Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Convection Oven Speed Ball

Imagine coaching a baseball team...well, a t-ball team that uses a baseball. Now imagine that team being made up of boys and girls ages 4 - 6. Add to that the fact that it's 105 degrees here in Lubbock, and you can begin to imagine what our first t-ball practice was like last night.

Many of you know of my love for baseball, and that I played ball into college. I love the sport, and was excited that my children have shown an interest in America's sport. So, in my excitement, I signed on to be an Assistant Coach for the Orioles, Jeremiah and Cayla's team. My traveling schedule and my work schedules really prohibit me from doing much more than that, or so I thought and explained to the lady who told me last Thursday that I was THE coach for the team. It seems that as the only one to say I would help, I got the whole thing. And it doesn't matter that I'll be gone for 5 of the 11 games...

So, last night we had our first practice. My team has 13 kids on it, 12 of whom showed up, and most of whom have never played. So, in the 105 degree heat, I did my very best to teach, hold their tiny attention spans, and still make progress. It went pretty well, I think. Caryn made much of it happen with the behind the scenes prep (snacks, etc.). Try to imagine playing t-ball in fast forward speed while in a convection oven and you'll get a feel for how it was last night. But this is the ideal thing for me/us to be involved in. The Journey will sponsor the practices, helping with the kids, and serving the snacks at every practice. We'll build relationships with the kids and their parents. The season lasts through July 17th, so we have a few weeks to get to know the families involved. Pray for us! PRAY FOR ME! Tomorrow night, I'll get there early to work with one of my boys, Roosevelt, who has potential to throw both ways. His dad mentioned that he'd love for Roosevelt to learn to do both, so I told him we'd meet early each week to work on it.

And for all you Journey pilgrims, thanks for your help with the snacks last night. If you want to come and help with practice tomorrow night, be there at 5:15 (same place).

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