Little League Teaches Kids Many Life Lessons--Adults Too

Who can learn the most from Little League?

Being a wise old woman I would have to say "everyone".

Having two sons has made me see many unexpected things in life close up and personal.  Two sons from the same parents can turn out different in their God given abilities.

My oldest son was born with what then was called a club foot. It was not a match to his "normal" leg.

From the six week checkup in June of 1969 until he began walking at twelve months I exercised both of his legs every time I changed a diaper.  At twelve months there was no longer a visible difference.

As a professional physical education major I had learned in all my courses how physical exercise is good for the body as well as for changing a lot of "mistakes," and I believed what I had learned.

My oldest son did not become physically adept and struggled with most physical tasks.  When he was three he became the older brother to a gifted "naturally athletic" younger brother.

The youngest ran us ragged and never wanted to stop.  At times he fell asleep with his head on the dining room table as the rest of us finished our meals because he had been so active all day.  Before he entered kindergarten he decided he had to be able to jump rope 100 times.  We encouraged this partly to get him to count to 100 and were taken by surprise when he actually accomplished it one night on our wooden front porch during a rain.

Our oldest did not like sports, but I did and felt that the experience of being a member of a team would be good for him. His lack of ability just caused me to have many more practice sessions in which he would soon become discouraged because his brother picked all the skills up readily, soon excelling at them even though he was too young to be on a team.

Our first year in Little League was more than overwhelming.

Whenever our son was up at bat, parents and their children on and off the team groaned audibly, and we heard, "Oh no, here comes an out, Willis is at bat!"

When our son took the field, "Oh great, hope no one hits it to Willis; he can't catch, run or throw.  We're whipped!"

The rules stated every player on the team had to play during a game, but the other parents always hoped for a miracle keeping our son on the bench.  "Our" team did not win much that year.

I will never forget the first time our son had to run from first base to second for the first time after having been walked.  He did not touch the base and the coach started yelling and jumping up and down, "Tag the base, tag the base!" he yelled in frustration.   Finally hearing the coach and realizing he was supposed to respond, he reached down and "tagged" the base.  He did know how to play tag from having played "Tag" at school recess of course.

Our second year we had a young phenom on our team who was one year older and ten years more advanced in baseball than our son. 

Everything began the same with the moaning and groaning when our son had to take his turn.  At first the phenom stared with disbelief that anyone could be so inept.  Gradually he would look around at the kids, parents and coaches when the jeering began.  I observed him closely fearing he might lash out at our son for not helping the team win games, since he was a star player.  Imagine my surprise and delight when he befriended our son and turned everyone's lives around.

No one would boo the star, and when he accepted our son everyone else gradually did too.  "The star" came to our house to play and helped us get our son to practice.  For the first year or two our youngest benefited more from this alliance than our oldest did, which was okay too.

Our son became much better and was more readily accepted, and as he grew into his body he began to hit homers and run to catch fly balls.  When he graduated to pony league he was considered a star.

So, I want to thank my family's dear friend Teddy Connelly who could have gone on to play at the bigs, were he not a small town boy, and had he not joined the Coast Guard instead.

Teddy was our angel, and I will never forget how he watched our son struggle, then stepped in and befriended our whole family.  He taught everyone at Little League a lesson they may never forget; and he did it in the name of friendship.

Someday I hope I can pay Teddy back.