Sometimes those lessons are tough....
Today Coop hit a home run.
It was his first hit all season long (we're 9 games into a 13 game season).
We've talked to him, bribed him, tried to build his confidence, and have even (sadly) been disappointed in him....nothing mattered.
He's been watching that ball and waiting for his pitch. He's let beautiful pitches come right across the plate and hasn't moved a muscle...he's swung and missed....he's had some bad calls here and there, but at the end of the day he either strikes out or gets walked.
Until today.
Today he connected with the ball.
Today that kid hit a to the fence drive that was beautiful!
He ran to 1st base....rounded to 2nd....
ran through 3rd.....
and was waved on by the 3rd base coach because of an overthrow....
and when he got to home....
he was called out by the ump.
Was it a bad call? I think so.
Did he take it hard? Absolutely. Harder than I ever expected.
It was horrendous.
Everyone was SO excited for him, the crowd went wild, the coaches were jumping up and down, I was screaming at the top of my lungs and he experienced about 2 minutes of complete and total elation.
Until reality set it and so did devastation.
This is about 20 minutes later....after the game ended and he was chosen to "break it down for the team"...after everyone there congratulated him and told him what an amazing hit it was....after his shoulders stopped heaving and the tears stopped falling.
A tender moment with his coach telling him that he KNEW he could do it, and that it didn't matter the call, what mattered was that he hit the ball and did what the coaches told him to do. Was he out? Sure, but that's not the point.
The point was that he did it. He accomplished something that he'd been working towards for months. He did it and he did it well. And nobody can take that away- ever.
How to handle disappointment and anger with grace....important life lessons that we'll need to perfect in the coming years.
Congrats on an awesome hit little kid....that and Life 101.
5 comments:
WOW! yes, Life 101 is right. Brad swears that team sports is the best thing for boys for the future.
Bummer about the call though :(
Ask Jon how he handled all the times playing baseball! I had to bribe that boy just to play. Talk about tears. Cooper did awesome! He's growing up.
Ask Jon how he handled all the times playing baseball! I had to bribe that boy just to play. Talk about tears. Cooper did awesome! He's growing up.
It never changes, even when they are grown up. If your child hurts, you hurt. All part of learning for them though. All seems o.k. in the next blog. You are a great family. Love reading about it.
Oh this just BREAKS my heart but you are right...there are lessons there.
COngrats on his awesome hit anyway!!!!
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