Y'all. On Sunday, N tried out for the summer tournament team, and it is my (completely unbiased) opinion that he was one of the better players who tried out. On Saturday, however, he had a bit of an issue during his game. He hit the ball to the pitcher, and didn't even attempt to run it out. The coach of the opposing team (who is also the tournament coach for the summer) took notice of it, and that proved to be N's downfall.
When the list was posted this morning, I opened it and was excited to see his name...only, then I looked again and saw that it wasn't the correct last name, and the other N had made it. I will never forget the look on my boy's face. Ever. He put his head down on the table and just cried. I tried to console him, and he begged me, tears streaming down his face, to leave him alone. And my heart broke. Over and over, it broke, all day. I text his coach, who was as unbelieving as I was. He called the other coach to find out why my boy didn't make it (he's kind of invested himself in my kid, which I absolutely love because N has done so well this season), and the other guy essentially told him that N had a great tryout, but he just couldn't get the lack of effort on Saturday out of his mind.
I was really angry when he told me that, because I don't feel like it's right to penalize a 10 year-old boy for a mistake he made in ONE game...a game we weren't even originally scheduled to play. At the same time, I'm appreciative of it because my son has a horrible problem with his attitude. And he doesn't seem to think his attitude will impact his life on and off the field. When I told him it boiled down to his attitude, he got really upset and swore he'd never play baseball again. Later, we talked about it, and he admitted he loved the game, and was looking forward to playing against the tournament coach again on Saturday...and kicking their butts!
That's right, buddy. Be polite and respectful, but beat them into the ground. And he will. Because I've heard (from several sources...again, not just my opinion) he's the best catcher in the 10 year-old league, which is awesome...because he's only been catching since October. I think it's sad that this coach saw him catch the game of his life a couple of weeks ago, and even commented on how impressive it was, but only remembered a stupid mistake on his part because he was disappointed in himself.
Life lesson learned. I hope. When he got home from school, I took him to IKEA for a snack (which I realize is weird), and then we went to get my hair trimmed. One of the things I love about the woman who does my hair is that she loves to experiment with things, and I love to let her. Currently, my hair is blond, but it's still a little too "yellow" for me, so she's going to tone it down a little on Saturday. The process tonight, going from dark to light, was a lot longer than I anticipated. Thankfully, N brought entertainment, and bless him, he didn't complain once.
I love our time together. I really do. And now, I'm working on critiquing work for other students before I go to bed, because I seemingly have a knack for it.
Who knew?!
Aubs
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