Proud Mama Moment

J is an athletic kid.  He has played soccer and basketball for the last few years at school.  He's pretty good at both.  But his first love is baseball.  He's played Little League since he was five and he'll be fourteen in four days.  (That's a whole other post!)  Recently we received a letter in the mail invitng J to attend a try out for the Under Armour National Tournament Teams in Boca Raton.  The letter was from a company called The Baseball Factory.  Tom called for more details and it turns out they are a company who train and help guide high school players through the college recruitment process.  College recruitment?  He isn't even in high school yet.  No problem.  The try out was for 13-18 year olds.  The cost was minimal and we decided if nothing else it would be a good experience.  This past Sunday I made the three hour drive down south with J and my dad.  We learned about how the recruitment process works, what J will have to do if he wants to play college ball, and watched about 50 boys try out.  J was one of only three 8th graders there.  Tuesday I called to hear his detailed evaluation.  He didn't make the tournament team.  Now let me say this was not surprising.  He is, after all, not quite 14.  He was competing against varsity players and they hold these try outs all over the country.    However, he was selected to attend the Cape Cod Pro Select Training Camp in Massachusetts this summer.  The training is provided by the Cape Cod Baseball League, which is apparently a big deal in college baseball.  Baseball factory only selects about 90 kids per year to attend this camp and J is one of them.  I'm still kind of stunned.  I mean, I've always thought he was a pretty spectacular ball player, but I'm his mom.  I'm supposed to think that!  J is over the moon and immediatley started trying to figure out ways he could earn money tohelp pay the cost.  Let's just say it's not so minimal!  I'm so proud of him.  He's been saying for a while that he wants a career in baseball and now he has the opportunity to get some further training and really see if this is what he wants out of life.  If nothing else, this is a good step towards playing in high school and college.  And who knows?  Someday you just may see J playing in the majors!  If things go his way, he'll be the one playing first base for the Yankees!

Hello Out There

It's been a while, I know.  I had good intentions when I decided to give blogging a try.  Really I did.  Somehow life keeps getting in the way of blogging.  But I'm back.  Again.  I'll try to be better.  Please comment and let me know you're reading.  Knowing someone, anyone is reading will inspire me to keep going.