Baseball

In the 4th or 5th Grade, my teacher made me promise her that I’d never become a teacher when I grew up. Her request wasn’t made out of malice — it wasn’t until High School when I had any teachers who simply didn’t like me, a couple justifiably so — but based on her own experience and out of concern for my future mental well-being. I can’t remember her name, and I don’t remember her specific reasons, but I do recall her as one of a handful of influential elementary school teachers who took a personal interest in me and my education.

When Salomé went into Teaching Fellows almost two years ago, I was initially a little jealous because there was a part of me that always wanted to be a teacher someday, despite my innocent promise years ago. Today, seeing what she’s gone through, how successful she’s been at it and, more importantly, how much she loves doing it, I realize I’d probably be a terrible teacher and, whatever her reasons, my old teacher was right.

When it comes to Isaac and India, I am generally the more patient of the two of us — partly because I don’t spend most of my day around a bunch of kids five days a week, and partly because I’ve always had a higher threshold for stress (to the point where I’ve been accused of everything over the years from being aloof to being a pothead) — but when it comes to homework, especially as Isaac’s 2nd grade workload becomes more time-consuming and more difficult for him, Salomé takes the lead and handles things much, much better than I do.

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On Saturday, we signed Isaac up for another season of Little League baseball and I agreed to coach again.  Last year it was non-competitive Tee Ball and it turned out to be a lot of fun, but this year we’ll be moving up to the Bantam level which is where things officially get competitive. Talking with the league commissioner yesterday, he equated dealing with some of the parents to having a conversation with someone who’d drank 20 beers and was feeling punchy, the kind of thing I was worried about happening last season but never did, and now I’m hooked so I’m not worrying about it too much. If anything, it’s more likely that I’d get into a fight with an opposing coach than one of my parents!

The main differences at the Bantam level, beyond there being winners and losers, is that coaches pitch to their teams instead of hitting off the tee and there’s only 12 kids on the field at a time. While the former will be challenging for most of the kids, the latter will be toughest part as it pretty much requires organizing a weekly practice in order to identify who’s best to play which positions and ensure they understand the various nuances involved in fielding those positions. I never really thought about how complicated the game is until I had to explain it to kids.

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