Got to spend some time with my son tonight. It was "Boy's Night Out" for his elementary school and we had the run of the local sports park. We've visited the park every once in a while, but we should go more often. It is a pretty nice park and my son loves the place. Most of the trips to the park have been for my son to skateboard. He is pretty fearless, so watching him is usually pretty fun, but it is just me standing to the side watching. Tonight we hit the batting cages.
Growing up, I played one season of baseball when I was eight or nine. There was a lot of sitting, and I was not patient enough to deal with that. I also managed to break my front tooth bouncing a bat while sitting on the bench. My heart wasn't really in the game.
This of course meant that my son was guaranteed to pick baseball as one of his favorite sports. Not having played much, I was not anxious to take this task on. There is always that fear of screwing your kid up. I know, it's inevitable, stop worrying. He can now catch and throw with pretty impressive speed and accuracy.
When I was a kid I swam year round. That meant that my shoulders hurt pretty much all the time. Any sport that required swinging a bat, a club or throwing a ball was not on my list of fun things to do. As my son and I spent more and more time playing catch I could feel my control getting better and my perception of the ball change. I tried different throwing styles and found that my shoulder didn't have that oh so familiar feeling like it was going to dislocate. Not only was Rowley getting better but so was I.
Because I picked a sport that required a ridiculous amount of time and dedication, it was more like a job for me than it was a game or a sport. It was my job. I even told people that. Many kids that I knew had other jobs, I swam. When it came to getting into college, thank goodness that I did. My grades weren't great and I wasn't the fastest swimmer, but the two together got me through.
As my kids have explored the multitude of sporting opportunities that are out there today, I have tried to make sure that they enjoyed what they were doing more than anything else. My daughter is now a dancer. Seeing her rise up on her toes with her ballet shoes on, makes the hair on my neck stand up with pride. She is so graceful. My son is unstoppable. He wants to try every sport that he sees and his exuberance and willingness to practice is inspiring. Both kids like what they do, they know how to play.
Tonight as we hit baseballs, I watched Rowley set up and swing. He connected on the first pitch. When it was my turn to get up I was pretty sure I would miss every time. When the ball came out of the chute, I could see the path with amazing clarity. I sensed the arch and I connected. I was amazed. I connected with every ball that came at me. They weren't all pretty, but I hit them. In the end I am not sure who had more fun. We hit baseballs and just enjoyed the moment. I was relaxed and not worried about how well we did, it was just fun to get up and try.
I guess my kids have taught me well.
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