Watching and letting the kids play

If you have young children between the ages of 5-18, you spent the weekend at a youth league baseball game.

In the last couple of weeks, youth baseball leagues have started, as well as youth softball leagues.

Parents and children will flock to area fields from now through July to enjoy the great games of baseball and softball together as a family.

Our household is no different.

We have four boys that are playing this year. Our 15-year-old, Ryan, is playing high school base-ball for Washington in Jefferson County, W.V.

Matthew, our 9-year-old is playing in the Cal Ripken League, while our 8-year-old, Jordan, is in his final year of machine pitch.

Then we come to our 5-year-old Noah.

He is playing his first year of T-ball and yes, I'm coaching the team.

We are the Orioles and I have 11 children -- seven boys and four girls -- to coach and teach how to run, hit, throw and not to play in the dirt while the game is in progress.

Everyone gets to bat every inning, which makes everyone happy, and no score is kept.

If you are tagged out or forced out, you do have to sit.

But the main concept is to teach the kids what to do on a baseball diamond.

We have played two games and so far no one has been injured. Only one sand castle has been built in the infield.

And she did a great job on that sand castle.

Noah is our catcher and at times he squats behind home plate as if he were ready to receive a pitch from the pitcher's mound and at other times he is lying on his back making dirt angles with his arms and legs.

He called timeout in our first game. Myself and the opposing coach asked him why he called time-out?

He said, "I need to talk to mom."

The reason for the conversation with mom? He was putting in his order for what he wanted for dinner -- chicken and french fries.

He would eat chicken and french fries for breakfast if you let him.

Only two games into a 17-game schedule, our players are well aware of the fact that if they get someone out they go and sit down.

Each and everyone tries to get someone out and I guess that is good because it keeps their atten-tion on the game for most of the time.

We hear conversations about what cartoon they watched on TV earlier in the day, or about the games they played on Wii or on their Nintendo DS or XBOX.

All in all, it's a great time when you can go to a baseball field with your children and watch them play the game you grew up loving.

As for my children this weekend, two are in tournaments that have us at the baseball field each day during the weekend.

To say the least, it was hot at the field on Saturday after an absolute perfect night on Friday night.

We left the field at 10 p.m. after getting there at 5:15. Saturday we were back at 9:30 a.m., and played into the night once again.

We will be back out there Sunday afternoon for the final round of games.

This season, as a parent, go out to your children's games. While you are there enjoy them and the game and try not to put too much emphasis on winning.

I know that is why we play the games. But we also need to understand they are children and they will only be children once.

Youth league coaches also give a lot of their time helping our children and if they don't get your child as many at bats or as many innings as you feel they should, give them time. They are woking to get as many kids as much playing time as they possibly can.

With the warmer temperatures, it's time to play ball. Enjoy.

Jeff Christian is a freelance columnist and he appears each Sunday in The News & Messenger. He can be reached at christianjeff@rocketmail.com.