i'm young. i know how to have fun.
after several years of my disappointment, jackson finally decided he wanted to play baseball this year. i have never pressured him, but did ask each year if he wanted to join a league. this year, i didn't have to ask - he came to us. the differing factor this time was the fact that several of his friends play and he always wants to be with the boys.
after little consideration, we signed him up to play in manchaca. most all of his baseball-playing friends play in manchaca. there are a couple who play select baseball, but that isn't something that will be happening in our family.
jackson was required to try out. each boy got three pitches to swing at...jman fouled off two and missed one. he got his glove and went to short where he got three grounders hit to him - one straight on, one to the left and one to the right. he picked them all up and threw them to first. i think one throw was high. he finished his tryout by getting three fly balls hit to him as he waited in left field. i think he missed one of them. all in all i was super impressed with him and he did just as well as the
majority of the boys.
jackson got chosen by the yankees. he was very pleased that he got yankee gear to wear and that two of the boys on the team were already friends of his. i was pleased that his coaches turned out to be guys who were really good with the boys and pretty knowledgeable about the game. jackson had a great time.
unfortunately, the yanks rarely kept a good game going into the last inning. they were highly competitive but only strung together 4 wins. one of those resulted in the only loss for the team that won the league. their other two games with the top team ended in a tie and a loss in which we gave up 5 runs in the bottom of the last inning to lose by one. that was a disappointing way to finish the season.
jackson began the season as any first year player will do...right field and 8th in the batting order. as he collected hit after hit, he moved up to 3rd in the line-up. he remained there for the duration of the season. jackson finished the season with an on-base percentage just north of .750 . as he displayed a little bit of fielding prowess, he was moved to second base where he spent most of each game.
during the closing ceremonies for the league, two all-star teams were announced. being jackson's first year of play, any expectation for selection would have been pretty narcissistic. nevertheless, he began announcing to his family that he was sure to be selected. i tried to prepare him for the eventual disappointment. somehow he knew better than i. he was selected as a member of the second team.
as a family we discussed the time commitment required for him to play on this team. all told, it was a 6 day a week commitment for 5 weeks. it cost us another couple of hundred dollars and most of our time during the month of june.
it was great!
jackson's team ended up not being overwhelmingly talented. one problem was that almost all of the kids chosen for their pitching experience were unable to play. we had kids learning to pitch while on the mound during all-star tournament play. not a brilliant game plan. even though, the boys were in most of their games. more than once they were blown out of the park, but they were having so much fun together that they almost didn't seem to care.
more than anything else, j-man learned a whole lot about how the game is played. he learned what a baseball player looks and acts like. i don't think he had ever had a sunflower seed in his life prior to this, and now he is an absolute pro. he got lots of game experience and lots of time in practice learning drills and concepts that have helped him turn into a pretty good little player.
he did so well that over the fall he had a number of coaches calling to invite him to play in tournaments with teams they coach. again...awesome experience. he spent a good bit of the fall on the pitcher's mound learning a little bit of technique and a whole lot of application.
he's still not ready for full-time select baseball. he likes other sports too much (and is too good) to restrict his free time as much as would be required. flag football just finished and basketball is ready to begin. he loves cub scouts, too. one day we will likely make the jump, but we'll deal with that when we absolutely have to.
until then, i can't wait to see how coach david reacts when he sees how different jackson is from the kid that left his team in late may.
after little consideration, we signed him up to play in manchaca. most all of his baseball-playing friends play in manchaca. there are a couple who play select baseball, but that isn't something that will be happening in our family.
jackson was required to try out. each boy got three pitches to swing at...jman fouled off two and missed one. he got his glove and went to short where he got three grounders hit to him - one straight on, one to the left and one to the right. he picked them all up and threw them to first. i think one throw was high. he finished his tryout by getting three fly balls hit to him as he waited in left field. i think he missed one of them. all in all i was super impressed with him and he did just as well as the
majority of the boys.
jackson got chosen by the yankees. he was very pleased that he got yankee gear to wear and that two of the boys on the team were already friends of his. i was pleased that his coaches turned out to be guys who were really good with the boys and pretty knowledgeable about the game. jackson had a great time.
unfortunately, the yanks rarely kept a good game going into the last inning. they were highly competitive but only strung together 4 wins. one of those resulted in the only loss for the team that won the league. their other two games with the top team ended in a tie and a loss in which we gave up 5 runs in the bottom of the last inning to lose by one. that was a disappointing way to finish the season.
jackson began the season as any first year player will do...right field and 8th in the batting order. as he collected hit after hit, he moved up to 3rd in the line-up. he remained there for the duration of the season. jackson finished the season with an on-base percentage just north of .750 . as he displayed a little bit of fielding prowess, he was moved to second base where he spent most of each game.
during the closing ceremonies for the league, two all-star teams were announced. being jackson's first year of play, any expectation for selection would have been pretty narcissistic. nevertheless, he began announcing to his family that he was sure to be selected. i tried to prepare him for the eventual disappointment. somehow he knew better than i. he was selected as a member of the second team.
as a family we discussed the time commitment required for him to play on this team. all told, it was a 6 day a week commitment for 5 weeks. it cost us another couple of hundred dollars and most of our time during the month of june.
it was great!
jackson's team ended up not being overwhelmingly talented. one problem was that almost all of the kids chosen for their pitching experience were unable to play. we had kids learning to pitch while on the mound during all-star tournament play. not a brilliant game plan. even though, the boys were in most of their games. more than once they were blown out of the park, but they were having so much fun together that they almost didn't seem to care.
more than anything else, j-man learned a whole lot about how the game is played. he learned what a baseball player looks and acts like. i don't think he had ever had a sunflower seed in his life prior to this, and now he is an absolute pro. he got lots of game experience and lots of time in practice learning drills and concepts that have helped him turn into a pretty good little player.
he did so well that over the fall he had a number of coaches calling to invite him to play in tournaments with teams they coach. again...awesome experience. he spent a good bit of the fall on the pitcher's mound learning a little bit of technique and a whole lot of application.
he's still not ready for full-time select baseball. he likes other sports too much (and is too good) to restrict his free time as much as would be required. flag football just finished and basketball is ready to begin. he loves cub scouts, too. one day we will likely make the jump, but we'll deal with that when we absolutely have to.
until then, i can't wait to see how coach david reacts when he sees how different jackson is from the kid that left his team in late may.
posted by cm at 6/26/2009
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