B7

Wilfred Langmaid
Days between

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I'm a high-rise tenant with a baseball pennant

Got a man in the Senate, I'm a roadhog.

Roadhog by Robert Hunter

In between the raindrops, summer baseball began in the Langmaid family last week.

With Jerome moving up to mosquito and Chris starting out in Tim-Bits, there will be lots of packed evenings and fun in the months ahead.

We live the shuttling life of many families, in that both boys have their own teams and schedules. Imagine my glee, therefore, when I learned that they were literally side by side last week; a staggered schedule meant that I was at most of both boys' practices and scrimmages.

There were untold pleasures galore, but one neat thing stuck in my mind and got me to ruminating.

Jerome's began at 6:30 p.m. I got to see with pride and pleasure that the backyard practice he had done virtually every day since the infernal snow left had been rewarded, augmented as it was by simple growth of one year since the rookie league season ended last August.

The coaches were stressing fundamentals along with the fun, and the baseball fanatic in me swallowed up the infield drills as each person learned the place to be as a ground ball went from the batter's box to a particular infield spot.

Being at the right place at the right time as a member of a team on the field, after all, makes the execution of basic fielding plays possible.

Chris's practice started at 7:15 p.m.; my wife, Shelley, went with Chris while I stayed at Jerome's. I drifted over to the adjoining field from time to time. When I did so, I loved watching Chris have fun as he started the transition from baseball in the back yard to baseball on a team of friends old and new.

I really zeroed on Chris's practice, though, when Jerome's practice ended. At this point, Chris's team was in a scrimmage with the other team. Each child batted once in every inning, and each got to stay at the plate until he or she hit the ball and ran to first base.

The coolest thing, though, was what happened every time one of the children hit the ball. Everybody, and I mean everybody, ran towards the hit ball and tried to field it. Then, they all ran towards first base.

In sheer baseball terms, of course, Jerome was being taught the proper strategy, but that really was not the issue in Chris's game. The goal was for the children to have fun and get a sense of playing ball.

I know in my heart that I will have equal joy at either of my son's games this summer.

That said, the ruminating on life that this spurred is fun. Is it better to be a person who is prepared with the right strategies, or the right positions, or the right approaches, to be taken when "something" comes our way, be it a baseball in play or a life challenge of any sort?

Or, is it better to simply run at the very baseball itself, the very thing itself, and tackle it immediately, directly, and personally?

I spent literally days bouncing back and forth on this one, and then I realized that the same answer that I would give if asked "Which game did you like best?" applies here.

It is good to have both life approaches as we go from day to day. We do need to be prepared, and know how to work as a team. We need to know when to be a lead player and when to be a support player.

However, we also need to know that there are times that tackling the immediate situation head on is what is called for.

Lessons on a baseball diamond, whilst watching my kids to boot. It doesn't get any better than that.

Long-time Daily Gleaner columnist Wilfred Langmaid is employed by the University of New Brunswick. He resides in Fredericton. His column appears Fridays.