It's Saturday evening, late. The boys are asleep upstairs and Jude has just gone to bed. I'm sitting in the reading chair in the living room, sipping a bourbon (Bardstown) and unwinding after a Saturday of baseball.
Two games this morning, helping Oliver Davis coach Joe's Thundersharks. Two more games this evening at Liberty Park coaching JP's Dodgers. The Thundersharks won swept both games and the Dodgers got swept.
JP and Joe are both hitting really well this fall. All of the work they have done - and keep doing - hitting off the tee in the backyard has paid off, I think. They're doing work and it shows.
It's interesting, the juxtaposition of coaching 7 - 8 year olds and 12 - 13 year olds, in baseball, in one day.
With the Dodgers, we've been together for so long. So many practices, games, and seasons. Wins and losses. WNSL league games, all-star games, and travel tournament games. The Dodgers are very obviously nearer the end than the beginning. That makes me nostalgic and more than little sad. I've watched so many of these boys grow up and I love them like they're my own. I'll reflect on these days gone by and cherish the memories of the Dodgers for the rest of my life.
The Thundersharks (aka the Diamondbacks), it seems to me, might be on the verge of evolving into a cohesive, special group that will stay together for the next several years. Like the Dodgers.
I see similarities, for sure, between the Dodgers four or five years ago and the Thundersharks now. Great families. A great, inclusive coach (Oliver Davis) who is amazing with the boys. Several dads who help, hands on, at practice and during games. That's key. And good, really good, coachable boys.
I miss my Junior Dodgers very much. It makes me sad to think that maybe, must maybe, they're no more, due to the pandemic. For some reason, though, the Junior Dodgers group never gelled like the Dodgers group. That much is clear. I just don't think you can create in a petri dish - like I tried to with the Junior Dodgers - what formed organically with the Dodgers.
In many ways, for me, 7 - 8 year old baseball is the best. The boys are innocent, curious, and so eager to learn. It can be tough because when a boy strikes out, it might be the first time he's failed in a public setting. But that's how to teach resilience and perseverance. Fail, then try again. And again. And again.
There's more pressure on the older boys - like the Dodgers - from some parents, sadly, and what each boy puts in himself.
Every day I get to coach my sons, JP and Joe, and all of my other boys on both teams, is a blessing. I don't take it for granted and I don't want it to end.
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