Baseball is a big deal here! That is an understatement. Not being from a sports family nor from a small town, I don't know how it compares with other places. All I can say is that they take it seriously. A mom told Chip last Fall that "this is when they decide if they will play college ball or not!" Chip said, "Really, I wasn't thinking anything about college when I was 6!" Chip could not coach Streed's team this Spring so he recruited a friend to do it and he helped when he was in town. Our little team was sweet! Does that statement tell you of their skill level? We finished probably 10th out of 14 teams. That's right folks, 14 teams of 6 & 7 year olds!
Streed loves the game! That too is an understatement. He talks about baseball all the time. He talks about his team for this Fall, he talks about rules for the Fall such as bunting and stealing, he talks about his uniform for the Fall etc. I have to cut him off sometimes and tell him to talk to his Dad about it. I hate to squish his excitement but I can't take it. And I don't know the answers.
All-Stars are a big deal here! That too is an understatement. You would think that at the end of the season the best kids would be chosen from tryouts. Not so much. About a month and a half before the season ended the selected All-Star coach put together a "tournament team" to play in a few tournaments before the real season ended. They practiced in addition to these kids' normal team practices. Streed was not recruited for this team. But, we asked a few weeks before the season ended if Streed could practice with them in case he wanted to actually try out for All-Stars. They agreed. The head coach coached with Chip in the Fall and Streed knew a lot of the kids on the team. I took him to two practices that lasted 3 hours each. Yes, Ella Nate and I braved the ball park and no bathrooms and other bratty kids for those 6 hours. Chip took Streed to two other practices. After those 4 practices we helped Streed decide that All-Stars was not for us this year. This team literally practices 4 nights a week for 3-4 hours a night! And plays tournaments every weekend. Chip is becoming good friends with one of their coaches and he has said numerous times they were disappointed Streed did not try out because he would definitely have made the team.
Another summer tournament team (mainly 5 year olds) needed a few players to fill in one weekend and asked Streed to play. We figured,"Sure, that would be fun for Streed. Who cares that Chip will be out of town from Thurs through Saturday and would only able to take Streed to one of three practices and make it to only one of three games." So, we (the kids and I) took him to practice. I was in shock the first night. Two dads were coaches. But, their wives (really one of them) really was the coach. And she was crazy. Apparently she played softball for 14 years and this qualified her to YELL A LOT at the kids, mainly her own. It was kindof comical at first. But she was literally crazy. This was why on facebook one day my status said to keep my mouth shut if I could not say something nicely. Chip and I don't like any of the coaches yelling at the kids but she was to another level. She demanded way too much from her 5 year old. Never once did she say good job. It was always a criticism. I almost pulled Streed out of the 2nd game that Saturday because of her. If we did not have to play that Sunday I was going to say something. Chip came with us that Sunday. He made me hush once when I wanted to defend Streed. Later in the game Chip literally said outloud, "She is a stupid woman!" After I quit laughing, I looked at him and said, "It's hard to sit out here and keep your mouth shut isn't it?" After that Chip went and stood near the fence as close as he could get to Streed and coached him from the sidelines. He told him the opposite of what those coaches were saying and Streed made lots of outs. He was playing short-stop and caught 2 pop-ups and 1 line drive against the 6 year old All-Star team.
Here's the little sweetness in his Bryant Blue!
Well I feel better.
Well, while I am on the subject, and just to give you a better picture of "Baseball in Bryant", here's another story for your reading pleasure. After this you will wish you lived in a small town! So, I (along with Ella & Nate) took Streed to one of these practices again. This was probably Fri night before the tourny started on Saturday. We were all getting set up on field 1. All of the kids were there. I was setting up our chairs in the shade and getting my Subway sandwich out, along with all of our water bottles. So, three chairs, dinner, water bottles etc. 10 weeks pregnant and very hormonal. I see this other coach whom I don't know walk up and say to his team, "We can't practice on field 2 so we will just practice on 1." I am confused because we are on field 1. I watch him march himself onto the field, past our coaches and kids and set up their equipment. One of the mom's asks what he is doing since we are obviously on this field. Without stopping what he was doing he said, "There are no sign-ups for fields. We are 8 year old All-Stars and we take presedence over
yall.
We are practicing for District!" I immediately started CRYING and called Chip at his conference saying, "I hate this place! I hate Bryant baseball!" Everyone was furious and we did have to pack up all of our stuff and change fields.
Ok. No names were shared. I just wanted to give a little glimpse into the life and times here in good ole Arkansas. And yes, we miss Louisiana terribly!
