Posted on 04/28/2021 3:40:32 PM PDT by calvincaspian
One of the joys of coaching little kids’ sports is watching them express delight and satisfaction when they do something well. I remember a particular little girl a few years ago who played on my daughter’s tee ball team.
This child was tiny. She was hardly larger than the trophy. All the bats were way too big for her - she might as well have been trying to swing a telephone pole.
Then, one day she managed to get the bat around and hit a little dribbler in front of home plate. We all shouted “Run to first, run to first!”
My little player raced toward the base and once she was within a few feet took a giant leap with both feet and landed on the bag.
Safe!
All the coaches and the parents on our side erupted with glee. She had done it.
She looked over at me smiled a mile wide, her face beaming with elation and excitement. It was pure joy. Unfiltered, blazing, happiness.
I am coaching again this year. It has not been the same.
The kids are trying to learn to hit, field and pitch and they are getting no emotional support from us as our facial expressions are gone.
It is terrible, in fact.
Maybe I’m part of the problem. The league demands masks, and I am complying because they need coaches and that’s the deal.
Still, it’s terrible and we are hurting our kids and we deserve to feel shame.
It would be a lot more bearable if we were masking our kids on that field for a good reason but we’re doing it because we’ve proven as a society to be weak. If only we had the resolve, tenacity, courage and optimism a tiny five-year-old girl wielding a way-too-big bat.
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Like I told Fauci, just use a plastic bag! That’ll work better than 3 or 4 of those stupid masks.
I can’t agree more with your sentiment here. Everyone knows that 90% off communication is nonverbal. The masks and teleconferences have served to eliminate a huge amount of communication.
I was a soccer coach when my daughter was playing. I could not imagine demanding the girls going full cardio with the face diaper on. WTF has happened to this society?
It’s insane. What I don’t understand is why parents are go8ng along with it.
I live in Florida, but I’m visiting family in Arizona at the moment and statewide, things are okay. But cities and organizations have their own “mask mandates,” because, doncha know, Lord Fauci has issued his decree.
Worst of all, even though his decree was supposedly relaxed today, all of Phoenix is walking around with their masks clapped to their faces. Worse still, when I went to the Desert Botanical Garden (all masking all the time outdoors) , I saw a mother trying to get her 2 or 3 yr old little girl to put her mask on because it was like mommy and like a big girl...this was drawn directly from the CDC website, which tells you how to get your toddler or small child to wear a mask.
What to do? Where to begin?
Was in Indianapolis last June, walked into a grocery store and the only people wearing masks were the employees.
All the customers kept smiling at each other.
I was amazed at how much joy I felt seeing a stranger smile!
Masks DO NOT WORK!
I can’t stand face diapers, but I really, really hate seeing those horrid things on children.
It is child abuse, plain and simple.
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