An Update From The Dugout

I interrupt my Lenten posting to bring you news of life at the ball park.  

I find myself this morning with a list of 106 gels, ages between 7 and 11, complete with tryout stats, style commentaries, team-mate and practice schedule preferences and other data.  I also find myself with a four page memo about the draft rules, complete with arcane expressions like “snake draft” and complex regulations regarding managers’ and coaches’ options to draft their own kids and the status of draftee siblings.

Tomorrow night I have to pick twelve or thirteen gels out of this rigamarole and begin to turn them into a AAA softball team.  I also have to figure out eftsoons when I’m going to hold practices – in theory the fields open up next week, but the weather is unlikely to cooperate.  Nonetheless, the requests are first come, first serve and if I don’t move fast, I’ll find myself holding practices at 2:00 A.M. on the Beltway median.

On top of all that, I’m beginning to become worried about the subject of coaches.  At practices, I want ideally to be running two or three different drills out on the field, plus have the pitchers and catchers working together separately.  I have been hoping all along that I can dragoon some parents in to help out (as was the case with our team last fall), but I have a sneaking suspicion that some other folks have already got formal coaching staffs lined up.

What on earth have I got myself into?