This weekend was his first "real" suited up intersquad full game with umps and all and he was left feeling disappointed. I tried to encourage and talk to him about his disappointment and explain that this was not at all like high school. Each boy/man (he's just 18) there was there for a specific reason because of their skill. The plays that were made at this level are expected and not shockers. It's a huge transition for him I would assume coming from the upperclassman that everyone turned to who would make the plays, to being the only freshman on the varsity team proving himself all over again. The boys have all been pretty good to him....I'm sure there are things he hasn't shared, but we are going with he'd tell me if I needed to know mentality. He carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and when he doesn't perform to his liking it's hard to watch him navigate those feelings. He's also been placed in a new position and feels like he's struggling to get it right, even though some things you can't teach he's just going to have to learn to adapt and expand his baseball resume to include left field. He's always been a 3rd baseman, although has been utilized as a true utility player and has actually played every position on the diamond and succeeded at it because of his pure athletic and baseball brain and ability, however 3rd is where he would call home. He's willing and wanting to play anywhere coach puts him that allows him playing time. He is a hard worker and is thankful for even getting this opportunity. How did you all handle their first year with all the ups and downs? How did you decipher when as a mom you hug his neck and when you get firm and tell him to quit beating himself up and suck it up? Perfect example was he was given bunt sign..which he did, however he got underneath it instead on top of it which caused it to pop up and be caught by the catcher. He's a bunting machine and has probably gotten on as much on hits as bunting. He just kept saying I can't even bunt mom. My job was to advance the runner and I couldn't even do that. My response was, "You know how to bunt. You know what you did wrong. You know how to fix it. The pitcher knows you personally (5th year sr who was one of the first people to take my son under his wing and help him and what you were going to do and pitched to you accordingly). You made a mistake. SO WHAT"? Learn from the mistake now when it doesn't matter and move on. I hate that he's put so much pressure on himself. I know he's proving himself to not only himself, but his team and coaches. Please tell me others have experienced this same roller-coaster ride? He's not guaranteed a playing position on varsity, however he's in the varsity locker room, has a locker, practices with varsity, plays majority of the time during intersquad but does switch out with another upperclassman. He's taking 16 hours and doing the work study for financial assistance and still maintaining his GPA somewhere in the area of 3.7. Any encouraging words from those of you who have been there? DH just says "He'll figure it out. He's a smart kid with a good head on his shoulders." SIGH wish it were that easy to turn off my worry button.
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