Two stories. First, 1998, we were in the state championship game and one of our players, Matt Evers, came up to the plate. Matt hit a grand slam that put us ahead. What most people didn't see, but of which I watch about once ever couple of months on video, is Matt touching home plate and pointing at me. You see, Matt had been told from early on that he could not pull the ball. We worked with Matt on pitch location, being able to load and drive his hips... Well, our pratices would end, many of the players would go AND THEN, THEY'D ALL RETURN. Yup, we'd have 2 practices. Matt would get extra bp and I'd throw balls he was to try to drive out of the park to left. He would get frustrated and we'd work and work for hours. That big fly was 2 years of work. We won a state title and went 40-0. I look at the video and him pointing and am so proud of him!
The second is as a parent and is about softball. My daughter was pitching in a huge tournament against a team that was 32-0 at the time. She battled and they were very good. At one point, the coach for the other team started yelling insults at her and it got nasty. I'm not one to sit and let an adult verbally abuse a child - any child. We were in the top of the 7th inning and visiting. It was 0-0. BB came to the plate with 2 outs and hit a ball way out of the park. She now had to pitch the bottom of the 7th. K, K, K! On the last K, she was crying. Her team rushed her and she was calling for me and Mom. For all parents, to see your child cry happy tears like this... well... We won the tournament!