Winning isn't Everything

Winning isn't everything...unless of course you are Ricky Bobby...or Coach.  Okay, that isn't completely true.  Winning is EXTREMELY important to the love of my life...but even HE knows that it isn't everything.  I think that walking away from a game victorious would be such a great feeling.  But walking away knowing you are still of good character is even better.  

Life can get so complicated when competing is involved.  I am not a competitive person...at all.  But I do love when the boys get a win.  I love it more when they come away feeling confident and accomplished.  That hasn't happened that often this baseball season, but I feel like Brett has learned so much more.  He has developed lasting friendships.  He has developed skills for the future.  He has learned the hard way about throwing fits and pouting when things don't go well for him on the field.  He has learned how it feels to strike out and to hit it to the outfield.  I think you have to do both before you understand the true glory behind the win. 

You have to strike out. 

You have to miss ground balls. 

You have to overthrow the ball a few times. 

It builds character.  To fail...to learn through the failure...and then to succeed.  You also have to learn through disappointment.  You have to sit on the bench every now and again.  You have to move up and down in the batting order every once in awhile.  You have to learn through those moments from the actions that put you in that place.  That is part of life.  We don't grow up succeeding time after time.  None of us do.  In fact, most of us fail time after time...until we learn to do it right.  And through the failure and disappointment, we learn to appreciate the victory even more.  Because we know what it feels like to sit on the bench.  We know what it feels like to make a perfect stop and then completely botch the play by overthrowing the ball.  We become so overconfident with one move that we mess up the next by letting our egos get in the way.  It doesn't just happen on the baseball fields to 10 year olds.  It happens to all of us...daily.

Brett (and Tanner)...I hope you have learned more this year about life than about baseball.  I hope you know that the stands were full of people cheering you on and that no matter what you did...you learned from it.  I hope that you get the chance next year to play ball...having successes and failures...and that you'll look back on your summer baseball years as the best times of your life. 

Good luck this weekend JAGS!  We are playing in a benefit tournament for a coach of another team we played.  He was  recently in a car accident and was paralyzed.  Talk about importance in life.  We are playing in this tournament to help raise money for a family that lost their 'normal'.  Life as they know it has changed.  I am proud to be a part of something for them...and I hope that Brett scores big from this experience.  Not on the field...but in his heart.  I can't think of anything more important than teaching him about community coming together to help a family in need.  Coach and coaches might disagree, but this weekend is not about the scoreboard.  It is about life.  For more information on the tournament or how you can help, please go to the Carl Hall tournament information facebook page here.  Thanks!

Have a Blessed Day!
Amy