church of Christ. We've had end of season parties together in the fall and spring, many times. My coaches and I have practiced with the boys so many times and watched them sweat together, laugh together and learn together. In the early days, the boys played "diaper tag" with Cooper's sister, Ella, after practice. I remember that like it was yesterday. My coaches and I often laughed because it seemed as if the boys enjoyed the after practice games of tag more than practice itself.
I've hosted many "coaches meetings" at Edley's in 12South over the years. The wives smiled and shook their heads knowingly when, after games, I suggested I needed to talk to my coaches after the boys were in bed that night. Over beers, my coaches and I talked about everything but the boys' baseball team.
I'm not sure it will ever be like this again. I suspect it won't. I've tried - and am presently trying - to create a similar group of families with Joe's baseball team. Although some of the families are the same - I have four or five little brothers on the Junior Dodgers, it doesn't feel the same, at least not yet. Maybe that will change. Maybe it won't.
What I know is this - I wouldn't trade the relationships that have been forged out of fall, spring and summer baseball practices and games for anything in the world. I've always said that one of the things that surprised me the most about having children was how many friends we have made through the boys' sports endeavors, and it's true.
I hope - I mean I really hope - that we keep these friendships between families strong and vibrant as the boys grow older and their interests change.
I love our Dodgers' family.
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