CUB Summer Baseball

In a typical year of baseball, the season would conclude sometime in late June and then reconvene sometime in September. This year, most of the spring baseball activities were cancelled. When the lockdown restrictions in TX began lifting in May, Connor's CUB baseball team resumed playing and began what became a full summer of baseball fun. Even as hot as it has been this summer, I'm not sure I've ever been more thankful for baseball in my entire life. Despite the sunburns and sweat-soaked clothes, our summer season of baseball was able to give us something to focus on amidst the Covid insanity of 2020. 

In previous baseball seasons, Connor's primary position has been catcher. Due to his significant growth spurt over the past year, we had to rush to find Connor some new catcher's gear for the start of this season. As it turns out, we had to custom order a set for him because he needed such tall leg coverings that aren't a typical size for a catcher, especially for one as young as Connor. Over the season, he began struggling at the catcher position due to the toll it was taking on his joints. He still subs as catcher but he seems to be growing himself out of that role these days.

Outside of catcher, Connor plays all positions for his team but has been getting more and more reps at pitcher throughout the season. He started as a sub when the team needed a fill-in, but he began getting more and more playing time at pitcher as he continued having success at that role. He also began working on his various pitches during his off time, and he's now quite proud of his curve ball and side arm pitches. Even his fast ball is improving quite a bit. It has been fun to watch his growth, and even Jeff is now getting to the point of being more watchful when he's working with him due to the heat that Connor is putting on the ball these days.

Even though Connor joined his current CUB baseball team last fall, this summer is the first time he joined them for meaningful playing time. He wasn't able to play last fall due to his broken wrist, and he missed the first tournament in March due to spring break plans. And then the spring season was cancelled, so he and his teammates began the summer as a new team of sorts, and it took them several tournaments to begin developing team chemistry. Slowly over time, they got to know each other pretty well and began having some success on the field here and there. 

One of Connor's favorite things about his team is being able to play with his friend Brandon. They met each other at school last year and have become close friends over the course of the year. They hang out as much as they can, on and off the field. It's always neat to see them interact and have fun while they work on their craft.

Another fun perk of our summer baseball this year has been the friends that we've enjoyed it with. One of Connor's friends (and our next-door neighbor), Alli, was able to join us for several of Connor's games and hang out with us during the day. It was sweet to see her support Connor and Kaitlynn enjoyed the company as well.

But my absolute favorite part of summer baseball this year has been to see the bond grow between Connor and Jeff. Let's face it, fathers and sons have their moments where they rub each other the wrong way and can't seem to have a conversation without raised voices and bad attitudes. But there's just something about sports that helps them to see past their disagreements and come together over the love of the game. As luck would have it, Connor's CUB team was short an assistant coach for most of the season. Without hesitation, Jeff stepped up and became a self-appointed assistant and resumed his all-time favorite role of 1st base coach for Connor's team. I'm not sure he enjoys anything more?? He always offers great encouragement and support to the kids throughout the game, and the entire team loved having him on the field. But Connor may have said it best when he called Jeff "the greatest walk-on coach of all time." Those have got to be some of the most fulfilling words of praise for a Dad! :-)