Thursday, May 13, 2010
What would happen?
What would happen if a group of 18 kids were to be dropped off at a baseball field for two hours? What if there were no coaches, no umpires, two bats, two balls, and two helmets? I bet a game of baseball would break out. What if this happened every day...weather permitting? Hierarchies would be created through talent. There would definitely be captains and they may just pick their teams based on who won a match of rock, paper, scissors. The lineups would be made on the fly and there would be open discussion about why one player thinks he should bat in front of another. If a player proves himself to be better suited to a different position, then in the next game or the next inning that position might change. "I'm pitching next inning!" This would be accepted, because that person called it first. That would be followed by a waterfall of "I'm after you! I'm after you!"...and the rotation would be set. A short stop yells to the pitcher, "If you throw another ball, your not pitching anymore!" This is also acceptable because the game is much more FUN when there isn't so many balls being thrown. Walks are boring and not one player on the field wants to just watch guys walk around the bases. If you can't throw strikes, you can't pitch and you won't pitch, because no one will want you to pitch. I guarantee there would be arguments and possibly a fight here and there. Disagreement is built into the game. (Balls vs. Strikes, Out vs. Safe, Fair vs. Foul, Catch vs. No Catch, ect.) These things would work themselves out. No one would be suspended or ejected, but on certain occasions game play may stop for the day. Cooler heads would find themselves back on the field in a day or two. If a player gets hurt during a game, he would sit out until he feels like he can play again. While he is sitting out, his team will play with two outfielders. If a player can't catch the ball, but he or she still wants to play...that player will figure out how to catch or someone on their team will show them, because if you can't catch you can't play. If they don't play there is uneven teams, and if we help them learn how to catch our team is better and it's always cool to help out a teammate. All that being said... Let's PLAY BALL! So again, back to my question...What would happen if there were no coaches or parents at the game? What would happen if we didn't wear our All-Star travel jersey, helmet, spikes, batting gloves, wristbands, or drink out of our AAU water bottle that we got out of our embroidered "District 34 runner-up Champions" bat bag? What would happen if PLAYING didn't involve someone barking at KIDS on how to PLAY correctly. I'll tell you what would happen...The game would go on. The KIDS would run, throw, hit, catch, slide, spit, and scream. They would make mistakes and also do great things. There would be bloopers and highlights, but they would all improve and enjoy the GAME more. I would bet my right arm that some FUN would be had on a regular basis and in a shocking turn of events we might even find more KIDS outside PLAYING variations of the GAME instead of sitting inside in front of the television literally "twiddling their thumbs." What would happen if we gave the GAME back to the KIDS and just let them PLAY?
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