Coachmay said: "I don't care how good your son is. He will be a baseball player for only a short time in his life. He will be your son forever. "
In 8th grade my son had a total collapse in one game and hit like 5 batters over 2 or 3 innings. He went on to have a better year, but still had a few hit batsmen here and there. That event stuck with me, and a lot of other people, unfortunately. I think it may still sit in the backs of some coach's minds. Anyway, fast forward to the beginning of the 9th grade season. Son takes to the mound in relief in one game and hits the first batter with the first pitch. I've been sitting there fretting over that possibility and bam!
My eyes fell. I said, "Oh, no." A coach muttered, "That's exactly what we didn't need." Almost immediately a vision of my son as a little child washed over me, and visions of him as so much more than a baseball player came to my eyes. And I was struck with the knowledge that, "He may well fail today and even, for all intents and purposes, end his baseball career. However, he's still going to go home and be my son. I'm going to get to spend many more years with him, Lord willing. I am going to get to hug him and have conversations with him and get to do things. I'm going to get to watch him grow up and marry a great girl. All of this is really not that big of a deal."
I started this post for the purposes of giving a tip of the cap to the coaches. I've only done some little league coaching, but I really respect and try to honor you guys. I pray that I will never be one of those parents. Thanks y'all.
P.s.: In 9th grade, son went on to be the number 1 JV pitcher and was granted a number of call ups to varsity.