Learning Life’s Failures Through Baseball
A few weekends ago was our last tournament with the Mudbugs team. We have had many ups and down through the years, but this weekend was the toughest lesson my son had to learn.
Blake, my 12 year old, has been a part of this team since he was 6 years old. He lives and breathes Mudbug baseball. I have so many pictures of him sleeping in his uniform the night before a game because he was so excited to play.
Blake is a great baseball player but he has to work really hard at it. He has hit 7 home runs this season all because of the hard work he has put into the game. Even though he is a great hitter, he still strikes out a lot. And this weekend was one of those games where he really struggled with hitting the ball and it broke my heart.
Blake came in to pitch at the last inning, the team was getting hits after hits off of him which frustrated him to no end, and the pitches that he felt were strikes, the umpires called balls. Blake is extremely passionate about sports, especially baseball. He is competitive to no end. So when he was getting frustrated on the mound, he showed it physically and verbally. If you aren’t aware, umpires do not like that.
Baseball is a mental game, and this weekend it took a toll on my boy. Once he was done pitching, he went up to bat and struck out. The team desperately needed him to hit the ball to get on base and in scoring position in order to have a chance to win the game. Blake failed in front of everyone and his teammates. Winning the game meant we were going to play off in hopes of going to the championship game. And Blake knew then that possibility was gone since he struck out.
Of course, it isn’t all on Blake. The team made errors and should have had more hits and less strike outs, but in that moment, Blake felt the weight of the team on his shoulders, and he blew up. He was mad at himself and mad at the umpires, and he took it out on everyone around him. We talk daily about his words, actions, and respect, but in that moment, all that went out the window.
His emotions took over him physically and verbally and he was ultimately asked to leave the dugout because he couldn’t calm himself down.
Baseball is probably the hardest sport to play, especially as a 12 year old. It is about constant failure and failing in front of everyone.
Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest skills. Data shows that .300 hitter fails 70% of the time and is considered an excellent baseball player with those stats. 70% of the time, that player fails and has to overcome that public failure in order to do the same thing over and over again.
My first thought was that he shouldn’t play anymore; he cannot handle it emotionally. As a mother, I do not want to see my child feel so defeated that he loses control of all his emotions. I want to remove my child from that situation. But is that the right thing to do? No, probably not.
Yesterday, we talked a lot, went to church, prayed and watched several videos from professional baseball players about failure. I am praying that even though this weekend was hard to watch and overcome, maybe this is a lesson he needed to learn.
Baseball is truly about life lessons; we fail daily and are expected to pick up the pieces and keep going. Teaching Blake that he can not control the outcome but he can control himself, his emotions, and his attitude, along with the effort and hard work he puts into baseball, is probably one of the hardest lessons we are having to teach right now. Ultimately, it is about failure and no one likes to see their child fail.
