By Staff
It's been a good run for our area youth baseball and softball teams.
The district tournaments are wrapping up in Little League, while three area teams captured Cal Ripken Baseball state titles earlier this month.
I have spent a great deal of time covering the state tournaments hosted by Brandywine and Howard Township, as well as taken in the title game at Thomas Stadium in Little League.
I have also made the trip over to St. Joseph to the annual Eaton Park Invitational, which wrapped up the baseball portion of its annual event on Monday.
Softball play at Eaton Park began on Wednesday and we have several teams participating in it.
It has been fun watching our youngsters play at the various tournaments.
It's easy to forget after spending months watching high school age kids participate in sports that the game really can be played for fun.
High school athletics is becoming a business just like at the college and professional levels.
There was a time when you started practicing at the beginning of each season. When your season was finished, you then took a couple of weeks off before heading into your next sport.
Those days are long gone.
Sports are a year-round commitment now to all levels.
But when you get out and watch eight-, nine- and 10-year-olds play a sport, you can see the desire and love for the game in their eyes and you can hear it in their voices.
When a youngster flashes a big toothy, sometimes toothless smile after getting a base hit, it is easy to see why so many people love sports.
In its purest form, athletics is a healthy part of growing up.
There is nothing quite like sharing a victory with your teammates. There are the trips to the concession stand after the game or going out for ice cream or pizza after a big victory.
Kids at this young age aren't worried about what their batting average is or what college they want to attend.
They just want to hear the sound of the ball hitting the bat and getting to first base before ball gets there.
When a lazy fly ball hangs up in the sun, they aren't worried about their form or if someone is watching them with a potential scholarship to be handed out.
They just want to catch the ball and make the play.
I think sometimes, we as adults want to complicate the simple things in life.
We apply pressure where there doesn't need to be any.
We take the pure joy out of our lives by over thinking everything.
Watch a youngster standing out on a baseball diamond between pitches.
There is no over thinking, or over complicating the situation. They probably don't even now how many outs there are or what they are going to do if the ball is hit to them.
They just want to play the game.
Maybe we, as adults, need to stop over thinking everything. We need to just play the game.
Perhaps our lives would be much simpler and we would be a lot happier.
Think about it!