Baseball, etc

It rained Friday night, but the weather cleared by morning and we had a beautiful weekend with temps in the 70's. On Saturday morning, while I took Derek to the skateboard park, Helen and Adam went on a long run\walk. Now that Madison is older, she can't make it for very long so we usually just take her with us for a street or two and take her back home. Lula, however, loves the long walks where she can strut her princess stuff. We're taking her to get spayed today, so she may not be strutting her stuff for a little while.

After the skateboard park, Derek and I met Helen at Adam's baseball practice. Let's just say that Adam's coach is not as organized as he should be. The coach sent out an email after the first practice, introducing himself and welcoming any suggestions. There was the usual couple of parents that thanked the coach for his time, but I of course had a little bit more in mind. Much to Helen's embarrassment, these were my suggestions I replied to all:

My $.02 as far as practice is to make it as fun as possible. The thing I hated most about playing baseball was all the waiting around while everyone hits and the general lack of structure. I think small groups where the kids work on the fundamentals and move fairly quickly between groups works the best. It's also important to focus on technique in every area and not just allow the kids to do whatever they want however they want. If they're not doing it correctly then stop and work with them to enforce that the proper technique is expected. Here are some ideas:

Hitting: head still, rotating hips in a barrel (not lunging forward), pulling the hands through (letting the bat follow), balls\strikes, fair\foul balls, how to hit to all fields, when and why to hit to a particular field

Fielding: grounders, fly pops, hitting the cutoff man, double plays, run downs, base coverage responsibilities, fair\foul balls, positional (catcher, pitcher, 1st base, etc) responsibilites, backing up but not fighting for the ball

Base Running: when you can and can't run (force plays, pop ups, etc), tagging up, stealing, sliding, running through first base and turning right (not overrunning 2nd & 3rd), rounding bases properly (not running too wide) and watching for opportunities to take the extra base, watching the coach\ball, avoiding a hit ball, staying in the base paths

Games: Pickle (there are a number of bases (2 or 3) with a kid fielding each base and other kids trying to "steal" bases), 500 (50 for grounder, 100 for pop ups, etc, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_(outdoor_game)), all kinds of relay type games (throwing to targets, catching pop ups, etc)

Fitness: Baseball is such a sedentary game that you have to make an effort to work on fitness. Push ups, sit ups\leg lifts, running laps\sprints\bases, etc never hurt anyone. Generally teach the kids that fitness is important.

The coach thanked me for my suggestions, but nothing's really changed and only one other parent replied and said simply that organization is good. But I'll keep fighting the good fight.

After Adam's practice, the team had a pre-arranged lunch outing at Dairy Queen. We figured going in that it wouldn't be the team-building exercise that it was purported to be...to crowded, not enough seating, etc...and we were right.

After Dairy Queen, we drove over to the new West Gwinnett Aquatic Center. They were having a grand opening celebration with train rides, inflatables, etc.

After the aquatic center, Helen took Adam home and I took Derek to his baseball practice. Derek's coaches do a great job. I played tennis years ago with coach Shore. They're organized and disciplined, but make it fun for the kids - just the way it should be.

After baseball, we went home and got cleaned up before heading to the Gwinnett Gladiators hockey game vs the first place team in the division, Texas. It was a really well played game, but Gwinnett lost 2-1. We all had a good time and ate lots of junk...dippin dots, big pretzels, pizza, and beer for me. But that's part of the fun...even though my frugal side hates paying the ridiculous prices. They really do a good job making it fun for the whole family.

That was one action packed day. When Derek found out in the morning about all the activities for the day he was ecstatic. He always needs to have something fun to look forward to. Adam seems to be able to just go with the flow.