We had a game scheduled for the Sunday after our vacation, but both bowed out with COVID careful, and it got rained out with heavy thunderstorms, so little little was ecstatic when we returned to the field for practice today.

There aren't any games scheduled this week or weekend; the next isn't until Tuesday. But we also didn't play any catch or swing any bats since the last practice almost two weeks ago!

The kids have all come a long way!

We divided into two groups. One in the outfield practicing fielding pop-ups (they could happen); I think they should really just toss a ball to each other in a big circle, as catch is a skill missing from most of our players. The rest of us set up in the infield, with a batter hitting a few off the t-ball tee, and the players then rotating through the fields. A neat plan at first, the batter reaches first (always), and then goes to take their batting gear off and collect their glove; they go on-deck to become the pitcher. The other players rotate, pitcher to first, first to second, and so on, with the waiting fielder rotating in, and the third baseman rotating to to the pop-ups, and someone from there going to get ready to bat. The on-deck batter bats, and we repeat. Nice plan, which broke down a little bit as the pace and attention spans didn't mesh well. We even took a couple water breaks, which resulted in people returning to new positions, so the scheme broke down a little that way, too. Everyone got to field, catch, and bat, and there were no fights, so overall a big win.

I got to coach at home plate, where I worked with the kids to stand well and look at the ball to hit it. I let them do their first swing their way, and then made a little adjustment, repeating them each time, with their subsequent swings. Every kid got better, and nearly every kid eventually hit past the fielders. In a lot of cases, they looked at me with amazement as they contacted the ball and sent it sailing instead of bouncing.

Maybe that pop-fly practice will come in handy.

It is super hot, so we rotated through everyone batting once, and fielding most positions, and called it after about an hour.

Kid's dusty, and resisting a shower, but he's going to learn that's what we do when we're done sporting.

Everyone's healthy.