“ . . .This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again.” – James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams (1989)
In early June I attended my first parent pitch game as a grandparent. As a parent in the 1980s, I had coached Little League in the county, but not parent pitch, so I didn’t know what to expect. For some reason, I didn’t think it would be very much fun to watch. But I was wrong. Parent pitch was fun and surprising.
There are a lot of things that make parent pitch fun and enjoyable to watch. Every player gets to bat every inning. And when your team is not at bat, every player on the team gets to be a fielder. At the first game in June, my granddaughter was one of four left fielders and there were a total of 14 players on the field every inning!
One of the most enjoyable parts of parent pitch was watching the coaches work with the kids. So I decided to write this letter to publicly thank all of the parent pitch coaches from the summer 2011 season.
I would especially like to thank Brian Finke and Tom Nelson for helping coach my granddaughter’s team, the Lumberjacks. For eight weeks, I watched 14 youngsters learn the basics of baseball. But more than that, I saw these youngsters have fun and learn good sportsmanship. At most games, the kids didn’t know the score until the game was over.
And at every game Brian and Tom would set a good example by patiently walking over to players on both teams, giving them a high five, and telling them “good hit” or “good catch.” I applaud all youth baseball coaches and parents in Cook County who did the same this summer, and helped mentor a youngster by teaching them that winning is not the most important thing, it’s how you play the game that counts.
Rick Novitsky
aka Grampa Ranger Rick
Grand Portage
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