T-Ball Tuesdays...

...and Saturdays.  Yep.  As if soccer wasn't painful enough for us to watch, we have signed Nicky up to play t-ball.  We even went a step further - Kris is helping one of the dad's from our soccer team coach (Trevor's - he and Nicky get along really well).  I have to admit though, the little guy isn't all that bad.  He makes contact with the ball; yes, it is on a "t", and he doesn't really have much power behind it - it's almost like he "scoops" the ball off the "t" - but at least he actually hits it!  There are several kids on the team that have a great swing, but they mostly hit the "t", so given the two options, I'm pretty proud. 

All 12 players are on the field at the same time; the other team hits the ball; 7-10 of our players run for the ball causing a pile-up; one victorious hand shoots in the air holding the ball yelling "I got it!".  The others tend to just hang back, digging in the dirt, looking sullen and bored. 

Nicky complains that he doesn't get the ball, but then refuses to jump into the mix to try.  He's just so timid and doesn't have much of a competitive streak. Not sure how to remedy that.  He did get two grounders during the first game, so we praised him a ton and that seemed to help it sink in a bit and boost his ego.

The league is set up so that everyone wins.  There's a 50 minute time limit; we go through the line-up twice for each team, and everyone has to touch (and stay on) each base so there's really no score at the end (unless 24 - 24 counts).  I suppose they have the rest of their lives to learn that there's a winner and a loser?

It's pretty safe to say that Nicky appears to enjoy t-ball better than soccer so far - a few of the other parents that had kids on the soccer team have even noticed it.  Maybe he'll be the next Derek Jeter instead of Pele? :)