Fungo
Dave17, Good News!! Your job is not finished. I would venture to say I was at 90% of my son’s high school practices. No, I didn’t stick my head in the dugout or say words of encouragement during practice.. that was not the purpose of me being there. I was there because I enjoyed watching baseball practice and we lived a good distance from the high school and I would wait at practice so I could drive him home. I also spent thousands of hours at the high school building a 1,700 square foot concession/press-box/coach’s office, bleachers, dug outs, and fences. There were usually a couple of parents at practice and we talked between ourselves but we didn’t talk to the coach or player unless we were talked to first. I never said anything from behind the fence during practice or during games for that matter. I “coached” (if you could call it that) when my son was young but my greatest contribution to my son came after he started high school. I took off my rose colored glasses and set down with him and organize his plan for getting better. We (literally) would plan workouts, setup lessons, plan showcases and camps, research college rosters, discuss diet and exercise, discuss his strength and weaknesses, and determine what his best options were. As the pro draft loomed closer, my involvement became more intense. I helped him stay on track while I negotiated with the club. Dave, I became much more involved in my son’s baseball AFTER he started high school. I agree that you have to turn loose of something but... you also gain something greater in return. The real pleasure for me was recognizing and appreciating my SON’S accomplishments.. not MY own. Baseball just happened to be HIS field of choice. It would have been the same if he had chosen to be an artist or a chemist. Well....maybe not as much, but I still would have been involved!
Fungo
Fungo