In the world of Little League baseball, everyone ‘knows’ about the crazy parents, win-at-all-costs coaches and selfish players. After spending part of my spring as an assistant coach on on my 9-year-old son’s State College Little League team in the minor league division, I can tell you these are exaggerations and mostly unfounded criticisms.
The Lions were made up of kids of all different sizes, shapes, abilities, attitudes and ages (9 thorough 11), and they taught this fire-breathing hockey coach the importance of what baseball is about: It’s a game, a team sport, and it’s supposed to be fun.
Most of the time, students and parents participate in youth and amateur sports for the right reason: for the benefit of the young participants. Occasionally, it’s simply to for the expanding egos of frustrated ex-athletes now coaching or for the parent with unrealistic expectations living vicariously through their kids. I will challenge you to consider some things that you may not agree with initially and I will try to stimulate some new ways of solving some old concerns.
Back in early April, when I got the e-mail telling me what team Ryan would be playing on this year, I perused the list and didn’t recognize as many of the names as I thought I would. At first I was disappointed but I soon realized this was a good chance for my son to make new friends. I did recognize a few names and was happy as always to see some ‘hockey’ buddies involved — fellow Nittany Hockey League player Dennis Scanlon was our team’s top assistant coach; A.J. Balboni was on the team, and his parents Mary and Scott are long-time friends. Scott, of course, was my assistant coach for the Icers before taking over as head coach when I stepped down in 2006.
An interesting note: Our team was sponsored by the State College Little Lions Youth Football League. That’s right; our baseball team was sponsored by a football team. We were the State College Little Lions Youth Football League Lions!
We had a typical roster with players who ranged from relative newcomers to experienced kids with natural ability. We were an average team in the league, but we were on a roll heading into the playoffs, which began this past weekend. One team advances; the other ends its season.
What a game the boys from both teams played! There were highs and lows, moments of desperation, frustration, exhilaration, togetherness and determination. It’s why sports are such a great metaphor for life.
We fell behind 6-1, then 10-4, and then put on our ‘Rally Caps’ and tied the game with two outs in the last inning before their best player hit a three-run homerun in the top of the 7th. We made a valiant effort to pull the score to 13-12 but it was too little, too late. In the bottom of the 6th, it had been our boys whooping and hollering, filled with hope only to watch their dream of an amazing comeback fall just short. It was the other team’s turn to celebrate.
Baseball, like life, is not always fair. Their left fielder made a sensational catch that he may only make one out of 10 times, but he did it when they needed it. As one of their parents said after the game, ‘That boy needed that more than we know.’ Left-handed batter Jack’s hit to left-center shows even the best strategies on our coaches’ part don’t always work. (By the way: I coached Jack’s father Scott on the Icers back in the early ’90s. His father was one of his team’s coaches, and a good one at that!)
One of our best athletes, Dylan, was playing in pain and coming unglued, throwing up and crying. Then — bam! — he had us back in the game with a big hit and a courageous pitching effort when most kids would have stayed in bed sick.
Ryan ‘S’ showed how much winning the game really meant to him when after striking out in the 5th, he came back to the bench in tears. He came back up in the 7th inning with a great at-bat to get on base, steal 2nd and 3rd and score to keep the hope of winning alive.
Bobby caught another terrific game (even though his thumb was killing him from catching our fireball pitcher Davis all season, and he never once complained).
My son Ryan had two base hits. Had one of them been in his third at-bat in the 5th inning, we would have scored two runs. He has showed so much improvement this season and has become a better, more confident hitter.
If Sean K. had his double in the 7th, we would have tied it back up. But he made so many good plays this year and gave 100 percent, down to the very last out!
Alas, it was a great effort, and a hard game to lose, and I’m sorry to see the season end.
But what I will remember most from the season is AJ jumping and yelling for sheer joy when he got his first hit in two years; Me-hi getting a clutch base hit and high-fiving me with this confident grin; the smile on Jacob’s face when he stole a base and scored a run during our rally inning; Cory showing up with his pants on inside out and not changing because he did so well in the batting cage that he thought it was good luck!
A story for every kid and every kid with a story!
I’ll remember Coach Bill making us laugh with his stories and memories of old time Yankees baseball all through his Long Island accent; Coach Dennis meticulously working with kids in the batting cages and his ‘life lessons’ in the dugout about ‘heart and attitude;’ Coach Frank’s unbridled enthusiasm and optimism and his sense of fairness to get all kids playing time (reminding me how important it is for kids to play and learn from being a part of a team).
The baseball Gods threw our boys a few curve balls in that game, but they never gave up. It would have been poetic justice if we would have found a way to win, but like in life, events don’t always turn out the way we would hope. It’s already in the past and the sun came up the next day (although living in State College as long as I have, it’s highly probable it will be hidden behind a cloud).
It was a fun bunch of kids, and they got a lot better from the first gathering in April through the final out.
Parents: Thanks for letting your kids play for us and for being so supportive! Players: Thanks for letting me be a small part of it!
Baseball’s been very, very good to me.
As the boys would say: 1…2…3…Go Lions!
