Page 35 of Players and Pages
There was a collective yes.
“That’s our team,” I said with a shrug, letting the excited chatter do the talking for the pessimists in the group. The ‘too cool to be here’ crowd would be a challenge, but I wasn’t afraid of that in the least.
“And as a surprise, our PR team sent you guys over some goodies,” Jackson told them as he scanned the kids and found the quietest one. “You in the orange shirt. Can you pass these out?”
He nodded yes as a smile grew on his face. We watched in silence as each kid got more excited as they waited for their shirt and hat.
“Any catchers here?” Cy was the first to ask the group.
A few kids held up their hands.
“Pitchers?” Jackson questioned next.
Two kids held up their hands.
“I’m a first baseman. If you play infield can you stay on the dirt and the outfields go to the grass, please. We’re going to split you into two teams and determine what you guys need to work on,” I told them. They did as they were asked surprisingly well. There were a couple of kids that looked lost so I headed over to see if they were new or just unsure.
“Hey, guys, do you play a base or outfield?” I asked.
“No, we usually ride the bench,” the oldest one standing there told me, his cheeks flaring red at the admission. That broke my heart a little and I was supposed to be the tough one here.
They all looked at the ground until I spoke again.
“Well, if you have any place you prefer to play, go to that group. We’re here to help everyone,” I promised. “We’ll make sure you have time out there on the field. We’ll also work on that confidence.”
They all gave me huge smiles as they jogged off to join the others. I headed back to talk to the guys before we put them on two teams.
“Okay, this team on the left is home and you on the right are visitors,” I announced as well as pointing to each one. “Visitors,Jackson is going to help you get ready to bat and Cy and I are going to help those on the field.”
Cy and I watched as Jackson did his best to round them up and herd them into the dugout.
“Now, we’re going to call out the positions and one of you come and claim it. Don’t worry we are going to rotate you each round and give everyone a chance to play,” Cy called over a little bit of chatter.
I knew he wouldn’t let anyone be left out. The reassurance had the few previous bench riders lighting up all over again.
Once all nine places had a kid, we called the batter up and began the game.
“Man, I feel like we need a clip board to score and make notes. As well as some more eyes to help us out,” I admitted to Cy. We’d never done this level of coaching before. Sure, we had helped a few rookies and been in the game for long enough to know what to look for, but this was a bit intimidating.
“Do your best, we know what we’re doing and you can bring all that next time. I’m going behind the plate to call the pitches,” Cy said before he took the umpire’s place.
The first batter stepped up to the plate and on the first pitch he hit a high fly to right field. It got my hopes up that they knew what they were doing, but as we made our way down the lineup they were dashed a bit.
The kids seemed to be having fun, so there was that. Today was supposed to give us an idea on what areas to improve on. It was clear we’d need batting classes, rules refreshers, and probably some catching pointers. Mission accomplished.
After all the visitors had batted, we switched the teams and did the same thing. There were a few standout players but we weren’t going to say anything to them yet.
We texted our omega throughout the day, sending pictures of the camp and had lunch with the kids.
When we called it a day, I had a lot of ideas going through my brain that the guys and I would have to discuss before we implemented anything. We handed the kids back over to Stokes, and now it was our turn to grab a bite—because that lunch didn’t cut it—and head to practice.
The only thing I was thinking about was getting back to Dani and for the dinner she promised.
Practice passed by in a blur of new dance trends, shooting a few videos for our socials, and then finally actual practice.
Henry seemed annoyed at our lateness, but he was the asshole who put our name in for the camp in the first place. I swear, there was no winning with that jackass.
I felt bad for any pack that got him.
