How not to argue with the umpire

At West Raleigh, of course, there is never any disagreement with any umpiring decisions. Or, if there is, at least it doesn't go to quite these levels.

Second Guessing a Coach

A special must-read guest post from Coach Mike...

It always happens.

What kind of batting order is this? I would call timeout and get them to settle down. The coach at first is too quiet. The coach at first is way TOO LOUD.

In 6,7,and 8 year old baseball everyone has an opinion, and I mean EVERYONE, including myself. In a world where the best coaches make millions and win championships, our head coach got by on high fives and the satisfaction that he made all 13 kids on the “All Blacks” a better teammate. Isn’t that what is really about? Isn’t that why we sign our kids up for rec sports? I for one, know that my two sons will probably never make it on the field at Fenway Park, unless of course, Gabe is on the grounds crew. I understand that it is not about my son being the best player when he is 7 years old. The reason I spend, what seems like every evening and weekend at some field, course, or court is because being a teammate and being able to work with other people is one of the most valuable lessons he could ever learn.

I remember our first Mudcat Team meeting in August 2009. We filled out uniform information, talked about the responsibility of getting to practice on time and the players favorite MLB team, and then came the rules. The Mudcat team rules: hustle, be tough, show good form and focus, be confident but humble, good sportsmanship, and of course have fun! It sounded simple but these rules would appear time and again over the next two years. How much of an impact did these simple sayings have? I can honestly say that they are ingrained in my son. Although many things don’t sink into his thick head, he can rattle these off with ease. And the last rule, have fun. I can’t imagine how much more fun he could have had. From the team outings, pool and birthday parties, and wall ball with his buddies to the unbelievable games with fiery fans, sometimes a little too fiery, Gabe sometimes felt like Scotty McCreery. I don’t think any kid in the history of West Raleigh Baseball, had more fun.

That’s just it, I honestly think each kid would say the same thing. We as parents sometime get so hung up on what position our kid is playing or where he is batting in the line-up that we lose sight of what is important in youth sports, being part of a team. If you ask any pro athlete what they miss about playing? Most, at least the good ones, would say being around their teammates. From the very beginning our coach has taken his job very seriously. He had detailed practice and game plans, researched and studied the fundamentals, and listened to others who were more knowledgeable than he about baseball. Our team mom worked extremely hard on planning events, organizing and I mean REALLY ORGANIZING everything else. It wasn’t only the google calendar, team website, and on-line order forms, we had to be the only 6-8 year old team in the country with both a beat writer and a photographer.

What our coach created was an unbelievable team first atmosphere that carried over to the parents. We became an extended family as a result. I really think or hope that in 15-20 years that some of us will still be friends. I think that Gabe will remember his teammates, now that he understands what being one is, and will be able to recall their nicknames.

After the last game, our coach was sitting in the edge of the woods on a bucket of baseballs where he had just had his last team meeting after a game. He sat there for a while after everyone had left. What was going through his head? Well I for one hope he was reflecting on a job well done… Thanks Coach!

College Wisdom

Given an off night from West Raleigh Baseball, we made the obvious choice last night to...attend a baseball game. Carolina hosted Winthrop (the Tar Heels won, 12-6, even without the aid of a Mudcat throwing out the first pitch), and after the game I ran into Jacob Stallings.

It's important to note here that Jacob Stallings is probably one of Asher's two favorite players on the current Carolina team. His dad, Kevin, is the head basketball coach at Vanderbilt but is better-known around Chapel Hill as a passionate Carolina baseball fan who thinks nothing of, say, making the nine-hour drive from Nashville to Tallahassee, Florida, this weekend for the UNC-FSU series. And not only does he make the drive, but it's clear there is nothing he would rather do. It is plainly obvious that Coach Stallings coaches basketball mostly to be able to support his baseball habit. Asher will tell you that Coach Stallings is also a lot of fun to play with at games, because he still remembers what it's like to have a six-year-old running around the house. Most of the time when Coach Stallings is at Boshamer you can find him making up some crazy baseball game with Asher, the rules of which are known only to them.

So we like Jacob a lot. Plus, he's a catcher, which means he gets to wear the catcher's gear, which automatically increases your coolness by a factor of four. Jacob has seen us around Boshamer a good bit over the winter, hitting in the batting cages and doing some throwing, and he is somewhat aware of West Raleigh Baseball and the fact that Asher really wanted to make a team this spring. So the first thing he said was, "How's Asher's baseball going?"

Since Jacob Stallings has been playing baseball for almost 20 years, and since he's very likely to be making it his profession when the major league draft comes around this June, I went into a detailed description of the Mudcats. I talked about the personnel, and I talked about this weekend's close losses (I was proud of myself for leaving out the part about the absurd scheduling), and I talked about Zach hitting a home run over the fence, which is still breathlessly discussed at our house on roughly the same level as other incredible feats of strength. Asher is more or less convinced that Superman wears Zach pajamas.

While realizing that Jacob did not actually want the full rundown on the Mudcats, I still thought I did a pretty fair job of detailing all the really important things that have happened this season--wins, losses, home runs, hits, errors, etc. Apparently, though, I left one thing out. Because all Jacob said in response was, "That's great. Is he having fun?"

Oh, that.

Well, yes he is. And his parents are, too. It's just that sometimes they get outsmarted by a college junior.