My 7 year old, Elijah, is in the 7-8 year old Little League division here in Woodstock, Illinois. Elijah is small for his age, one of the smaller kids in the league. That hasn't stopped him from being one of the most important players on our team: a pitcher, first baseman, infielder, etc. He is a natural at baseball with good form and a heart to be good at what he does. Plus, he just loves the game.
The tryouts for the 7-8 year old all-star team was on Saturday. They had three stations: pitching, fielding and hitting. I was proud at how Elijah did. He was solid at each task, as were many of the kids. With him being younger, smaller (the smallest at tryouts!), less powerful at the plate and so on, it seemed easy to assume that Elijah would be better suited for next year's all-star team. I worked hard to convince him that it's okay to wail until next year and that he probably wouldn't be chosen for this year's team. I was wrong.
We got a call from the coach on Sunday who informed me that Elijah was an all-star. We were surprised he was chosen, but not surprised at how Elijah has showed that the size of your body matters less than the size of your heart, effort and passion. He now has a number of new practices coming up and a new uniform to wear to a tournament in mid-July. I'm so proud of my boy, who is much like his Daddy at his age (though I was taller). Looking forward to a few fun weeks ahead.