It's Life......Everybody Poops: Mayhem

For the Fall season Alyssa is getting her first taste of the Mesquite Fastpitch Softball Association. After the craziness that was our experience with the MBI during the spring, Michael and I decided that perhaps she would be happier playing with the girls. Towards the end of August I received a phone call from our new team Mom and was surprised to find out that because of Alyssa's age and the league rules she could play this Fall season on a 6U t-ball team but come the Spring of 2012 she will have to move up to an 8U team which is machine pitch. After much deliberation and talking with Alyssa we decided that she would be most comfortable playing t-ball with the younger girls for the Fall season since in the spring Alyssa had a bit of a hard time keeping up with the boys. She couldn't catch or throw as well as some of them could and she was no where near as fast as they were. While she did a great job playing she honestly just couldn't keep up with some of them.

So with the Fall season beginning we joined the 6U t-ball team named the Mesquite Mayhem and headed out to our first practice. Upon arriving we met the head coach, Coach Kevin, and a few of the girls. Immediately Alyssa took a liking to all three of the coaches and the team. The coaches spend their time working with the girls and constantly praising them for jobs well done and reassuring them that they are doing great (even if there is a little mess up). They talk to them and try to teach them how to do things but they stay very consious that these are still little girls and that the most important thing is to help them build confidence and have fun (much different than our last experience). When we started out about 4 weeks ago there were plenty of girls on the team who were shy and didn't have a clue what was going on around them. Now, after lots of work and patience from our coaches these girls have begun to come out of their shells and are showing great improvements on the field. I believe that with the pressure not being on them to always win combined with a constance reassurance that they are doing well, their confidence is building and so are their skills.

Now with Alyssa having played last season with the boys we all new that she would be aware of what was happening and where she was supposed to be; what we didn't expect was how suddenly on the field skills had improved. During the first practice she was throwing the ball farther and harder than she'd ever thrown before and she was hitting her targets. When balls were being thrown or grounded to her she was moving and getting in front of the ball with little effort and when it came time for her to run she took off faster than we've ever seen her move. It was as if overnight she'd suddenly and magically transformed into this seasoned ball player. Seriously, it was amazing! Of course she could still use some work on her batting and catching (she has trouble with fly balls) but over all that little girl who had so much trouble on the boys' team was now shining like a star.

So far the Mayhem have played two games this season with their next scheduled for tomorrow night. In both games the girls did great and Alyssa has really come through as a leader. Team work is improving and as a result of it all the girls have won both games. Alyssa so far has played pitcher and with no catcher that also makes her responsible to cover home plate. When the ball is hit, she tries her hardest to be on top of it and to get the runner out. On many occassions you can hear the parents yelling "Go Alyssa!" as she races a runner to the base. When a ball gets by her she turns and jumps and yells for the other girls to get it in so that they can try to get another out. When the ball makes it back to her I'm often on the edge of my seat as I watch her hustle and race the runner in to the base. Those moments where you're waiting to see who will get there first are most suspenseful.

Now with our season off to a great start and Alyssa really enjoying being on her team and proud to be a girl I can't wait to see what our next six games are going to hold for us in the future. We really could not have asked for a better group of girls, coaches or parents for our team and my only regret is that Alyssa won't be able to continue with them in the spring, but we'll worry about that when it gets here. In the meantime we're going to enjoy the team that we have and continue to cheer and yell every Thursday night for our Mayhem girls.