Golf is not much of a spectator sport, so my highlights of Brett's golf season are limited. Last year, he competed in the Special Olympics "skills" level, so we could go to the different stations with him and watch him. This year, he advanced to "3-hole unified", which means he completes 3 holes with a Unified Partner. Bryan was happy to have an excuse to golf with his son every week for basically free! In 3-hole, the athlete and the unified partner alternate turns hitting the ball, and if they don't get it in the hole after 9 swings, they pick up their ball. And that's pretty much all I know about it. 😉
At the area tournament, they placed third in their division with a score of 24. At the state tournament, Brett golfed his best ever, and Bryan did his typical golfing with a score of 16. They got 1st in their division!
Reggie and Lydia and I were only able to watch Bryan and Brett tee off on the first hole. Then, in Reggie's word, we went to "hang out at the bar". Haha!
No! Not the "Bar", Reggie, the "Clubhouse"!
In case you haven't noticed, Bryan is getting a pretty nice collection of gold medals between baseball and golf! He's a gold medal dad.
This year's baseball season was quite a surprise. I have probably written before that our goal with kids' activities are that they will (1) have fun (2) experience some success and (3) be challenged. With three very different children, we end up trying a lot of different things - some we wish we hadn't - and some we get really excited about.
We decided to switch from our city's athletic club baseball to the Little League in our area because third grade would have been another year of machine pitch and Reggie would have been bored. Reggie made the move with 3 of his baseball buddies and their dads who all have been coaching them.
We had no idea what to expect or how Little League worked, so there were some definite growing pains. The commitment level went from 2 or 3 nights a week (for practice and a game) to 3 nights a week plus tournaments on the weekends. So June was immediately booked, but we thought that would be the end. It wasn't! The all-star season was intense and exciting but it blew up the whole month of July. Five or six days a week of baseball - either practice or games. Bryan was the assistant coach, so he had a lot more responsibilities than just setting up a carpool.
So this is the way Little League works. All kids who register play the regular season on teams where there is an attempt to spread abilities evenly among teams (no try-outs). There is a Major league (typically 11 and 12-year-olds, but some 10-year-olds "play up") and a Minor league (typically 9 and 10-year-olds, but some kids "play up" or "play down"). This year, Reggie played on the Minor league (also called International league) Red Sox. Towards the end of the regular season, the coaches get together and put together all star teams for post-season play. 9U played an extra tournament, 10U and 11U can advance to state-level, and it's the 12U team that moves on to a regional tournament (ours - Midwest - is 8 states) and ultimately the Little League World Series.
Reggie was on the Parkway 10U team. Unfortunately, his buddies were on the 9U team, but he made new friends! First, they competed in a district tournament and took 1st place undefeated. It was first time any team from Parkway had won at the district tournament. Parkway 10U moved on to the state tournament. It was a four-team double-elimination bracket. They won their first two games, so they went into the championship game undefeated against a team they had already beat once. The other team had to win, but if Parkway lost, we would play them again. The other team won 0-8! It was Parkway 10U's only loss, and their natural consequence was they had to go back and play again the next day - in the rain. It was worth it, because Parkway 10U pulled it off and came home with the title of state champion!
During the regular season, Reggie played a lot of different positions, but mostly 3rd base. On the all-star team, he played centerfield the entire time. It's a good fit for him, because he's fast and can throw far! Parkway hit two homeruns in the post-season. They were in the same game. Another kid hit the ball over the fence. Then Reggie hit an in-the-park homerun (6:21 in the video). Reggie really wanted to hit one out of the park this year, but it didn't happen. Maybe next year!
Little League, in our state - and elsewhere, has struggled to compete with "traveling" leagues which entice city athletic programs with flashy tournaments. We would have likely fallen into this space in an attempt to have Reggie in a league that challenged him, but traveling doesn't start until 4th grade. I think we will stick with Little League tho.
This highlight video got really long. I started it during the regular season and then just kept adding and adding to it! A couple of moms on the teams are talented photographers and shared pictures with me. It was hard to edit out four months worth of pictures and videos! And please notice that it's not all about Reggie - it's something we did together as a family. Bryan coached. We were there with our friends and made new ones. And extended family came out to cheer, too! Brett and Lydia made friends, helped with the scoreboard, flag, and announcements, ate concessions, played on the playgrounds, took naps, and played video games under ponchos!
The ballpark is a great place to spend the summer.😎
