Reggie aged out of Little League so we had to try something new this year. We decided to do the Oakdale Athletic Association's traveling baseball club, because it was too late to sign up for something in Woodbury. Reggie made the 13U AA team.
It was...different. We quickly came to learn that the team, for the most part, had been playing together for years and years. Some of the boys had some skills and earned their spots on the team, and others were there because it had always been that way. The parents definitely enjoyed getting together for a few beers, and it was a bit of a social club. We've never been a part of a team where the kids were so...coddled. The kids would lose some games and a parent would show up to practice with new sunglasses, or hats, or baseball socks for everyone. One parent took the whole team out to Applebee's. Not because they won (they didn't) but because they had good attitudes (they didn't).
Baseball is my favorite sport to spectate, hands down. The season was good - as in not as bad as little league was last year - but there wasn't much winning. I drew the short straw and got to take Reggie to his out of town/overnight tournament on the hottest weekend of the summer. I bribed Brett to come with us, and it turned out that we had fun. Reggie's team did some winning and placed 2nd, earning a spot in a state tournament. They were quickly eliminated in the state tournament. They won their bracket of the end of season playoffs. But that's not so exciting when you know you are playing in the bottom bracket.
Reggie has been mostly playing at centerfield for a few years now and we are sure it is the position that plays to his strengths the best.
Woodbury is a bit of a culture shock...one example is that they already had try-outs and formed teams in September. Reggie made the 13U AAA team (insert eyeroll). So if anyone wants to find me in May, June, or July of '23, I'll be sitting in my camp chair along the 1st baseline snacking on dried mangos or pull-n-peel twizzlers.
