It all started more than 10 years ago… my son watched me play at his first softball game…and just like that the next generation saw a game he was destined to play. 10 years later when we were short a player and we discovered that our league would allow him to play at 15 he walked out onto the softball field as a player … and it has been a runaway train since then. He paid his dues in E, and then fought his way into a starting spot on a D team.
Weeks after he started playing, two of his friends were also playing, and another one pinch running… within a month 4 16+ year old kids had discovered softball and they were in love with it. This, the Xbox generation, they were outside, in 90+ degree weather and playing hard and having a blast.
That’s when it occurred to me… we as parents need to work harder to get our kids involved in sports…. for fun. What do I mean? Because most parents involve their kids in sports. I mean, involve them in a game they can play WITH you. Why? Because even if you don’t think so…your children still look at you as a role model. Doesn’t matter of your a man or woman, you’re that kids world. Nothing in the world matches the high you get of taking the field with your child…and nothing matches the frustration you feel when they struggle, or the joy you feel when they succeed.
What makes this sport so special is that it’s easy to play and very hard to master. The beauty of that is that our children can play it, and they don’t have to be great at it, nor do they feel peer pressure that if they aren’t the best player on the field they want to quit. In fact, my son knew how much work he had to put in to get better, and he did it. In a year and a half he improved immensely. I taught him my work ethic, and the importance of practice, and how skill alone isn’t the path to success, but a pairing of hard work and ability. This lesson will serve him well as he gets older … whatever he does, he will know that success is tied to hard work. A valuable life lesson learned from playing a game we love.
My final thought is this, if this game we love is to survive then we have to prep the next generation, it’s up to us to ensure that this game survives…and we do that by gracefully passing the torch.
Softball Nation 365 