Oh well. We live the in the northeast and this is the way it goes. We are also blessed with beautiful spring flowers, summers at the beach, and falls with trees and leaf colors that paint a portrait of a landscape that no man or woman could have ever created.
With that said, the baseball team has been practicing inside for the past week. In fact, there are three weeks left to the opening pitch and the guys need a bit more work. How is my big guy doing? Wellll.....
He called yesterday to report on the Friday night scrimmage that ended at 1 am. I am actually glad that he did not call at 1:10 am to report in. I give him kudos for that decision.
Anyway, he pitched three innings. The good news is that he hit 89-91 mph with the fast ball. He struck out three batters. No runs were scored. The bad news is that he walked five guys over the three innings yet got out of the jam. Needless to say, the coach was not pleased. When he approached the coach for assistance, the coach relied: "If you do not pitch for contact rather than trying to strike everyone out, you will never pitch for me...."
Now that is coach-worthy....and guess what? It made the blog and will eventually make the book when I finally write it after the kid graduates.
Pitching for contact is noteworthy. However, I am sure that he was not trying to walk the batters. In fact, I am sure of it. Further, he continues to have some command struggles, yet the bright side is that he got out of the effects of the walks with no one scoring. In addition, what the coach said was not helpful, rather it made him question himself further leading to anxiety and sleepless nights. Nice.
It gets better. The coaches want to meet with him on Monday for 45 minutes. They did not say why. Therefore, he is having more anxiety because he thinks that he is a screw up, head case, and may be cut from the team. Really? Cut???
OK, here is my take on it. Everyone wants perfection. They did not get it. His bullpens are flawless, therefore his outings during an actual game should be flawless. Yet, we are all human and make mistakes. Shall I talk about days on the tennis courts? No? Well, I am going to.....
Fade to black.....
During practices, I could hit a ball with blazing speed and accuracy; yet during matches, I would freeze a bit because I did not want to make a mistake. One coach said to me: "You are playing not to lose." OK, he's right. No one likes to lose. After all, I don't play necessarily for my health (kidding....). But I do like to win like everyone else. However, most coaches see when players are playing down to the level of their competition rather than rising to the occasion to dominate them. I get it so I understand what the coaches are saying....but not to tell him the reason for the meeting is cruel.
Therefore, for three days he is thinking about what the meeting is about and cannot relax. Actually, the same thing happened to me when my boss emailed me and said to meet me in her office. She did not give a reason, so my mind was going a million miles an hour...what did I do wrong? What did I do right? Why me? What is going on? This cannot be good. When I got the the office, I sat down and she asked me to work on a project for the university and not teach one of my summer courses. "Heck, yeah!" And so, the hours that I spent in my head thinking that I was in trouble were worthless and unnecessary. Therefore, I can see what the kid is going through.
Now comes my mantra...take care of the body, mind, and spirit, because a person never knows when mountains of anxiety are going to hit yet if you are in tune with your spiritual side, all of the negativity is placed in the rightful place in your head. Hmmm...BP mom, you could be correct....Huh!? I know I am right...mark my words.
Ok, let's see how tomorrow's meeting goes....will let him vent later when he is up and ready to talk. Until then, I gotta take care of my body and head to Zumba class. After all, I think I got the mind and spirit in order...although they certainly can be worked on.....like a muscle...keep working on them and they will grow and mature....Namaste!
Time to dance!
Enjoy the day!
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