1/6/2010 Joining the ranks

I did something so mainstream today, I'm not sure what to make of it. And I'm surprised how excited I am about it.

I signed Julian up for Little League. Little League! It doesn't get more all-America than that!

It didn't have to be Little League, it could have been another baseball organization, except that's just what's available where we live. And Julian wanted to do baseball.

He'll be in their very first division: Tee-ball. No pitchers, games are 3 innings or an hour max, one practice a week, one game on Saturdays. The season is 3 months long, starting in March.

Still, it's such a foreign world to me. What do we know for organized team sports? The only team sport experience at all in this family is my Canadian brother-in-law who plays hockey. And my nephew, who's now also taking hockey. Other than that, the world of practices, games, teams and uniforms is completely new.

And I'm surprised how excited I am about it. Maybe it's because employment looms -- how can I possibly balance life with work? But I'll be darned if life is going to come to a screeching halt because of work. Team sports is very popular these days, I want my kids to have the chance to participate.

Gabriel wants to do soccer, though its season is in the fall, which is why Julian is our team-sport initiate. Natural ability says little about their ultimate success in a sport (or in school or in life), but there's no question that everyone has their own strengths. Gabriel runs like a deer and throws like a girl, so it's just as well he prefers soccer. Julian runs like a girl but he can throw (or so I'm told by others who know), so baseball might work well for him, though there's plenty of running too. I had fun talking to him tonight about the rules about baseball, and he knew more than I thought, based on his daycamp last summer.

Me, a "soccer mom"? Seemed so unlikely. But baseball somehow seems like more fun, even though there's more action in soccer, and I personally would far, far prefer to play soccer than baseball (as my own natural abilities are much more in line with Gabriel than Julian's). But, as we grownups continue to learn throughout our child-raising careers, it's not about us. Either way, I'll be on the sidelines, cheering happily -- between surreptitious glances at my watch.

1/6/2010