Found a home, finally

[EmToTheDee]

For the first time in four years, my daughter is returning to a team for a second year. No new uniforms, no whole new cast of teammates. Woo hoo!!!

And she's returning as the incumbent #1 pitcher. She had to work hard to earn that spot, but the Coaches trust her in the circle to play smart softball and lead the team. And she's worked her way up from the bottom of the batting order to a top six batter.

Of course, it's a new season and the team has added another solid pitcher (a little faster, but much less control than my daughter) and two top half of the order batters. So in a few weeks we'll hit the diamond and get back to work to maintain her earned spots. No complacency, but it's okay to smile and be proud of her during our little August lull between travel ball seasons.

 

[Eric F]

Good luck to your DD. I hope she has an enjoyable road ahead. What age group is she playing?

 

[EmToTheDee]

Good luck to your DD. I hope she has an enjoyable road ahead. What age group is she playing?

Thanks. She's 2nd year 14U.

 

[sbdad03]

All I can say is, sit back and enjoy it! My daughter is going into her senior year of high school and it absolutely flies by!!

 

[softgabby]

All I can say is, sit back and enjoy it! My daughter is going into her senior year of high school and it absolutely flies by!!

Senior year does fly by quickly. It felt like just last month, we were coming back to school from summer vacation and now that I've graduated, it feels even quicker to head off to college. Tell her to enjoy her senior year and keep keepsakes from throughout the year when she hangs out with her friends. Also, have her keep a scrapbook and keep photos and stuff she takes with her friends so she can look back over it and think back to all the great memories she'll have. I have a scrapbook with a lot of photos, keepsakes, and articles where either my friends or I were in the local paper. This will also be great to show my sons and/or daughters someday.

 

[ANNASDAD]

All I can say is, sit back and enjoy it! My daughter is going into her senior year of high school and it absolutely flies by!!

Yes sir it sure does!

 

[EmToTheDee]

Follow up... Fall season is over and my daughter is leaving travel softball. It took her two months to build up the courage to tell me that she wants to do other stuff four to five days of the week. She was so afraid that I'd explode and get mad at her.

What happened in reality is that I looked at her for three seconds with my mouth open, took a deep breath and told her how proud I am for her to have the courage to speak up for what she wants. And then we had a good hug and cry together. Bozo kid just got selected as team Captain by her teammates and coaches have her at lead-off.

I truly believe that without her years of travel ball and good coaches that encouraged / supported, she would not have had the strength to speak up for her self. Mission accomplished. She still wants to play high school ball, but we (the whole dang family) now get our lives back.

 

[uncdrew]

Bittersweet. I gotta say I'd be both sad and proud if/when that happens.

Any possibility she'd like to join a lower team that only practices once/week? But still play tournaments?

 

[djcarter1966]

School ball shouldl give her that chance....hang out with friend contribute to the team have fun....but after 3 or 4 months its over.

 

[EmToTheDee]

Bittersweet. I gotta say I'd be both sad and proud if/when that happens.

Any possibility she'd like to join a lower team that only practices once/week? But still play tournaments?

Sad and proud is exactly the feelings I have.

Re: Other teams... We'll see if she gets the itch over the summer and into next Fall. She's got a permanent invite to guest play for one or two of the lower level teams in our Org. She's done so in the past and had fun, but only because she could ignore the occasional cascade of errors knowing it's "not her team". I don't think she could join one of these teams for good without a personality swap.