A Message from a Baseball Mama's Heart...


I have a few words to share...this post is from my heart...and perhaps geared to the younger ones starting the travel ball circuit...and also to the parents of the kids who are on the ball circuit now...

Nathan has been playing ball since he was four years old. He was five when he knew his dream was to play college baseball. Throughout the years of little league, travel ball, middle school ball and high school ball, we have seen a lot! We have experienced a lot! And if we could go back (to the younger years) and do things a little differently, I think we would. We have lived and we have learned.

But along the journey, we have had some really good times and some really bad times...good coaches, bad coaches...good parents, parents that stab you in the back. Yep, all of the above, if I am being honest. And I have no reason for not being honest.

This post is to perhaps share our learned experiences to help those coming up...

Through the good and the bad, one thing we NEVER did was quit believing in Nathan or encouraging him to pursue his dream. Every step of the way, we have been his biggest fans, even when others were not.

One particular parent/ asst coach, told Ronnie (verbatim) that Nathan was never going to step on a varsity field and play high school ball and to do him a favor and pull him out. (Nathan was probably about ten or eleven years old when this happened)

Yep.
You read that correctly.
Wow, right?

Well, as Nathan was signing to play college baseball, I couldn't help but think about that and all of the many other obstacles he had to face to get here and I couldn't help but smile!

Parents, please don't give up on your kids dreams! Even if someone tells you differently! And parents, please enjoy the ride...enjoy the little league games and even travel ball...don't try and make it something it doesn't need to be...there's a time and place for the big boy stuff to unfold...10 and 13 years old...that's not the time. It comes soon enough.

Relax. Enjoy the ride! Enjoy the hits and encourage them after the errors and strike outs! Give em' atta boys and hugs!

I could not believe someone made that statement about our son...a parent/coach. I would never repeat the name, but we have certainly never forgotten what was said. It sure didn't stop Moose! (Big mama smile!)

Adversity plus perseverance equals growth! Lord knows Nathan has faced his share of adversity! We couldn't be prouder of his determination to continue to dream and work through it all!

I end all of this with a big shout of Go Blazers! Because our kid that someone said would never touch a high school varsity field, is going to be touching the field at college too! 

💚
There's a lot of kids that have their fires put out...that could have been the case for Nathan...but we are so grateful that didn't stop him! If we don't believe in our kids, and each other's kids, how will they ever believe in themselves?

There's a lesson in all of this...and it's about much more than baseball!

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