Too far...

Yesterday an incident occured at my son's final day of instructional league baseball. He was wrapping up a season of fun, and boy did he have a great time! Who doesn't remember their first baseball season as a little kid...

As I was sitting down, waiting for my son to bat for the final time this year, another parent from a different team walked up to me. He made some small talk, too which I paid little attention, as I watched my kid hit the second pitch over the third basemans' head. I cheered on my son like any parent. After he reached second base and the play was over, my jubilation quickly diminshed. Something I heard clicked on in my head. I turned to this parent, and said "What?" He asked if I was going to hold my son back a year in school to repeat kindergarten. Perplexed and scratching my head, I told him that my son was doing well in school. He looked at me, pulling down on his faded Red Sox ball cap, and said, "No, I meant for sports. He's a big kid. He could shine later on down the road." i thought he was joking, but sadly, he wasn't. I just kind of stared at this guy before i said no.

I watched my son chase a grasshopper as we left the field, headed for some well deserved pizza, trying to forget what I had heard just ten minutes earlier. Where has the innocense of sport, the "love of the game" gone? Has corruption filtered down this far? What fantasy is swimming through the mind of this guy?

Sports should be fun at this level, like in the movie "The Sandlot." Scarfing down a hot dog on the fourth of july as you run to a night game, pretending you are the greatest player who ever lived, going to the community swimming pool, and hanging with friends....pure fun! Just play. Pretend. Imagine.

I love sports and all they have to offer. My son likes playing sports. My wife and I don't force him to do anything, we ask him if wants to play. He may change his mind later down the road and decide he would rather be in a band, drama, or modern dance. Forcing him into a sport is not going to change the fact that he doesn't want to do it. What does matter is that he choses something he enjoys doing.

I feel bad for the child of this one parent. What chance in life does he have to be a kid or ever make his own choices later down the road? What does this incident say about society as a whole? I am afraid to answer this question. I think I'll just share a root beer float with my son.