Jacob

So Jacob has made it a goal to be named an All Star for his little league league. I think that is a great goal to have, and a very attainable one. He asked me what he needed to do in order for that to happen. I asked if he wanted to the mom answer or the coach answer? I said, keep up the fielding and you need to work on your batting.
I told him we could do some extra hitting drills at home if he wanted. He said yes to that, so the next free day we had we googled some videos on hitting drills.

Our first attempt at these drills ended with him being deeply frustrated with the process and of course, with me. He didn't understand that just swinging the bat didn't get him better. That he had to do small drills perfectly to get better at overall batting. Luckily Umma and Uppa showed up at just the right time to give him a the mental break he needed.

On Sunday, after Umma and Uppa left, he came to me and said, “I’ve changed my attitude about hitting and would like to practice.”  Well of course I said yes so we did the 20 minutes of extra drills.

On Monday's game he walked his first up to bat, hit a triple into deep center field his second, and hit a line drive in between third and short for his third (And RBI-ed 2 runs to take the lead.) Now I’m not saying a couple extra hitting drills did that. What I am saying is so far in his life whenever he has applied himself with extra effort it has payed off for him. I am always surprised and impressed by his success and attitude. 

Of course he was super proud of himself during and after the game, which he should be. On the field Jacob sneaked over little glances at me to share a smile of pride. It was a great moment to share.