We are approaching the final weeks of Nico's first tball season with the Dripping Springs YSA, and it's been such a great experience! David took the plunge and signed up to be a coach! We knew it wouldn't take long. This league is a step up from the 6 game instructional season with the YMCA that we just came from. There was actually a tryout and a draft for the coaches to select players. (That's so funny to me.) Practices are Tuesday nights along with 14 games spread out on various Thursdays and Saturdays, and 4 additional playoff games. It seems like a pretty heavy commitment for a 5 year old, but Nico is ALL in!
For fall ball, the teams select names of Minor League teams. David settled on the Hot Rods, after he originally wanted to be the Knights (after his former player Austin's school, Central Florida), but I guess they didn't have the logo to make a jersey for that one. Nico was handed #2 and tells everyone it's Derek Jeter's number too, even though he doesn't even know of Jeter.
I'm just so proud to be Nico's mom, and it's a joy to watch him on the field and hear his excitement around the house on game days. I hope he never loses that energy and excitement and can carry it through to other things in life too. He often will get in full uniform at 9 am for a 2 pm game.
Despite being one of the youngest in the league, he is one of the better players. (We wouldn't expect any less, right?!) He's continued to really develop this season too and has started to have a sense for the flow of the game and rules. He's definitely not one of the ones out there picking his nose, but rather the one who is in ready position with his eye black on. He has been consistently hitting the ball through the infield and has even made a handful of outs on defense! A few of the highlights that come to mind include throwing a runner out at first from CF just behind 2nd base, catching a few balls as first baseman, and throwing a handful of runners out from pitcher to 1B. He actually made all 3 outs in an inning last week at pitcher!
There are only a handful of players that we've seen who can hit the ball with any level of authority and somewhat catch and throw. Most teams only make a few outs each game, if that. David happens to have a 3 of the top players, hence he is undefeated going into the last regular season game this week! He really isn't even trying to win though, as he is consistently rotating players around and making sure that they all have fun. He's said that it's his goal to make sure that all 12 players sign up to play in the spring. I love that he keeps this all in perspective. He has such a gift. The other coaches have actually expressed annoyance over David's success and over specific plays, i.e. when David worked on backing up bases one week, and his RF backed up first base, caught the ball, and stepped on first for the out. Ha. Gotta love it.
Here's a pretty typical hit for him these days.
And here's one of his outs at pitcher that I happened to be filming.
Sister hasn't missed a game yet. She's usually in sports attire.
The return of Stats Man.
It's fun to brag about Nico on here, but I ultimately hope he continues to have FUN and be proud of himself! He's really something special.
No comments:
Post a Comment