Batter up!

On Thursday, May 29, Jennifer started K-4 T-Ball. I decided now was as good a time as any to get her involved in sports. Her involvement will be good for her. Not only will she have more children to socialize with and have some physical fitness in her life, but being a part of a team will teach her teamwork, responsibility, compassion and how to think on her feet.

I felt bad she was the only player to show up without a hat and mitt, but they had extras and told us where to go to get the hats and mitts for the team. I watched Jen play in between keeping an eye on Jesse, who I bundled up extra warm for the one-hour stay outside:

The coach was really nice and the team seemed to get along really well together. Jennifer didn't do so well catching and throwing the ball but, hey! It WAS her first time ever playing the game (though we HAVE taken her out to the park to hit the ball around a time or two). Throwing and catching didn't seem to be her strength. I made a note to remind her dad about this. Maybe they could spend some time together practicing throwing and catching a ball in the backyard sometime. (I saw one of the dads helping his daughter out on how to stand when waiting to catch the ball and I thought that was so cute to see a father involved.)

Here's Jen at her first at-bat, getting some pointers from the coach:



After she hit the ball, she ran to first. After the next player hit the ball, instead of running to second, she ran to catch the ball! (Whoops.) I made a mental point to explain to her later on that she's either hitting the ball and running the bases or catching the ball and tagging a player out. This reminder was reinforced later when she was aty third base and she thought it was her turn to hit after a player hit the ball. (Apparently, her mommy and daddy have not fully explained to her how baseball works!)

Here she is at third base:

And here she is waving from outfield:



She felt a little down that she didn't do so well and made some mistakes. I reminded her that this was the very first time she's played the game and she needs to practice to get better. I told her everybody makes mistakes and she's here to learn how to be a good ballplayer. So don't get discouraged after the first practice. Practice makes perfect!

After practice, I got some Carl's Jr. for dinner on the way home. Her dad joined us for dinner and we talked about what happened. We made plans to get her cap and mitt over the weekend. After that, she'll be on her way to being better at catching and throwing the ball, because one of us will definitely be taking the time to help her out with that!