Tournament

The word "tournament" inherently carries feelings of competition, sweat, toil that ultimately lead to a victor and a loser. Knowing these ideas, I should have been prepared for the tournament that I experienced last weekend. However, I didn't think these concepts would apply to an 8 year old Coach Pitch Baseball Tournament.

About a month ago, Andrew was invited to play on a All-Star Baseball team that travels to various local tournaments. My first reaction was one of excitement and pride for Andrew. As we began going to practices, my next reaction was " these kids are good!" The boys he played with were routinely catching fly boys, picking off a runner on second, and trying to turn a double-play. WOW!

So, I was somewhat nervous going into the tournament last weekend. Again, as we arrived, I was flabbergasted by just how good 8 year olds can be at baseball. From all the teams, kids were hitting the ball in the outfield, turning double plays, trying to stop the run from scoring at home, etc. I was so very proud of everything the boys did.

Yet, with any youth sports I found myself most concerned with the behavior of the adults. One of the coaches on Andrew's team was a "yeller." He was yelling and berating the kids for not knowing where to throw the ball at a moment's notice. He had Andrew near tears as well as a few other kids. I also had an encounter with a mother and father who were discussing Andrew's 2 second indecisiveness in the outfield by using expletives about his throwing the ball. I did not use my best restraint at hearing this; instead, I turned around and scolded them as I would any high school kid swearing in the hallway. I was instantly rebuked and told by the parent to "drop it!" Yikes! What are we teaching these kids??

After I calmed myself down, I did actually enjoy the rest of the tournament. The boys played three games. You could see them playing better each game. (Here is my moment to boast: Andrew played right field and fielded a ball and threw a kid out at first. He also played pitcher in the third inning and was responsible for two outs. He reacted with a Tiger Woods-esque fist pump to end that inning!)

Ultimately, I left the tournament with a new idea of the word. Should a tournament be about blood, sweat, and toil? The kids were having fun and learning. That was what we should focus on at 8. I asked an adult at one point who had won and did the winner get some kind of trophy? His response was "There are no winners today. This is just for fun." Maybe he should have reminded some of the others there that day.