We are gluttons for punishment. We signed Marshall up for travel ball. It requires that I shuttle him to and from practice everyday, sometimes twice a day. It costs so much that I’m debating selling all of the children’s extra kidneys. They don’t need two. Or do they? Maybe I could just sell a portion of all of their livers. I heard livers could regenerate like lizards tails. Or maybe that’s not true. I’m not sure. How reliable is the TV show Grey’s Anatomy as a source?
Travel ball also means that we have to spend copious amounts of time at the baseball field during tournaments. We sit in unshaded bleachers in the scorching hot July weather. It feels like I’m slowly melting in the 105 degree weather.
We signed him up because he was the best on his little league team. He was the kid that was yelling at the other kids to get their acts together. He was the best hitter, the best in field, the best in the outfield. He was the kid that everyone said “Wow, is that you’re kid? He’s good!” Now he’s the kid that spends his time divided between left field and here:
A small fish in a vast ocean.
I’m sure someday he will say ‘remember that summer you sat out in the sun and let me play travel ball?’ It’s a great memory you are creating. (Before you create the next memory, you may want to consider all the factors though!)
When the ocean gets bigger, I guess you just have to step up tot he next level. I just hope that this experience teaches him that there is more to learn and drives him to be better rather than making him no longer enjoy the game.
It’s the politics that kill me. The superactive dad has his son catching, playing first base, and even pitching (all of them extremely badly) while the dad who works in the bay and can’t make practice has his son slitting time between right field and left out.
I agree that field time for your son should be a perk of being coach but it seems unfair that a non-coach (but active dad) had his son give up 6 runs in two innings for the same mistake over and over at the plate and it was never even considered to take him off the field.