Take me out at the baaaaalll gaaaaame

So... Nick plays T-ball.

T-ball sounds like baseball. I thought it would be just like baseball except with a Tee instead of a pitcher. And it's true, at some points the batter does use a T.

But beyond that, it's still different.

As soon as the game begins, you would notice that there is no outfield. Or outfielders. But the infield is rather crowded, as all the players get to hang out and split positions. Two or three kids will hang out around first base, helmets on heads, and although one will be "on" to catch the ball, all three are out there. The pitching is done by the coaches.

The batter gets as many swings as it takes to make a hit. This could mean one swing, or twenty five. Once the ball is hit, it doesn't really matter if it's a foul ball. Each player runs to first. There is usually a lot of time to make it to first base, because once the ball hits the field, six players will pounce on it and argue over who got to it first and who gets to throw it to first base. In the rare case that a player is actually slow enough to get tagged out, he / she gets to stay on the base anyway.

There are rarely three outs in an inning. Instead, each of the teams players get a turn at bat, advance one base per hit, and the teams switch out when each player has batted once, and the last player gets a "home run" no matter what.

Each game lasts three innings, and takes a little over an hour. By the end of the game, the players in the infield are talking to each other, sitting on the ground, taking off their shoes... There is no sense of, well, GAME yet. These kids are four, five, and six. They are not competitive, nor do they understand the concept of individuals within a team.

The teams all have different names. Half of them are called the Red Sox, but each Red Sox team has a different color jersey. So you could be on the Red Sox Green, playing the Red Sox Blue. But there are also other teams. Red Sox Green could be playing, for example, the Gators a team that is also wearing green jerseys. Not only is this confusing for the parent whose mind has wandered for a moment, but sometimes a player will find that he / she is standing with the wrong team.

Nicholas is like me, in that the ability to throw and catch is not innate. When I tried to help him throw the ball a little more effectively, he began doing a half-cartwheel move, swinging his arms over his head and landing on his knees, the ball hitting the ground four feet from his mitt. (Winston, you may come visit whenever you like.) Steve has been heroic in his efforts to help the coach and play with Nick. And Nick really is getting better. He loves playing, and that's the important thing.

Today, during T-ball, I played catch with Nathan. We had no gloves. In order to catch the ball I tossed him, Nate insisted on standing close enough for me to simply hand it to him. At which point Nate would wind back and hurl the ball at my head with all the force in his little body. The effect was that he was chasing me around the field, and that I hadn't sense enough to stop returning his weapon. I was sure he was going to whack me in the face with it.

And next year, they will both be playing.