Don't break your arm Brick

My son's first "All-Star" appearance. 

 
     When my son was 8 years old we signed him  up to play baseball with our local park district.  He played for the Cubs.  He was bigger than everyone else on the team and he did well enough to make the "All-Star" game, it was cute.  When he was 10 there were a few fathers that thought their kids were good enough to form a "part time travel" baseball team that had tougher competition than the park district league and therefore it would allow the kids that played to get better, quicker.  My son was asked to play with them.  That team did so well that the next year we went to "full time travel" which meant that we only played other travel teams and that it was a longer season and we actually did travel.  We went to Omaha, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati.  This team was pretty successful and I began to hear people talk about taking this team to an "elite" status which meant that we would play even better teams and travel even further.  The team was the Lisle Wolves and all of a sudden I began to have visions of my son one day stepping onto the field at Clark and Addison.  Not really, but I did see some great potential for our high school program.  The only problem was that only two of the twelve kids on the Wolves would actually go to Lisle High School.  But a seed had been planted.  If the high school program was going to be successful when my son got there then we needed to do something to improve the feeder system.

Third place finish in the Illinois Junior High School
State Baseball Tournament 2008.

     

       So when my son was entering 6th grade I determined that our Junior High should begin participating in the state Junior High league.  Now I don't claim to be the person that first thought up the idea, but I was the one that decided to make it my mission to make it happen while it could benefit my kid.  I first approached the new Junior High principal with the idea and he was very amenable.  The High School coaches who had attempted to start a program at the lower level several times before liked my enthusiasm and encouraged me to keep at it.  So I did the research, created a proposal and we approached the school board.   They agreed to pilot a program over the next two years.  That was perfect.  During my son's 7th and 8th grade years the Junior High would have a baseball (and to keep things equal a softball) team.  That meant that the core group of guys would have to opportunity to play together for six years instead of just four.  It turned out better than I could ever have anticipated when during the 8th grade season the team caught fire.  We went on a winning streak at the end of the season that saw us finish third in the state tournament.  

     Before my son was born I coached baseball, basketball, track, and tennis at one time or another for Lisle.  We were generally not very good.  But that didn't mean that we didn't try or that we didn't have pride in what we were doing.  It's just that to be successful you need to have a level of commitment on the part of the community to support feeder programs that will allow the athletes the time to develop before they get to the higher levels of competition that are found in high school.  So I am grateful for the community and its' support of the baseball program at the Junior High.  And now those same kids are juniors and seniors in high school and the team is off to one of it's best starts in our history at 16 - 4.  I know that my arm is in danger of breaking if I keep patting myself on the back, but I feel like I do have some small part in their success.  And I am completely enjoying this season because when my son reached an age where he could participate in sports I quit coaching so that I could be a fan.  And I am a great fan.  In the four years of his high school career (4 years of football and baseball and 2 years of basketball) I've only missed two games that he was in and that was a double header last season.  And it tore my heart out to miss. 

About to clock a double.

     I don't know how far our team will go this season, they have the potential to compete for a state title, but who knows.  What I do know is that I participated in my kid's life.  He has had interests in many things and I have tried to support him in all of them.  Again, I'm not trying to brag.  I'm just basking in the experience.  I love being a father.  And I am completely aware that I have a pretty exceptional kid, but I determined a long time ago that I was going to be his biggest fan regardless of the arena.  So I'm grateful and proud and a little cocky about the baseball team this year.  I promise to work on my humility after the season.