Tonight’s the night.
The Red Sox play their first game, and it’s going to be…an adventure. They’ve had three practices so far, and in terms of athletic ability, I’d say Nathan’s really not that bad. He’s not that good, either, but he does hit the ball off the tee into fair territory pretty consistently (if you’ve never watched T-ball, let me assure you – not a given)…
…and his throws are generally on target.
But to be a good ball player, one must have drive, hunger – an innate sense of competition (preferably the healthy kind). Nathan has none of these.
He just wants to hit a ball off a tee and run around.
I know what you’re thinking. He’s five. That’s all that any of them want to do at this age. It’s supposed to be fun, not competitive. All true. But for Nathan, there is absolutely no sense of urgency about any of it. He doesn’t race to beat the ball to the base, or hurry to grab a grounder and attempt to throw it in. He does not hustle.
Pretty sure hustling is important in sports.
Some of it can be attributed to the fact that he doesn’t know what the heck he’s supposed to be doing (and in that respect, he’s not completely alone), and he HAS improved (go here if you can’t see the embedded video below).
He doesn’t hold onto his batting helmet when he runs anymore (go here for video), and he seems to be figuring out that running to the base thing (go here for video) – but he’s in no big hurry when he does it and he uses a painfully circuitous route to reach home plate Every. Time.
Sometimes he even looks like a real ball player when he’s out there. For, like, five seconds before he sits down on the base or leans over to play in the dirt.
And he’s taken quite literally the instruction to “jump on home plate” at the end of the run. So literally, in fact, that he will actually stop running several inches short of home plate, set his feet, then jump.
There’s no doubt about it – he’s super cute in his practice gear. I’m expecting even more cuteness in his real Red Sox uniform.
Alas, cute does not win games.
So you, dear reader, should expect lots of photos for the next several weeks (if you aren’t following me on Instagram, you’ve already missed some videos in which I might have provided the voice track for some pretty entertaining T-ball practice highlights).
Nathan + T-Ball = Blog Fodder, for sure.
My friend Leigh Ann pointed out the scripture verse in the background of the photo below: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” I’m pretty sure she was thinking Nathan would be able to do lots of T-ball things. I took it a different way:
I can do all things…even make it through a season of T-ball. 🙂
I love it! You will have a ball (no pun intended) :-)!
He is a real cutie
Ok. I’m going to say that I have absolutely no idea where you’re coming from here and I find it fascinating. As someone who has no athletic ability or interest ( maybe the second is at least in part influenced by the first) I can’t fathom having the feelings that you do about sports and wonder how you’d feel about a kid with no special needs but little athletic ability ( and in that I include the interest in competition). How much would you push them to try different things in the hoes that there would be something they’d like. Would you feel their life diminished? . What effect does parenting from the viewpoint of an athlete have ? Does that parenting squeeze out whatever ounce of ability and interest is there? Are the positives of athletics so great for you that you can’t imagine life without them? I’m not criticizing at all and I can see how amazing athletics has been for Sarah Kate and my guess is that if I were a parent to a kid like her they’d have missed out on many of the things that have clearly enhanced her life unless the interest in them came solely from them and maybe a child raised without the messages you may be sending about athletics wouldn’t have that interest. It really is fascinating.
And Ps. Nathan does look incredibly adorable in that uniform!
Bless your heart…
Sigh. I was afraid this would come across wrong and clearly it has. My question really was about what you think about athletics in the life of a child who has no interest or ability in sports but no special needs. ( in Nathan’s case it’s clear he does have typical interest and ability for his age so that his special needs don’t seem in play.) with Sarah Kate obviously she has the drive and determination of an athlete. I fear that if I had been a parent to a child like her it would never have occurred to me to involve her in athletics. Do you think it’s important to bring athletics into the life of every child? What if they have no interest or ability. That’s what I’m asking about to a parent for whom athletics is clearly very important.
