Somehow, the season is over.
Depending on your experience, this could be that you just lost your play-off game, your team finished it's final tournament of the summer, or that All-Stars is over. And again, depending on your experience this year you could be in a massive sense of relief that now life can return to "normal", perhaps you are in a state of shock that the boys didn't win the whole thing, or maybe you are in a baseball-form of the grieving process, and just missing all the comeradery, shared moments and joyous victories!
It is interesting to observe the different reactions of both parents and children during the close of baseball season. Personally, I feel a combination of sadness (knowing we will now spend less time with all the baseball-buddies), relief (LESS LAUNDRY), and the coulda-woulda-shouldas. It most definately seems to be a more complicated process, the further "into-it" all you have been.
Comparing my own experiences from this year to last is VASTLY different. This year, the friendships, the attitudes and the way the team worked together was a far cry from the previous year. Although people we equally as "nice", something seemed to click this year in a way it did not last year. Therefore, when our team didn't last too long in last year's tournaments, it was absolutely no big deal - fun while it lasted, but ready to be done. This year, the feeling of that last loss was rather emotional, and before I was even leaving the field I was starting the mental countdown to winter-ball. The car ride home was filled with reflections....could we have practised less and won more? Did we work on the right things with the boys? Were we just all tired, and if we were NOT tired, could it have gone better? Or maybe it was just time to be done....maybe the boys were all just....DONE....so it was the right timing.......you must bear in mind as you read this - this was all ADULT conversation. My sons in the back were relatively quiet........and when finally the time for my all-star to voice his opnion came, he says to me....."Mom, now I can REALLY start my summer!". There was no hint of devastation in his voice, no tears or hidden tears were evident, and in fact he didnt' seem sad in the slightest. As I paused to take in his statement I really looked at him: his tired face, the thumb-in-mouth, the streaked eye-black that really highlighted the bags under his eyes. Bless him, my son had taken this experience to a whole new level - not only had he physically put in all the practises, extra practises and his own little work-outs in our pint-size backyard, but he also thinks, over-thinks and does more mental-aerobics over the game than most kids his age. Much as he had LOVED his baseball season, the intensity of All Stars impacted him significantly, and for him, the knowledge that it's all over, equals freedom to get back to being a kid-who-loves-baseball for the summer! He too is counting down until winter ball, but for now, he's released from all the pressure, and able to watch, play-for-fun, conjure up his own work-outs and practises at his own pace and his own schedule, make up games with his baseball cards, win the world series on the Xbox and of course coach his brother to his heart's content!
The motivation to write this blog came when I realized that in my older son's world, the baseball field is where life makes sense. My hope is to write a balanced view on youth baseball, from a Mom's perspective. I don't have all the answers, I never want to come across as though I think I am an expert....my goal is to keep it real, keep it fun.....and always love the game!
