Levi T Ball

Levi had his first T-Ball practice today. I have to admit I was a little nervous, I just didn't know what to expect.

We found our way to the little guy field and made it just in time for the kick-off parent meeting. Come to find out, Levi is one of four new guys. All the other kids played last season, and some played the season before that. Gulp. Levi and I played catch once. I filled out an order form for his new Red Sox Jersey, what size (small), the name for the back, "Parry", and what number. After some deliberation we went for 17.

Coach then rattled off some stats about the percentage of high school senior baseball players who go on to play in the NCAA, then the percentage of college seniors who go on to play in the Major Leagues. Point being, we're just here to have fun. They don't even keep score, and he said he'd be happy to teach them how to run the bases the right way. That made me feel a bit better but, I wasn't so sure. Some of these kids looked serious. Like Tessa. She was one of the third year vets. She'd run around and flip kid's caps off their head (but not Levi, he didn't have a hat. Just his Spiderman shades).

Coach formed two groups, and it quickly became apparent he divided the veterans from the rookies. The vets went work on grounders with assistant coach Mike, and Levi trotted off with the rookies to practice throwing a tennis ball in a straight line. Come to find out, that's tricky. I think even coach was a little confused about how to correct Levi's wild sidearm spinny toss.

When it was finally the rookies' turn to work on grounders I was proud to see Levi stop the ball in the dirt, but then he tried to throw it to first with his glove hand... That's ok; coach showed him what to do.

After that Levi came over to where I was sitting for a water break. "Did you see that Dad? I was awesome!"

Batting practice was next. Levi dug in the dirt with a stick for about ten minutes while he waited for his turn. "Who's next?" Coach Mike said.  I reminded Levi that he was the only one who hadn't gone yet. He walked over to the tee,  grabbed a (metal) bat and put on an enormous helmet. Long story short, coach Mike is amazing because within a time span of five minutes, Levi went from not knowing which side of the bat to hold to blasting humdingers off the tee. Now we just need to get him to remember all that by himself during the big game. Gulp.

One more practice run around the bases, another water break or two, and it was time to learn the... cheer? "Hands in the middle everybody" (Levi wandered off and a kind team dad nudged him back towards the huddle). "One, Two, Three - REDSOX!"

I asked Levi if he had a good time, and he said "Yeah!". And from that moment, he chattered incessantly until we got back to the house. About Star Wars.