It's mid-July and I have been at a ballpark just about every night for the last few weeks. I have watched 9-10 year-old baseball and softball, Little League Majors (11-12 year-olds) All-Stars and Honors teams, 13-14 year-old baseball on 80 foot and 90 foot diamonds, a college exposure fastpitch softball tournament, and joined my dad for an evening of USA Softball vs. Portland All-Stars on their pre-Olympic "Bound for Beijing" tour. I have blogged about teams, tournaments and games at "(just another) Little League Mom" and "Little League Softball: Scores and More". It's my favorite time of the year.
On previous blog entries, I mentioned that our son is 14 years old and playing "Junior Baseball" with other 8th graders all feeding into the same high school. They play for the league championship tonight (Go Wildcats!), but before I head over there, I will be stopping by the semi-finals of the local All-Stars District tournament to take pictures and cheer on the kids wearing "SunCreek Little League" because it looks like I'm going to be the next President of that league.
When I was thinking about taking on the responsibility, I scratched out "Pros" and "Cons" on a 3x5 notecard and found that I had way more Pros. And the Pros made me smile. And when I talked about the Pros with other folks at the ballparks, they smiled. And when I talked about the Pros with my husband and son, they smiled.
Here are the "Pros" for taking the job of Little League President:
1. enjoy diamond sports: Simply put, I truly enjoy baseball and softball. I love watching games, visiting with folks, being outside, and the familiar sights, smells and sounds of a youth, high school, college or pro baseball/softball game.
2. have more time: With the one and only son off to high school in September, my time as a driver really begins to slow down. We live within walking distance, so he hoofs it up there for morning football conditioning already this summer -- I won't have to drive and pick-up every day for practices and games.
3. great community: I work at the local elementary school and while this may make me an easy target for LL parents at my "day job," the truth is I love the kids and the community. We have a diverse group of folks in our corner of suburbia and I'm frankly proud to be a part of it. This would be a way to volunteer for this community.
4. like organizing: In my past life, I was the PTO president for our son's school. I enjoyed the administration side and even the meeting side of that group. If I can survive two years of PTO, Little League will be a cakewalk :)
5. good ideas: OK, I think I have some ideas for growing the league, strengthening coach and player development, improving communication and getting more ballfields :). All that time at games talking to coaches and parents has filled my head with lots and lots of stuff...stuff that I'd like rally folks to put into action!
Well, none of my Pros directly addressed my Cons. Maybe that's the real world, everything we do has its pros and cons so to speak, that aren't so black and white... I just know that I will do my best to take Little League in moderation, not ignore my family (can't say so much about the lawn and laundry), and remind everyone we're not curing cancer here -- just playing ball and havin' fun!
