Jack's First TBall Practice

I know I'm a little late, but better late than never, and I wanted to capture these thoughts before it was too late! :) Jack had his first TBall practice a couple of weeks ago and I was so proud of him I just had to write about it. My buddy Brian Cooper is the coach and I was pretty excited about it because he said he needed some help and asked me if I was interested. I told him have no idea what I was doing, but I'd be more than willing to help. Brian did a great job! He started off with all the kids in a half-circle and went around asking each kid what their name was. Jack said his name very loudly and proudly: Jack Patterson! Is was so cute! Then he went back through the group a couple of times asking if the other kids knew their teammates' names. Not many did, but I was very impressed b/c Brian seemed to know all the kids' names after going one time around the group! Then he introduce himself as "Coach Brian" and his assistant as "Coach Marty" then he paused and looked over at me and said "and that's Coach Jeff"!!! I was so shocked and very proud that he introduced me as one of the coaches! Then he split the kids into 3 groups. Two groups practiced hitting, and one group practiced fielding. I was with Brian with the kids practicing their fielding. The kids were single-file and he would hit grounders to them and they would throw the ball to me and I'd toss them to Brian. It was very fun to be "a part of it" and encourage the kids when they did a good job or tried very hard. I was also VERY PROUD of Jack! He was BY FAR one of the best kids out there (most likely THE best) and he listened very intently to Brian and the other coach. I kept watching him and he had a smile on his face the entire time! You could really tell he loves learning and loves baseball. He was the only kid that hit the ball out of the infield and he hit it out in the air!!! Of course I made a fool of myself to one of the other dads (who looked like an ex-baseball player) but it was very funny: Jack was wearing a red Cardinals shirt and he asked me if I had a kid on the team. I said, "Yes, the little boy in the red shirt". Then he said "Oh, you mean the Rolen shirt"? Then (like an idiot) I said, "No, the Cardinals shirt!!!" DUMASS!!! Anyway, Jack did a great job and I had a blast watching him and helping to encourage him and the other kids. After practice, Jack asked me if he could run around the bases...

It's going to be a great year!