Winter Wee Ball is one of the most enjoyable and frustrating things to do on the planet. I have to keep telling myself that these little guys are just as excited to be playing baseball as I was when I was 4, 5, or 6 years old. Their have very thirsty minds and their thoughts are going warp 10. If the number of questions generated in an hour and 15 mins could be converted into electricity we could power the greater Lexington area forever. I love teaching kids about the game that I love. The tough part is the required patience to deal with these guys. I feel that I am getting better at it but it is a test every week. When trying to teach everything that you say is somehow absorbed by the 5 year old mind and instantly turned into a statement or a question. Sometimes in the jungles of kid-dom, a place that I truly wish I could get back, these little baseball players say the funniest things.
During our introductions, players to coaches and coaches to players, I was introducing myself and Coach Paul Patterson and it begins. "Hey Fellas. My name is Coach Bale and this is Coach Paul Patterson." Response #1 - "My teacher's name is Mrs Patterson". Response #2 "We are not fellas". The entire practice was like this. I love it. "We are going to do some simple baseball drills in small groups. So I want to..." interrupted by one of my players "I am going to my grandparents house after" Of course I told him that was awesome! "So I want to break up in to groups. Group one...Group two... Group 3. Group 1 will go with..." and one of the players says "How much longer" Haha! "We've been here for 10 minutes and you are ready to go home?" His response was "no, I just wanna know how much longer" You're killing me Smalls!
These little guys are in for a treat. Paul, Shawn, myself or who ever else we might have come in to teach these very young players, will pour our hearts into this. With the patience of Job we will communicate what we know about this game in the simplest form with the hopes that some of it will stick. Maybe one of these guys is a future first rounder. Maybe the next Kentucky Wildcat star. At the least hopefully we are creating a love and understanding for this beautiful game that will last these little players a lifetime.
Coach Bale
