The Best Kind of Pain

My arm feels like jello when I don’t have sharp, searing pain shooting through it doing even the most mundane of actions like lifting my coffee mug or reaching for a stapler.  It hurts when I clench my fist or reach over my shoulder to scratch my back, but it’s a pain that’s well worth the trouble.

I was lucky enough to get batting cage time and a personal one-on-one hitting lesson for Marc with a friend who also helps coach the Dukes whenever he can find the time.  Coach Mason as the boys call him is graduating from high school today completing a stellar high school baseball career where he was named League Most Outstanding Player this year following a junior season where he was named League MVP.  He is a three-year First Team All-Area and All-League selection, and was named to the All-CIF team the past two years.  A young man mature beyond his years, Mason has been an exemplary role model for Marc and the boys on the baseball field as well as off of it as well.  He has parlayed his baseball acumen into a full-ride scholarship to the University of San Francisco where he’ll be majoring in Kinisieology next year. 

I threw 2 1/2 hours of batting practice on Monday and another 1 1/2 hours yesterday.  Needless to say, my arm is spent.  Mason was able to work out a lot of the kinks in Marc’s swing pinpointing some bad mechanical habits in various phases of his swing.  I’m so happy that Marc has the drive to get better.  2 1/2 hours of batting practice is very long time, but he never complained or intimated he wanted to stop.  Mason called me at work yesterday to tell me he’d be at the cage if I wanted to bring Marc down, but after Monday’s prolonged workout I wasn’t expecting it.  When Marc got home from school he told me that he had practiced his swing in front of a mirror the night before to get his muscles to remember how to it correctly.  That’s when I knew he wouldn’t shy away from more batting practice.  Sure enough, when I asked him if he wanted to go back for more, his eyes lit up and he gave me an enthusiastic “okay!”.  We stayed for 1 1/2 hours and only stopped because he had All-Star practce at 6.

The kid will never pass up an opportunity to play baseball whether it’s hitting at the cage, playing catch, hitting into the net at home, or playing pepper in the front yard.  He simply loves the game.  He’s worn his All-Star jersey to school the past two days even sneaking it into his backpack yesterday so his mom wouldn’t nag him about wearing the same thing two days in a row.  It reminds me of when he was 3 years old and wore his Batman costume almost until Thanksgiving.

Last year, he was voted by his peers to West Torrance Little League’s 10 year-old All-Star team as a 9 year-old only to be snubbed from the playing roster by a coach who doesn’t know what he’s doing.  I reminded Marc of how he felt last year, and he’s used that feeling to drive him this year during All-Star season.  After moving over to a new league that plays by PONY rules (much more competitive, higher quality of players) he was a unanimous All-Star selection by the eight managers in the division in his first year in a new league.  I told him to use All-Star season to show everyone where he stacks up against the best of the best, and he’s been bringing it in practice with his focus and intensity. 

It means a lot to me when Mason says that the way I push Marc reminds him of the way his dad used to push him.  I’m not one of those crazy “Little League” dads who thinks his kid is going pro and will stop at nothing to make it happen.  The game of baseball is a lot like the game of life in many regards.  Baseball is a game that is predicated on failure.  The key is to take those failures in stride and use them to make yourself better through the process.  There are also many subtle ways to be successful besides getting a hit or striking someone out.  Hitting behind a runner with no outs to move him along the bases is a successful at-bat.  Knocking a ball down in the infield with a runner on second base while not getting an out is a success because it keeps the runner from scoring.  Being there to tell a teammate who just struck out to keep his head up and “get him next time” goes lengths in being a great teammate and contributing to the team’s success.  Most of all, baseball is a game that develops discipline, determination, and perseverance, and I think those are valuable lessons every child should learn as early as possible. 

I’m fortunate that Marc and I share a passion and a bond that will last forever.  Baseball is a game that’s passed down from fathers to sons, and I can’t wait until the day I’m grandpa watching Marc coach his own son.  It all started with a NERF baseball set, and me putting down pieces of tape on the driveway so Marc would know where to put his feet when he bats.  Soon, we’ll be playing catch shooting the breeze about being a teenager and all that entails.  I can’t wait.