Fall T-Ball: Cooper and the Braves

Cooper played t-ball again this fall.  In North Carolina, baseball is a nearly year-round sport.  He started in early August, and ended in late October.  This season he was on the Braves.

We opted out of pictures taken by a photographer, but I do have a few I took myself.

A team cheer post-game.  Goooooooo Braves!

Cooper was #9 this year.  He is getting better and better at batting.

 Denise and Jim were able to come for a game in September, the weekend before Cooper's birthday.  It was fun to have special guests to watch one of his games, and to cheer him on.

One night I looked to see where Cooper was. He was standing in right field, back to the game, with his baseball pants pulled up above his knees, socks rolled down.

It was chilly that night, but apparently he was too hot.

While Cooper enjoyed this t-ball season, his heart isn't in the game.  He likes batting, but doesn't enjoy the rest of his time because he plays outfield most of the time. This year they didn't have enough 6-7 yr old kids sign up, so the big kids played in the same league as the 3-5 yr olds.  This made it hard because the bigger kids, naturally better, played all the infield spots most of the time.  So Cooper was stuck in the "boring outfield."  His attention span would quickly run out, and he was often found not even paying attention to the game.  Because of this, he'd get stuck in the outfield again and again, a catch-22.

We're not sure whether he should keep playing t-ball, or if we should have him try soccer again, or even try a solo sport, like martial arts.  The decision is harder than it should be for a 5 year old, because after the spring, he'll have t-ball tryouts, and the coaches will actually draft the kids they want.  Insane!!  If we have him take one season off to try something else, he could fall terribly behind, and then not be good enough to even make a team.  It's crazy how much pressure is put on kids these days.  I'm not a fan of this part of the sports world these days.  What ever happened to trying a different sport every year until you were at least a teenager?  Sheesh.  Hard decisions for us, not wanting to hinder his sporting abilities, and wanting him to find the right sport for him, that he loves.