I somehow find myself coaching tee ball this year, albeit never having coached children before in my life.

And not only did I agree to do it, it's actually turned out to be a successful and rewarding experience.

I have about five parents who help regularly and the kids are really playing very well. Their little faces just light up when you say a positive word or two to them.

In case you don't know, tee ball is a sport for young children in which the kids hit the ball off a stand, or tee. Otherwise, play is similar to baseball, with a few exceptions. No score is kept and each player who hits the ball advances to first base regardless of whether or not they beat the ball to the bag. There are no outs in tee ball.

The last time I was at a tee ball game was when I took a little fellow to a game in Grayson County, Va. about 15 years or so ago. I worked with him some and was surprised at the game that there was no score and no winner or loser. With our competitive mindset, sometimes it's hard to believe there could be a sport without a winner, or at least a score.

I don't remember that existing when I was little, but I didn't play tee ball We played softball or baseball in the yard or cow pasture sometimes, but that really doesn't count. Organized sports just weren't part of my life until I was older.

I have always had somewhat of an interest in sports, including baseball. At one point, I was a full-time sports writer. While that isn't something I'd particularly want to do now—since it mostly requires working nights and weekends and being away from the family—I enjoyed it then.

I understand the ins and outs of the game fairly well, but I had never really even considered taking on a group of kids, some of whom had never hit or caught a ball and most of whom didn't know where first base is, and trying to turn them into a team.

I found myself doing so after I signed up my daughter for her second year of tee ball and found out that there weren't enough coaches.

In fact, there were only half the required number needed to field the four teams for the Alleghany County Recreation Department's league.

Somehow I heard myself agreeing to do this thing without really putting much thought into the matter. Honestly, I was a bit nervous about taking on the responsibility.

I had some good reasons. I had never run drills or taught basic skills to groups of children before; my last coaching experience was an intramural team in college; and my last experience playing baseball was in grade school.

I might note that the team I coached (and played for) in college came in third place. However, there were only four teams and the last place team had to forfeit a game. We were that bad. In my defense, the other teams had already been put together and all the best players were stacked on their rosters. Not having a list of players who had asked to play to choose from, I was forced to actually go into the cafeteria and hallways and try to recruit enough volunteers to fill out a team. If you think it's easy to build a team out of people who never signed up to play to start with, try it some time.

Anyway, after agreeing to coach, I got to recruit my own players for the team. We had a list of the 42 or so kids that wanted to play this year and we all picked the children one at a time. Instead of picking the best players (I didn't know who they were anyway), I first tried to pick the kids who my daughter knew, or whose parents I already knew, while still ending up with the same number of boys and girls.

Obviously, some of the other coaches picked kids off my list as the thing went on, so it didn't always work out that way. By the end, I did know most of the parents of the 10 kids on the team and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of parents who turned out to help me later.

After choosing our players, we had to pick our team name. Since I'm not really a fan of any team in particular, I picked the Braves. That was the name of the team my daughter was on last year. We had the first practice on a Sunday and that gave me an opportunity to see my players for the first time.

After we went through some drills—catching the ball, fielding the ball and batting—we played an inning against another team so that our players could get a feel for how the games might go.

That first day, some of the kids didn't know where to go after hitting the ball and most of them wanted to carry the bat with them as they ran to first. I'd say there would be fewer outs at first if the batter got to keep the bat, but then again, baseball likely would be a different sport altogether.

Anyway, after playing a few games, there have been several moments where the kids really got to shine. As a parent or a coach, those are the moments worth working toward.

When the children step up and make a play or a good throw, it makes it all seem worthwhile. They all learn so fast that it seems hard to believe that they haven't already been playing for a year or two.

Every once in a while we have a little ‘daisy picking' going on, which is my term for building sandcastles, pulling weeds, watching the clouds roll by or having a chat on the field.

However, the best one I've seen lately is when a kid from another team took up some of the lime off the field and put it down her shirt. It seems that just when you think you have kids figured out, they do something else.
 

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