T-Ball

Yesterday Inwe had her first T-ball practice. There area few things that you should know about T-ball today.

1. The object is for the kids to have fun while learning the very basics of baseball/softball.
2. Scores aren't kept.
   
3. The team is coed.
4. The team consists of children from Inwe's school.
   

Four of us parents volunteered to be coaches. Yes, that means me. I'm the only woman as a coach, but as I discovered yesterday evening, a woman is needed. Some of the girls would have been non-participants without a woman to guide them.

We split the kids into two groups. Half practiced hitting the ball off the tee and running to first base. The other half practiced fielding, throwing, and catching. After a few minutes, we switched groups. The best part about the day was that the parents who didn't volunteer to coach ended up getting out on the field and helping out. We had a coach to kid ratio of 1:2.

After the kids had completed the two stations, we put a coach on each base and had the kids run around the bases. I could see the smiles on their faces as I pointed them to second base. The coaches were ready to stop, but the kids weren't. They just kept running. We let them. The parents who had other kids to watch were very happy that their kids were getting tired out. (Phill had Larien and Finwe.)

At the end of the practice we got the kids to get in the cheer circle to yell "Go Nationals!" That's the name of the team that the league assigned. Uniforms come next week. We'll have the next practice on Friday. The first game is Sunday week.

How did Larien do? She doesn't throw well. As I've never focused on teaching her how to throw I'm not surprised. She can hit well. She can field the ball, but catching isn't her strong point. Again, she's never had her hand in a glove, so this is something to practice. I'm hoping that Mr. Maddjones has a glove and ball so I can help her practice at home. She did well running the bases. She's not the fastest, but she also not the slowest.

The best part is that all of the kids had fun. They want to do it again. I still can't believe that I am helping out with coaching and corralling the kids. I need to learn to say no. I can say that I won't help with soccer. I know nothing about soccer except that you kick the ball.