Second "Game of the Week"

Since yesterday was the third Monday of the month (oh my goodness it really is hard to believe that March is halfway over already) I didn’t have the Monday Gamblers Anonymous Speakers meeting to attend. This allowed me to watch the entirety of my daughter’s game and even though they lost again it was an entertaining time. My daughter is very involved as the pitcher and she has evolved into her team’s top pitcher. This can be attributed to her hard work and determination along with the fact that her team is still learning how to play the game. Nonetheless since my daughter is pitching I find myself cheering more and more for her and subsequently for her team. It was interesting hearing my daughter’s teammates talk at the end of the game. Some of her teammates were keenly aware that the team had yet to win a game while others could have cared less. One teammate had no idea what the record of 0 and 7 meant which could be a very good thing! In any event these are girls from 8 to 11 years old and as long as they are having fun nothing else matters.

Prior to Saturday’s game I dropped my daughter off on the way to my son’s religious service. I stayed at the field for a few minutes watching my daughter warm-up and as I stayed I struck up a brief conversation with some of my daughter’s softball coaches. The conversation was about playing softball and having fun. The point I tried to make was the fact of having the girls learn the game and in return hoped that they were having fun. I retold the story of how my daughter said to me without any prompting that she wanted to play softball exclusively all the way through high school. The coaches thought this was very good and one coach had a slightly different take on having “fun” while playing softball.

This coach has put a great deal of time and effort into teaching his daughter’s how to play softball. The girls see a hitting coach, pitching coach and have daily practice. This particular coach has even turned their backyard into batting cage complete with pitching machine and fencing. The goal of the coach was to get his daughter’s into college on a softball scholarship. I didn’t have much to say because I am a big believer of having my children enjoy what their activities and I would never force them into doing something they didn’t want to do. I didn’t get the impression that there was much of a choice for the daughters and I basically remained silent. The part I just didn’t understand was the fact that this coach is so good with the girls but so serious with their own daughter.

My day started with the usual trip to the gym. After taking the last two days off I was more than ready to get back. I had a good workout and this week is a “recovery” week in the marathon training program. These are the weeks I really need to take it easy because it does help towards the end of the program with being fresh. I do have a tendency of overdoing it even during these easy weeks but I am doing my best to adhere to the program. Things are progressing well and I realize that the marathon will be here before I know and it will come down to those last few miles but I will as always take it one stride at a time.

The work day was the usual of not knowing what to expect and that is what happened. I have been in my new position for over a month now and I really haven’t done the things I would have liked to do. It seems I take one step forward and three steps back. I am covering a great deal of ground and hopefully as things progress I will be able to accomplish the goals I continue to set for myself. This is a fascinating organization and I do bring some “expertise” to the table and I just need to facilitate what I have learned in the past few years into my position. I do believe everything will continue to work out for the best.

It was my son’s turn for his “game of the week”. The baseball field is a two minute drive from my office which does work out very well. My son’s team has hit a bump in the road over the past few games. I may have overestimated the team because their bats have been asleep. My son’s bat wasn’t asleep in the first inning as he lined a double to left centerfield. This was the hardest ball I have ever seen hit. Unfortunately he got thrown out at third while trying to steal as he started his slide a little too early. He was the catcher for most of the game and the head coach really likes his catching ability. My son only got up one more time and he struck out looking on what could have been a questioned call by the umpire. My son wasn’t too happy with the called third strike and said something to me about the “stupid” umpire which I quickly corrected and did my best to set him straight. The final score had my son’s team on the losing end of the stick but it was great being at the game and that concluded the second game of the week.