Herding Kittens

God bless t-ball coaches. They have hearts of gold and the patience of saints. This became very apparent to me as a spectator during t-ball practice over the last couple weeks. 

My grandson, Brahm is a Cardinal and loves playing t-ball. He is a great slider; He slides to every base; whether he needs to or not. He slides when he goes for a grounder. He even slides in the outfield when it’s been a little too long between grounders. Sliding is a skill he works hard to perfect. 

The funny thing is that most of the Cardinals and players on the other t-ball teams are a lot like Brahm. An hour and a half of playing baseball is a very long time for most four and five year olds. All those rules, procedures and tasks of hitting, running bases, chasing after grounders, and throwing need to be supplemented with a few child derived activities. 

For example, rolling around or even just lying on the ground is pretty universal among outfielders; as is wrestling or just plain spacing out. If one is in the dugout, waiting for a turn to bat, stuffing grass down your pants or playing knock, knock on a batter’s helmet helps to pass the time. Infielders work on tripping opponents as they run the bases and crashing into each other whenever they go after a hit ball. These are all commonly practiced skills being perfected by the players. Brahm has mastered them all, but sliding is his favorite. 

After a few weeks of watching these little darlings scamper around the field, one truth became obvious. Coaching t-ball is a lot like herding kitten. The good ones string the players along, so the kids have fun and even manage to learn a little bit about how to play ball. They do all of this as volunteers and usually because no else in their right mind would do it. There has to be a special place in heaven for them; A place where they can polish their hearts of gold.