Summer's Start

Tonight we will be traveling to the place we've spent each spring and early part of summer over the past 3 years - the ball field! Madison's first softball game is this evening and I am so excited! This is her first year playing pitching machine, bumping up from T-Ball. It is so different and so much more enjoyable! It's a real game, with real outs, real scores, and it will be her first time experiencing true victories (we hope!) and defeats. I think it is really going to be a character building time for my little lass! I'm curious to see if she gets really into her team and feels bonded to the girls as an entire unit. I'm also wondering how she'll handle it when her team loses - and wins! I'm more worried about how I'll handle the few psycho parents that always make games miserable for both teams... you know the ones. You may even be one!

I was talking to Shelley at our last practice and, due to the screaming coming from behind us - a group of parents to one child on the field - I noticed that our team lacks those parents most of the time. I, for sure, am not that parent. You won't hear me screaming at Madison if she strikes out, if she doesn't catch a ball, or even if she makes a royal screw-up while out in the field. Isn't that why we have coaches? I just sit back quietly and let the coaches correct her mistakes. Thankfully, we have an AMAZING group of coaches. Never too hard on the girls, yet they know how to encourage them and push them to be better. To run faster, to hit better, to not fear catching those screamers. Those are things I don't feel it is my job to do while she's in their care. I can't help but notice how incredibly distracting it is for kids to have both coaches and parents telling them what to do and how to do it. So, I will just be there as a cheerleader! Madison will have her very own cheering section - as will all of the girls on our team! GO COLTS! I will also likely be that mom that cheers for the girls on the other team... I know that we're playing one of Madison's best friends tonight. I gotta scream for Gracen, too!