Kathy Hanrahan: Put me in coach

I'll never forget the look on my son's face the first time he played T-ball. He was filled with pure joy, and then he was out at first. His little face dropped. He looked like he could cry.

Then, my son developed something we have come to know as "the mascot dance." When he was about 4 or 5 years old, he decided he wanted to be a mascot when he grew up. So whenever he struck out at T-Ball, we told him to do what a mascot would do. So he would hold his hands up and do this little shuffle dance back to the dugout.

The parents in the crowd loved it and he always got a laugh out of his coaches and teammates. It made him feel better getting out and also taught him a lesson about finding something to laugh at when things get tough.

Now my son is playing actual baseball. No more tees and no more coaches pitching during the game. Kids are pitching. We have actual umpires. We keep score. And no one brings snacks for the team.

After taking a year off from playing any sport at all due to the pandemic, I was nervous for my son to get back out there. And he wanted to pitch, so for the first time in his life, my son took the mound for his team.

We hardly had any team practices due to rain-outs and his only pitching experience was throwing the ball with his dad. How bad could it go?

Oh and did I mention it was also his birthday?!

So my little guy took the mound and threw a lot of pitches. Some were high, some were low, some were even strikes. He struck out one of his friends who was on the other team. He gave up a hit or two and ended up walking a few batters in.

As I watched him on the mound, struggling to find the strike zone, I remembered that little T-ball kid who used to do the mascot dance. I watched my son stay focused and not give up even when he started walking batters. He didn't cry. (I would have cried and I know "there's no crying in baseball.") He didn't get mad and throw his glove and quit. He stayed the course. He was resilient.

And it helped that we had let him watch the network aka censored version of the movie "Major League" a few days before the game. I yelled to him on the mound, calling him "Wild Thing." He laughed. I also told him that he should be wearing his glasses, which maybe he will actually do now! My son laughed again. I like to think that laughter kept him going through that rough inning.

When the inning finally ended, my son came over to talk to me. He was defeated. He felt bad about his first pitching appearance. His team was getting destroyed (down by at least 7 runs) when my son got his pitcher out of a jam by catching a fly ball in centerfield. He saved the inning and made himself feel a lot better.

Despite losing 13-0, my son said he didn't feel that bad about the game. We celebrated his birthday with a baseball-themed cake.

His second game didn't go as bad. We still lost but we scored runs this time. And as for my little mascot, he is ready to pitch again after practicing with his dad. He wants to try again. He isn't giving up. Learning to play a sport has helped him learn some much needed patience but also how to lose.

Do your children play a sport? What have they learned from it?