Since baseball is still going on, I'll consider that a here and now. Never mind that it's been going on for the last 4 weeks. In between the rain and more rain we've managed to get in a few games here and there. Practices aren't so easy to get in though but who needs practice at age 6? COLSON DOES!!! We are supposed to have 2 weeks of practice before the games start but our 2 weeks of practice turned into 2 weeks of rain watching. So we just jumped right into the games. And because our games have usually fallen on the same day as our practice days, we haven't practiced much. I really think we've had 1 practice.
Colson is a good hitter and can throw the ball pretty good. He struggles a little with catching the ball and being aggressive in going after the ball and/or just stopping it and going after the runner. He is (or I should say was) completely oblivious to the actual game of baseball when it came to fielding. He knows what to do when you hit the ball....run to first base and watch your base coaches to see if you keep running the bases. But if the ball is hit to him, he...well he really liked to let it go by him and let someone who knows what to do with the ball get it. Teaching these kids what to do in the situations just takes time but it's kinda difficult to teach a kid how to field the ball when it's just you and him in the back yard. It's much easier in the team setting but again we have to PRACTICE to have the team setting.
So last week, Colson played 1st and 3rd base and I finally took it upon myself to do a little extra coaching because Wes gets a little frustrated and ends up not teaching him anything. I had already talked to him about being more agressive when the ball was hit and am not ashamed to admit pulled the bribery card. I told him I'd pay him $1 for everytime he charged the ball to go get it when it was hit to him. It worked except then he got the ball and really didn't know what to do with it. So last week we spent some coaching time while we driving around town (probably taking Calli to all of her events). I explained that if he was playing a base and the ball was not hit to him, he was to run to his base and get ready in case the ball WAS thrown to him and he could catch it and get the runner out. Prior to those instructions, he had a bad habit of twirling around once and then watching the runner or looking at us with a look of 'but it wasn't hit to me'.
So this week guess what? He's been playing 3rd base and he knows exactly what to do! He even almost got a runner out in yesterday's game! The first time he did it he was so proud and he turned and looked at me with the biggest grin. YEA!!!
Anyways, Fall Ball is almost over. It's time span is short but overwhelming. If it wasn't raining so much we'd be at the ball field at least 3 nights a week, usually 4. Combine that with Calli's schedule and it really makes me want to have 4 more kids....ha!
He's #3 (Same as Wes was growing up)
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