GlennCMC70
10-26-2016, 10:53 PM
As most of you know, I have been absent for a while. Even before I junked up my car @ TWS, I was only making 1/2 the events for 3 years running. I get asked all the time about when I will be back. The answer is very unclear, and just when I think I have an idea, the things that are keeping me away, go and change the rules.
Most of you know both my girls (Morgan 14 - 9th grade and Karlie 11 - 5th grade) play softball all year long. They also play basketball in the fall seasons. I have in the past coached on every team. Yes, 6 softball teams and 2 basketball teams every year for several years now.
Morgan is currently playing for the high school fall league. This is where all the kids who played JV/Varsity ball last year and all new Freshmen who will be trying out play under "Dads" who are not part of the school coaching staff. They play other schools who do the same. Morgan also plays city league softball as well. For the last 2 weeks she also has basketball workouts until 5:30 pm 5 days a week and goes straight from there to softball practice or games 5 days a week. This past week she also worked out w/ a select team on Sunday. She is doing 2 sports a day for 5 of the 7 days and 1 on the other 2. Also all honors classes. Kid is working hard. She has a week and a half left of this schedule then softball is over for a month.
Karlie is playing select softball and select basketball. Both of those sports are all year long. So she has a couple softball workouts a week as well as 1 or 2 basketball workouts a week. She also had pitching lessons once a week and we try and pitch 2 times a week. She is also now taking hitting lessons as well once a week. She plays a couple tournaments a month and those are 5 to 8 plus games a weekend. Last weekend she played 5 games and pitched 3 of them. Again, the kid works hard.
Wed night is Morgan's Fall High School league game night. Her team is made up of 9th and 10th grade girls and there are 2 7th grade and an 8th grade girl(s) on the team. Anyone under 9th grade is by invite only. Meaning, these coaches need to know about you before they will allow you to tryout. Gotta be very good in other words. We got there early and was watching Morgan warm up. One of the coaches walks over and sits next to my wife and asks if Karlie can pitch for them tonight. He knows she is a 5th grader and is only 11. She takes hitting lessons from him (his daughter was ranked 6th in the county in 2016 and went to play for the Ducks). So my little 5th grade baby 11 year old (turned 11 a month and a half ago!) went home and changed and came back w/ her gear and got to pitch in the 2nd and 3rd innings. She is 2 grades below the youngest kid on the team! She strikes out the first two batters and the last one pops up to her and Karlie got her out too! All the outs of the 2nd inning went to an 11 year old. So we go to bat. Karlie gets her chance. She is @ a full count and she jacks a double over 3rd base. Very nice hit! We get our run limit and Karlie goes back to the rubber. She strikes out all 3 batters!
This is the first time she pitched @ 43 ft. 11-12 year olds pitch from 40 ft. Karlie has been pitching 40ft only since August. Prior to that, she was @ 35ft w/ an 11" ball. August is when we moved her to 40ft w/ a 12" ball. For her to just 3 months later jump to 43ft and do well, is crazy. Keep in mind, she just started pitching in Sept last year. Yep, been pitching just a tick over a year!
To say I am over whelmed w/ joy is an understatement. I have sat on that bucket countless hours and hit w/ who knows how many balls from wild pitches. Worked w/ her hitting, the mental side of the game.
What happened tonight makes it easy to forget you even have a racecar in the garage. I cannot wait for the day to come that I need to buy plane tickets to go see my kid(s) play college softball.
So - when will I be back to racing? Who knows. At least I have a great reason to not be racing.
I have no idea what the next turn in life will give me or my kids. Life is good now and I cannot imagine how it could be much better.
Today was a good day.
Most of you know both my girls (Morgan 14 - 9th grade and Karlie 11 - 5th grade) play softball all year long. They also play basketball in the fall seasons. I have in the past coached on every team. Yes, 6 softball teams and 2 basketball teams every year for several years now.
Morgan is currently playing for the high school fall league. This is where all the kids who played JV/Varsity ball last year and all new Freshmen who will be trying out play under "Dads" who are not part of the school coaching staff. They play other schools who do the same. Morgan also plays city league softball as well. For the last 2 weeks she also has basketball workouts until 5:30 pm 5 days a week and goes straight from there to softball practice or games 5 days a week. This past week she also worked out w/ a select team on Sunday. She is doing 2 sports a day for 5 of the 7 days and 1 on the other 2. Also all honors classes. Kid is working hard. She has a week and a half left of this schedule then softball is over for a month.
Karlie is playing select softball and select basketball. Both of those sports are all year long. So she has a couple softball workouts a week as well as 1 or 2 basketball workouts a week. She also had pitching lessons once a week and we try and pitch 2 times a week. She is also now taking hitting lessons as well once a week. She plays a couple tournaments a month and those are 5 to 8 plus games a weekend. Last weekend she played 5 games and pitched 3 of them. Again, the kid works hard.
Wed night is Morgan's Fall High School league game night. Her team is made up of 9th and 10th grade girls and there are 2 7th grade and an 8th grade girl(s) on the team. Anyone under 9th grade is by invite only. Meaning, these coaches need to know about you before they will allow you to tryout. Gotta be very good in other words. We got there early and was watching Morgan warm up. One of the coaches walks over and sits next to my wife and asks if Karlie can pitch for them tonight. He knows she is a 5th grader and is only 11. She takes hitting lessons from him (his daughter was ranked 6th in the county in 2016 and went to play for the Ducks). So my little 5th grade baby 11 year old (turned 11 a month and a half ago!) went home and changed and came back w/ her gear and got to pitch in the 2nd and 3rd innings. She is 2 grades below the youngest kid on the team! She strikes out the first two batters and the last one pops up to her and Karlie got her out too! All the outs of the 2nd inning went to an 11 year old. So we go to bat. Karlie gets her chance. She is @ a full count and she jacks a double over 3rd base. Very nice hit! We get our run limit and Karlie goes back to the rubber. She strikes out all 3 batters!
This is the first time she pitched @ 43 ft. 11-12 year olds pitch from 40 ft. Karlie has been pitching 40ft only since August. Prior to that, she was @ 35ft w/ an 11" ball. August is when we moved her to 40ft w/ a 12" ball. For her to just 3 months later jump to 43ft and do well, is crazy. Keep in mind, she just started pitching in Sept last year. Yep, been pitching just a tick over a year!
To say I am over whelmed w/ joy is an understatement. I have sat on that bucket countless hours and hit w/ who knows how many balls from wild pitches. Worked w/ her hitting, the mental side of the game.
What happened tonight makes it easy to forget you even have a racecar in the garage. I cannot wait for the day to come that I need to buy plane tickets to go see my kid(s) play college softball.
So - when will I be back to racing? Who knows. At least I have a great reason to not be racing.
I have no idea what the next turn in life will give me or my kids. Life is good now and I cannot imagine how it could be much better.
Today was a good day.