My All Star Players

The All Star tournament is over for the 9 & 10 yr. olds and the Juniors (13-15 yr. olds). The 11 & 12 year olds have moved on to sectionals. YEAH!!! I can't even begin to recount what has happened in the last 6-7 weeks. BUT I can say, just how very proud I am of my Squires.

My G.I. Joe's team, the Juniors, had a difficult time. I have to honestly say that it wasn't so much the players fault as the coaching. Players were being played in positions that they shouldn't have been played in. The assistant coach put his son in while he was still recovering from a badly pulled hamstring. He kept telling his dad he couldn't run, but he paid no attention to his son. The head coach didn't want to "meddle" in "father/son" issues, so he didn't get involved. The coach's attitudes were... ah... how can I say it... very poor. The flesh part of me wanted to say something else. If you degrade players you are NOT going to get the best performance out of them. The coaches did absolutely nothing to encourage and bring out the best in the players. The players all had potential. They were all "smack the ball" hitters and great fielders. They just didn't have good leaders and they fell apart. It broke my heart to see their brokenness. I hope and pray, that the coaches at not allowed to coach again. But then again, it's all on a volunteer basis. Needless to say, all this sent me into quite a flare up. I have to honestly say that my G.I. Joe's positive attitude and strong character is what kept me out of the loony bin. It sure helped to strengthen spirit.

My Warrior's team had over 6 players that were 9 years old. All the teams they played had mostly 10 yr. olds. Even so, they held their own. I have never in over 10 years seen a team come together like our little team. Well, except for the year my Knight coached. He has a way of bringing out the best in each player. I'm not just saying that because he's my Knight. This has been said by many other parents. :o) Any way, Coach Danny and Coach Todd were wonderful. They really balanced each other perfectly. They all played their little hearts out. There was this one team we had to play twice. During our first time against them, we played in their town. So a reporter from their newspaper was present. He wrote a big article regarding the game. The next time we played them, their coach had brought the newspaper and had given it to us. Some of our players names (including my Warrior's name) were mentioned in the sports section of the newspaper. A play with one of our players sliding into home plate was on the front cover of their sports section. We all thought, "This is what Little League is all about!". They other team had lost that game and still they shared the newspaper clipping with us. We were all touched. I should mention, that later on, I called the newspaper and ordered enough copies of that sports section for all the players and enough for them to share with other family members.

Like everything else in life, this was a growing and stretching experience. I hope and pray that each of us learned the lesson God intended us to learn. It's not fun having to go through the same lesson over and over again.

I'll update this post with some pictures as soon as I find them. :o)