Ella had a t-ball game Tuesday night. She's been having a great time and has been mostly at 2nd base. She's starting to get the hang of this t-ball thing and has been doing pretty well with fielding the grounders.T-Ball is a lot more serious than I ever realized it was going to be. I never played t-ball (due to some sort of parental conflict, although, both my mother and father deny being the one who ever told me I couldn't play when I was little) and didn't play until I was a little older. I enjoy a little bit of competitive play--it teaches them to be good winners and losers. Some of the parents, though, are a little intense about the competitive side and have been known to take it a bit far. During one of the pre-season games, one of our parents yelled at her child about her errors so bad while she was on the field that the child started crying. Another parent on our team "suggested" to another parent that she take her child home and practice with her because she was holding the team back. I've spoken to a friend of mine whose child is on a t-ball team for a different school in our area. She's had a similar experience with the coaches and parents on her child's team including a near physical altercation between the league president and a parent of a child on her team in front of the kids.
Don't get me wrong, the vast majority of the parents for Ella's team are normal but I was beginning to think I was the only person that remembered that this was just t-ball with a bunch of five and six year olds. Until Tuesday.
During her game, Ella was on third base waiting for her teammate to hit the ball. The child hit the ball straight to the opposing pitcher. Ella was forced to run from third to home and the pitcher was close enough to tag her out. The bigger, stronger pitcher ran quickly over to Ella and tagged her out. In the process, she ended up knocking Ella 180 degrees around and on her rear. The crowd audibly gasped. It was a completely unintentional tough out. Ella's coach came over and picked her up, dusted her off, and made sure she was ok. The pitcher stood next to Ella the entire time and waited patiently until Ella went to walk off the field. She put her hand on Ella's and said "I'm sorry."
Finally, someone with a little insight.
1 comment:
Just as I thought...the problem is not with the children; it's with the parents. the kids often have much more insight than the parents. And, did Ella get ice cream after the game? :)
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