This weekend Jack had travel ball games in East Peoria, during the Father’s Day tournment.

He had a doubleheader Thursday for Junior League, where he made his pitching debut. This is a major league distance field. Then Friday he had to play on a Little League size field. Such is the joy of having a weird birthday, where you are too old for Little League but not for travel ball.

We ended up waiting too long to book a hotel room and ended up having to get a three bed suite for $600. It was worth it though. Jack and Elsa had their own beds while the wife and I had a separate bedroom. It had a jacuzzi tub too, which was a surprise.

Jack’s team won their Friday night game. We went back to the hotel that night to find about 200 children playing in the side yard behind the hotel. It was nuts. All of the four Beardstown travel ball teams (different age groups) and their parents were staying at this hotel. The kids went out to play with all the other kids and the wife and I went out to walk around. I turned the corner and found all the adults outside, sitting by the fireplace and drinking and chatting it up. I was not prepared for a social situation. I was feeling fat in my Expos shirt, really ready for bedtime more than anything. But I manage.

Even more surprising was my discovery that the hotel had not one, but two Tesla wall mounted chargers onsite. I was thinking that we would have to hit the Peoria supercharger on Saturday, but nope, I had free charging right there at the hotel. Awesome!

Jack played a couple of games on Saturday. The night game they won by one run. It was the most exciting ballgame I’ve seen him in this year. It was one of those night when everyone was getting hits and every hit ball seemed to find a gap in the outfield.

In between games we went into town to do some shopping. We were looking for a left-hander’s catching mitt, which is rarer than hen’s teeth. So no luck on this day to find anything.

The team won their first game on Sunday but lost the next to end the tournament. They ended up getting third place, which for this team was a great accomplishment.

Jack has improved 100% over the course of the season. Playing in Junior League has helped as well. His last Junior League game he got discouraged over coaches giving him grief over passed balls and throws around the infield. I told Jack that at his age I played Junior High basketball and I got major grief from one 8th grade kid, the best player on the team. The coaches and other players just looked the other way as this kid came after me all the time, calling me a shitty player and everything. I mean, I was a shitty player but still….But I realize looking back, after Laina went through the same thing in her Junior High basketball experience, that this is the age/league where they start to cull the herd. Before this age everyone is excited just be on a team and playing and learning, and the coaches help everyone out. But starting in Junior High the expectations are different; teams are expected to win and players are expected to perform at a higher level. I figure that coaches giving Jack grief are doing their thing where they only start to care about the star players. And the star players don’t communicate with Jack in a way that would help him out and make him a better player.

I told Jack that he is on the fulcrum now. He can either get discouraged with baseball and give it up and concentrate on Cross Country/Track (or get into music like I did), or he can ignore the slings and arrows and redouble his efforts to be a better ball player. He is a much better athlete by far than I was at his age. Also, all of the improvement he has made has come from his own determination and freewill. I’m not much of a coach and I have no helpful tips for hitting or pitching. We play plenty of catch but that’s about all I can do for him.

I hope his stays with baseball and plays it in High School. Being left-handed he could be a big asset as a pitcher. But he has to have the mental toughness to carry on even when he is surrounded by coaches who do more complaining than offering constructive criticism.