Take Me Out to the Ballgame

For about a month now, we've gotten together with ten or so homeschool families to play pick-up baseball once a week. It's been awesome.

From pick up baseball

From pick up baseball

The kids range in age from four to fifteen, and I'm continually amazed at the patience and kindness of the older ones to the younger ones, and the capacity for understanding the game and tenacity of the younger ones.

From pick up baseball

From pick up baseball

They don't know all the rules (or, sometimes, practically any), but they take coaching very well, and their joy at just being on the field is palpable.

From pick up baseball

From pick up baseball

From pick up baseball

From pick up baseball

From pick up baseball

We started pick-up baseball because we wanted an inexpensive, low-key way for the kids to play ball, but it's become something more, now, at least for me.

It's the embodiment of good socialization; when the kids get frustrated, friends help them out. When the facilitator (me) gets a back injury, other parents take over. When the town in which the field is located tells us they need money (oddly, for reasons of 'liability'), participants step up in such numbers that it ends up only costing $10 per family for two months of baseball. When these kids' parents who work outside the home want a day off, several of them choose pick-up baseball day.

It's not just baseball anymore. It's a community.