I guess you guys don't know the background, but my son played baseball for the first time this year and I volunteered as a coach and wasn't chosen. Well, the head coach was nice and encouraging but didn't teach as much as I'd have expected with hands-on instruction. The main assistant coach was nice, but knew nothing of baseball. The second assistant was less than knowledgeable and a bit of an ass. He was mean to his own kid and even threw a helmet into his knee when the kid was tying his shoe but his dad wanted him to put on his helmet at that exact moment. The final assistant was never there, which is where I came in.
I was at every game but one and kept the scorebook. I've played since I was 7 and only recently stopped playing semi-pro as my back and knees got worse. Needless to say, I am very knoweldgeable of the game and the ins and outs of how to play. Well, from the first game I noticed nobody was helping the kids to prepare to hit. I was the defacto bench coach as we never had all four coaches there until the last game of the season. It was coach-pitch and the other two would coach first and third base. When I had time to work with each kid they all hit better and by seasons end even the kids who were quite clueless were hitting the ball. I took a lot of pride in this and the kids surely noticed and we had all become buddies.
Today was the team party and awards ceremony and the Team Mother made it a point to honor me at the awards ceremony and I got a card signed by the parents thanking me for all of my work with the kids all season and even got a $25 gift certificate too. I almost cried. It meant a lot and I must admit having not gotten selected as an assistant coach, not gotten to be in the team picture, and not gotten thanked throughout the season despite all I did, which was more than the other coaches, I was a bit flustered. A lot of the kids called me coach and thanked me and that was more important, but to have the parents notice all I did was very meaningful.
I am all warm and fuzzy inside.
