Tee Ball Practice - Part Deux

Boo Jr had his second tee ball practice last Wednesday. For some reason, I was still kind of nervous going to practice. Boo Jr was very excited to go. It seemed like there were a few fewer kids than last week. There were fewer assistant coaches (at first) compared to last week as well. There were 12 kids so Coach had us divide into three groups of four. Boo Jr was not in my group and was in the group with Coach. This upset my son at first and would call out to me. I was out in the outfield (Boo Jr was in the infield) with my group of kids. Boo Jr eventually calmed down and did quite well without me.

We had the kids practice hitting off the tee. One kid would hit while the other three would field the ball and throw it back to me. Well, that's how it was SUPPOSED to work! It was hard getting the kids' attention as I wanted them to move further back and not be too close to the tee. Of course, then the kids become a bunch of wise asses and run way too far away. As I try and get them in order, the kid at bat starts putting the balls on the tee himself and starts hitting away right at us. We all eventually settled down and took turns hitting and fielding.

Early on, I had one kid say he had to go potty. I yelled over to the other coach to watch my kids and brough him into the infield. Coach told me that the kid's father was there so I handed him off to him. Phew! Soon after that, the kids started whining that they wanted a drink of water. I was "mean" and told them that they could get a drink later. We had just started practicing for crying out loud! If I took them to get a drink, we wouldn't get any practicing done.

After practice hitting for a while, Coach put kids in actual positions on the field and kept four kids (including Boo Jr) in to hit. The kids would run to first base after hitting the ball. Even if the kids managed to get the hitter "out", he stayed on first base. That kid would then run to second base after the next kid hit the ball. After a kid made the cycle around the bases, he'd be rotated out into the field and a new kid would bat.

We finished the day with the kids' favorite thing - running around all the bases.

I was proud that Boo Jr did well without me constantly monitoring him. Sire, he goofed around some and was not paying attention a times, but so were most of the other kids. I felt really good on the drive home - first, because my son did so well and second, because I had a great time coaching the other kids.