Thanksgoating - Day 167. Go Sports - an addendum
12So a long time ago I talked too much during the month of November and in one of my blather posts I went on and on about youth sports. I’ve coached my daughter’s softball team since she was in first grade and at first it was a burden, but I really fell in love with it. Our 13U team wrapped up last Spring and my kid coached 10U ball last fall (which was great to watch) and now… she’s playing high school ball.
I’m finding it much harder to not coach than to coach. I pace about during the games doing my best to just shut the hell up and having boss level fights with my ADHD/OCD.
This past Friday I got called up to the big leagues.
My daughters coach fell quite ill right before the game and she reached out to see if I would coach the game so they wouldn’t have to forfeit. I had all the training required even though I wasn’t a public school employee… so maybe some shenanigans there, I faked it the best I could. It was so great to get back in the dirt again. The girls were awesome despite facing the team that typically goes to States every year. It was walking into a buzz saw, but fun was had. I had to leave straight from work so my choice of shoes was probably not the most sensible but damn I had a great time. 
And I can add “High School Sports Coach” to my resume
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POPSOCKETS! ROAD ROCKETS! SONNY CROCKETT! AWESOME!
You are an excellent story teller!
Well cool. In some ways it was a good thing they were playing against a team everyone else always lost to so that you didn’t have to second guess yourself and play the what if game and feel guilty when they lost. (grin).
@Kidsandliz Yeah, their catcher had a rocket arm and I didn’t have time to learn the team’s signals or understand who had speed or who could hit. I just held my hands up, saying ‘please don’t steal’. We got rocked, but it’s a great group of girls and they lifted each other up through the whole game. That’s what I’ll take away from the game. I won’t remember the final score, but I’ll certainly remember all the jumping and cheering and laughing in the dugout. My best day in a little while
Some people have bucket list items like going to every baseball stadium. My current list is seeing all my players play high school ball. 10 of 12 of my former players are playing high school ball this year. I’ve seen 5 so far… I do my best to embarrass them the best I can. 
Tonight we play the team that has the girl who was the catcher for my kid for several years. If any one can hit my daughter’s pitches, it’s Yoda (yeah… every kid had a nickname) because she knows the speed. And again… too many words 
@capnjb And hopefully the kids have evolved from walking off the field if their team is losing (my kid in grade school) to (again my kid in high school after her team won the semifinals of an out of state soccer tournament, they lost the finals - I, and some of the other parents, had hoped they would have lost the day before because we were only miles from Glacier National Park and on the parent side of the fields we could see it in the distance), “Mom, why is that goalie crying because they lost? It’s just a game.”. She came a long way over those years (took a lot of work though).