Apologies if I was short…I tend to attract people here who make sweeping generalizations about my parenting based on the tiny sliver of my life they see. Since your question seems genuine, I’ll answer. 🙂
You indicated that it probably wouldn’t have occurred to you to involve your child in sports if you had a child with a condition similar to Sarah Kate’s, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, because it didn’t occur to us, either. The first sport she did was swim team, and I almost had a panic attack the day she came home from school asking me if she could do it. But I spoke to the coach (who also happened to be the P.E. teacher at her school and a member of our parish) and she told me to let her do it, so we did. It was terrifying! Later on, a similar thing happened with softball – she handed me a flyer and told me she wanted to play. A friend of mine was on the league’s board and she assured me that everything would be okay and to let her try it, so we did. It was also terrifying, but not quite as bad as swimming. 🙂 The only regret I have is that I didn’t let her play softball sooner – she had actually expressed interest a year earlier – because eventually she had to give it up and I don’t think she was ready to say goodbye to softball. She’s still swimming, of course, and for the same coach (but now as part of the high school team), but that’s by choice because she loves it.
Nathan is a different story, because he didn’t ask to play t-ball. What he did do, though, was hit Sarah Kate’s practice softballs off a tee in the backyard for at least the last two years, just because he wanted to. There’s a lot more to baseball than hitting off a tee, of course, but at his age, none of the kids are expected to be very good at it, so if he plays in the dirt or grins at the spectators rather than running, it’s not a big deal. Like his sister, his sports career (at least in a typical league) will end earlier than for other kids, because there will come a day when he won’t be able to keep up, but for now I want him to be a part of extracurricular activities. It’s good for him to do it, but it’s also good for the other kids (and to some extent, their parents and grandparents) to have him around. On a practical note, also consider that there aren’t a lot of activities than a five year old boy can do in a group other than sports (especially a five year old with a speech delay).
Finally, you asked me what I think about sports for typical kids who aren’t “sporty” and I would say that yes, I do think sports is important, but with some caveats. There are many good things about sports – physical movement, discipline, working as part of a team, understanding how your actions affects others, setting goals, and so on – that can’t be replicated in other activities. For example, Sarah Kate took guitar lessons for awhile, and while she seemed to like it okay, she didn’t love it, and neither did we. Her lesson was private and she practiced alone (so no lessons in teamwork, etc.) Last year, she joined the band (clarinet) and it’s a whole different ballgame, because there is camaraderie, teamwork, etc. (but no exercise is involved). Do I think sports are absolutely necessary? No. But there’s a lot of good to it, even if they don’t do it forever. Some people are over the top with their kids’ sports, but in our experience that’s the exception, not the rule.
Thank you for a really great answer!!
I think it’s great your kiddos are in sports. It’s good stress relief, provides physical activity and muscle strength, and socialization. Not to mention teaching perserverence, working towards a goal and teamwork. Good on you: why would you NOT put your child in a sport?
Since Nathan isn’t eight yet, he isn’t eligible to compete with Special Olympics, but I sincerely hope you give it a look when he gets a little older. That’s not to say that there aren’t good things about mainstream sports or Special Olympics is something people with special needs to be relegated to by any means. But rather the power of Special Olympics transcends abilities to make life-long friendships between athletes and family members as well as lasting change. When my young ones played soccer, they also lacked urgency and any kind of game awareness but it sure was cute!
You’re right, he isn’t old enough, although I do think he might be able to compete with his school team in the spring (not sure about that). Obviously, he’s not going to be a sports phenom, but Mr. Andi and I talked about it and decided to let him try t-ball this fall. First, because fall is much less competitive in general (they don’t even keep score – in fact, they called the game last night at an hour even though the home team still technically should have had another at bat), and second, because it’s t-ball and they’re not expected to be any good yet. No pressure.
When he gets older we’ll definitely consider activities that are appropriate to his abilities, but for now he’s having fun and so are we!
Nathan does look cute in his T-ball attire.
Your Nathan sounds nearly identical to my youngest on the field, except you boy seems teachable and like he wants to play. My oldest has played with and against many kids with special needs who are great players. I hope Nathan is able to go far because I see great potential!