It’s the small things

I’ve wanted to finish this post for a while now.  I am really excited to share this success story with you, but haven’t had the time to post it.

We’ve all heard that it’s the little things in life that provide the biggest rewards.  Let me share an example of this that I was proud to be a part of.

This story is about a little girl on my tee ball team.  She’s full of energy and joie de vivre, typical for a child of her age.  She’s passionate about baseball.  Her passion comes through as she runs around the bases after a hit – which, by the way, she gets a lot of as she carries a big stick at the plate.  Her power is among the best on the team.

As good a player as she is, she has had difficulty in the field throwing with distance and accuracy.  Her form resembled a cyclone-type of delivery as her torso rotated 180° and side-armed a throw that had no consistent release point, resulting in throws that conceivably could have ended up behind her.   Unfortunately, the tee ball league doesn’t have any opportunities for weekday practices.  The league is set up with the expectation that coaching will occur on the field during games.  This is a little unfair to everyone: coaches, players, and parents.  Anyway, I’ve been making the best of it by doing some 1-on-1 instruction before games.

It was obvious that her dad had been practicing with her and helping with her form.  He was there with her prior to our game on Friday June 12.  During our instructional time, I was able to show her some techniques that would help her throw better.  In no time she was throwing accurately enough to play catch with her dad.  And her velocity was so strong that she would sometimes throw it over his head.

The fatherly pride just oozed out.  He was so proud and happy that with a little bit of time and the right coaching she was able to gain more confidence in throwing.  It was such a little thing, but it meant the world to the dad and to her, and brought me so much joy for being a part of it.

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The story could stop here, and if you decide to stop reading I would understand.  However, this young girl continued to make an impression in the game after our practice.

At this stage of little league it’s important for the kids to be exposed to all the positions in the field.  Not only is it just plain fair for everyone to get a chance at every position, but the kids can get a feel for how each position is played differently and learn how their strengths suit certain positions over others.

In the second inning of our game I had slated the girl to play pitcher.  Of course there’s no live pitching in tee ball, but we always have a player positioned at the pitcher’s rubber.  And since the kids’ hitting skills are still being honed, Pitcher is a position that get a lot of action with slow rollers being a regular occurence.

Well, wouldn’t you know, the first batter steps up and hits a line drive – a real sharply hit ball – right to the pitcher.  It hits my girl right on the arm.  Immediately, I ran to see how she was doing.  Obviously it hurt and she was in tears.  Her dad and I worked hard to console her.  After a minute or two I asked her if she’d rather give up playing pitcher and concede the position in a swap with another player.  She said no.  She wanted to stay there.

After a traumatic event like that I wouldn’t have blamed her if she had wanted to bail.  But not only did she show toughness, she displayed fearlessness too.  As player after player hit balls to her (some harder than others), she fielded them cleanly without giving a second thought to it.  She wasn’t going to be afraid of the ball.  She was going to do the job that had been given her.  And she did so courageously!

These events have left an impression with me.  I’ve drawn comparisons of her that day to me.  She was able to take instruction and coaching humbly to improve a weak point and even though she was injured during the game she didn’t let it get the better of her.  I hope that I can be like her and remember the lessons she taught me that day.