Baseball

This spring, Gavin had the opportunity to play tee- ball and Brooks was the assistant coach.  Their team  practiced a couple of times and then had 16 games in a matter of a few weeks.   Whew!  This meant for at least 3 nights a week our family was at the baseball fields.  Gavin picked right up where he left off last year playing in Saudi and had some great technique and skills!  We were pretty impressed!  For the most part, Gavin played at the pitchers position or first base.  He even got to play short stop and third a few times and did extremely well fielding the ball!!  It was fun to watch him improve over time and continue gaining a better understanding of how the game fully works.  The teams didn't play with strikes and balls since it was tee ball and depending on the opponents team, sometimes you could get out, and sometimes you could stay on base.  No matter what though, if you were your teams last batter then you automatically could run all the bases!  Hmmm...  We did have a great team and everyone played their hearts out-- wait, who am I kidding... Brooks and the other coach were constantly telling kids to stand up, quit playing in the dirt, watch the ball, ignore the train passing by, etc, etc...  but the kids still had fun!  Gavin was a little more serious about playing when he was on the field so they were rarely having to get him to focus!  

Eventually, Miles was tired of sitting on the bleachers and wanted in the dugout.  Before we knew it, he was standing in the field behind Brooks, then tried fielding some balls and making a few plays.  By the last 4 or 5 games Miles got to be bat and run the bases!  We always got permission from the other teams coach and their players were good sports to cheer Miles on and not get him out!  Then... Brooklyn decided she wanted in the dugout with all the players and not sit on the bleachers anymore, but that's as far as we let her get!!  Maybe a few more years!

Gavin loved baseball and missed it on his days off!  The kids play ball every single day in our back yard and know the fundamentals of baseball so well, they all correct each other and motivate each other to try again!!  

Baseball

At the end of January, Gavin started playing baseball through his school in their Friday league.  Thankfully, we picked him up a glove, bat, and cleats last summer before heading back over here so he's been prepared and ready for baseball for some time now.  He is LOVING playing and is pretty good, too.  

They practice on Fridays for about 20 minutes and then "play a game" against the only other 4-5 year old team.  There are no outs, each child gets to bat 2 times, and they are always allowed to run the bases.  If they hit the ball in the infield, they run to first and wait until the next batter hits, then they can run.  Parents stand around the bases to help direct the kids on when and where to run.  Might not be real baseball, but they are learning and having fun.  

The kids are cute. It took a few Fridays for the kids to learn the fundamentals, but after just 3 practices, they've got things down (for the most part).  Gavin has exceeded our expectations and has amazed us with his ability to play ball, be aware of what's going on, he rarely misses the ball when he bats (off a tee), and runs pretty fast to get the balls in the field.  Brooks has been helping out with Gavin's team and is out on the field with the kids.  He's taught the kids about batting, running the bases, and fielding ground balls.  We're grateful Brooks has had the opportunity to get Fridays off so he can be apart of this with Gavin.  It's also made our Fridays fun family days!  We all go out and cheer Gavin on.  Miles tries to play with the big kids and anxiously awaits for when the game is over and he gets to hit the ball and run the bases.  

We're loving that Gavin has finally gotten to be involved with a sport and are impressed with how much he loves it and how good he is.  Everyday he asks if it's Friday so he can play ball.  Brooks has been working with Gavin during the week in the backyard or taking him to the racket ball court to practice.  Each week it seems Gavin gets more comfortable with the sport and more into the game!  We're so proud of him!