It's his first year of Little League. He ended up on a team with several kids who have played together since they were old enough to play and they are really good. It's not easy being the new kid. Especially when your skills could use some polishing. But he's out there facing the pitches, swinging the bat, chasing the outfield hits.
His mother sits in the bleachers and has been known to glare at teammates who disparage him within her earshot. She buys him a 1lb bag of "Double Bubble" to share with the other boys, hoping to buy him some goodwill with the official gum of the Major League.
It's almost the end of the regular season and he's only had one hit, an RBI single. He's drawn a few walks, been hit several times by pitches, and struck out too many times to count. He usually only plays half the innings, sharing a spot with another of the team's non-star players. But every game day he dons the uniform with such excitement, buzzing with the anticipation of potential base hits, home runs, diving catches.
He's one of the Boys of Summer, in his rookie season.
2 comments:
And "sports mum" is cooler than "sports dad", who only seems to be able to say stuff like, "Listen to the coach!", "Don't swing so late", and "Don't look at me, pay attention to what's going on!" ...
Well, I think that last one is important. Especially with hard spheroids flying around at high speeds.
And he looks like a gamer, so that is at least half the battle.
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