I have a 14 year old. A once intelligent, polite, well mannered kid that somewhere between 12 and now turned into a...god forbid...a teenager.
All of a sudden I know nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero. Okay I get that. So I call my own Father. You know to get a little sympathy. After he catches his breath, after laughing hysterically in the phone for 5 solid minutes, he says "There ya go."
Really? I was that bad? I, of course, don't remember it that way.
So the kid has been hitting well, but struggling with waiting on the ball. I don't off speed pitches. I mean just WAITING.
He had a 0-3 game the other night. As a 8th grader who starts, I get that he feels a little pressure to perform, since he's starting over some older kids. I gave all the advice..you know the old stand by's:
"Have confidence."
"You know you can hit. Just hit."
"It's only one game, relax."
and on and on.
So finally after that 0-3 game he comes home and of course he's sullen and just aggravated about his performance (or lack thereof). I leave it be. I didn't event talk about the game, except to compliment him on the great game he had defensively. He responded to that with "Couple of my throws from 3rd were way off." (Not one got past the 1B. But I let it be.)
So the next day, after his practice, I get home from work. His replacement wood bats came via UPS man and he asks to go hit...as he normally does every day of the week. I say "Sure" get the bucket and off we go to the nearby cage.
He's jumping, not waiting, changing this, changing that. I'm quiet. He then ASKS me what he's doing wrong. I CALMLY point out he's simply not waiting.
Finally he gets upset (not at me) frustrated and I just lose my patience. Basically what I tell him is this..
"You had a 0-3 game on JV. As a starting 8th grader. End of the world right? You know you can hit. So stop changing things, stop thinking. Once you step in the batter's box SHUT EVERYTHING ELSE OUT and just concentrate of seeing the ball from the pitcher's hand to your bat. Don't think about it just hit. The changes we've made in your swing will be there...without thinking about it."
So he wanted to hit another bucket, we went home...I never mentioned another word about it.
At the JV game the following day, we're playing a team with slower pitching. I get there in the middle of the 1st, and one of the Dad's informs me the kid hit a hard line drive single. Well that's good.
Second at bat was a hard shot over the RF's head, one hopped the fence (only 320). Stand up double. (If you've seen my kid run you'd know he has to hit it far to accomplish that LOL). Last at bat he really sat on one. Hit one to the LC gap, another double. So I'm leaving the park, the kids are filing out to get on the bus, and the kid comes running after me yelling at me. (He never does that) Tells me "You see my hits? I just used the stride for timing, and waited just like you said."
I resisted the urge to do the "I told you so" dance. And simply nodded and said "Good job."
On the ride to meet the bus back at the school, thats' when I did the I TOLD YOU SO YOU DUFUS dance. Got a couple of weird looks from passing motorists, but what can you do?
So anyone else waking up older and smarter? At least as far as their kids are concerned? LOL
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