My Kids

When you coach a youth sport – any sport – as long as I did, you are bound to have touched the lives of many young people.

In my case, I coached more than 100 young men (and, when we were in t-ball, even a couple of young ladies) during the course of my time at Farragut Baseball, Inc. One of my coaching colleagues remarked recently that he considered anyone to have played on any of his teams – and he coached almost as long as I did if not longer – was always one of ‘his kids.’

I know what he means. These guys will always be ‘my kids.’

Recently, I have heard a lot of news about some of my former players. Of course, now, they’re all juniors and seniors in high school. In the case of the big left hander, he sports a very full beard these days. They’ve all been driving cars for a while now. They have part-time jobs and girlfriends and deep voices.

We’re well past the days of Twizzlers and Big League Chew! And, it has been a full 30 months since the Choppers played their last game together and hoisted the trophy as Knox County Champs.

Still, I follow their accomplishments and I cheer for them – even if I do so from the sidelines. You see, as much as I touched their lives, they touched mine as well.

Two former Choppers, who have recently gone on to success in other sports, recently signed Letters of Intent to play sports in college. That is exciting news. Others have pending opportunities.

Other former players have decided to hang up their spikes and focus on studies and part-time jobs (and ‘girls and junk’). Competition is tough and sometimes you decide it is time to move on.

Two former Choppers who have moved out of state, stay in touch through the magic of the internet.

One of them ‘friended’ me on Facebook and we exchange pleasantries now and then. The other out-of-stater asked me recently for a letter of recommendation. I was honored to write that letter.

Another former Chopper asked if he could list me as a job reference. I told him, ‘absolutely.’ I would give him nothing but the highest marks (as I did when he was on the mound striking out the opposition).

Then, of course, there is the case of the aforementioned left hander. We had the complicated combo of a father/son relationship going on while we were also coach/player. My coaching of Paul, these days, relates more to life lessons than pitching fundamentals.

He, too, is sorting through the options for the next chapter in his life even as he is running the high school victory lap that is known as ‘Senior Year.’ I’ve written about his many exploits here. But the one I haven’t covered is the work in progress. The question of “Where will I go?” when it comes to his college choice. The answers, I suspect, will come in the spring.

Ah…Spring. Back in the Chopper days, we’d be ready to begin practicing for a new season. We’d hit the fields, in earnest, by late February. We’d have our roster set. We’d be ordering uniforms. We’d begin planning our schedule for the next few months.

These days, though, the former Choppers are planning different kinds of schedules – as the juniors prepare to become seniors and as the seniors plan for going to college next year.

And as their former coach, I will be rooting for ‘my kids’ all the way as they proceed through this exciting time in their lives.

JG

Originally posted 12/11/2012