Four Corners Softball Clinic

A few months ago, back around January, Landon and I got asked to help organize a softball clinic out at Four Corners, a lower socio-economic neighborhood about 15 minutes from our house.  Our initial thoughts was a resounding no, because life was already busy and I'm pregnant and Landon's training for an Ironman and so on.  However, every time I went to write Nancy, the woman who asked us to do it, back, I kept feeling like I should wait a little while before saying no.  And I really felt like God was telling me to do it, so I ran it by Landon (and promise he wouldn't have to do anything! :)) and told her we would do it.

And, while it was A LOT of work at times, especially the week before, I would say it was worth it.  A lot of people came out and a lot of kids and kids from both Four Corners and from our church played together in the clinic and the game, which we thought was really cool.

The day officially began around 11am, when the first volunteers showed up to help set up.  We began preparing food, preparing to check kids in, checking in volunteers, setting up tables, setting up fields etc.  There was a lot to do, but with how many people showed up to help set up, it almost felt like there wasn't enough work to go around!

Then, when the kids began arriving, some of the volunteers played Take A Hike and Duck, Duck, Goose (still a favorite apparently!) with them until the day began officially for them.

Around 12:45pm, Landon gathered all the kids together and split them up into groups according to their grade and nametag color and sent them off with their group leaders to their first station.

We made sure everyone had a glove and then they were ready to learn some catching and hitting and base running and throwing and a lot more!

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And oh my goodness, were they ever cute--we had kids ranging in age from Kindergarten (with a few PreKers that snuck in) through 8th grade.

They spent the next two hours going to different stations and learning the ins and outs of how to play softball from some awesome teachers.

Between each station, they had a little break for drinks and snacks, because it was hot and they were playing hard!

Then, the time keepers would blow their whistles, letting us know break time was over and it was time to move to the next station!

Around 2:30pm, when all of the kids had cycled through all four stations, it was time to split into actual softball (or teeball for the younger kids) teams and show off their skills in an actual game.  Landon gathered all the kids together and they each age group split off to their respective softball fields to meet their coaches and team moms. 

While the kids had been going through the different stations, the coaches had been scouting out the kids and splitting each age group into two even teams.  They did an awesome job and before we knew it, all of the kids were on a team and each team had a name!

And while all of this was going on, our sound equipment manager and DJ were busy getting some music going for the games!

But the kids were still missing something--a team jersey!  So, before they began their games, they headed over with their team moms to decorate their t-shirts and, you guessed it, have another snack and drink!
The kids worked hard on the shirts, putting their names and numbers on them and decorating them in their team's color, and they came out really cute!

And then, with sweet little Isack's "Play ball!" the games began!

We had a group of 3rd through 5th graders,

6th-8th graders, 

and kinder-2nd graders  all playing a teeball or softball game.  And seriously, I was impressed by how well everything went and how well the kids played--even the babies in their little teeball game!

We had team moms handing out drinks and peanuts and bubble gum and encouragement and sunscreen and making sure the kids were in the right spot.  We had coaches, you know, coaching.  We had scorekeepers and umpires and everyone just did an awesome job.

We even had some spectators--some parents came to watch and some volunteers stayed to watch!  It was cool for the kids to have an audience--and to hear people cheering for them!

All three of the games ended up being very close in score--and a couple of them were real nail-biters, with one of the teams making an awesome comeback!

And, from what I could tell at least, the whole day by with very few meltdowns. :)

While the kids were playing their games, our chefs were busy grilling up some hamburgers and our food prep team was busy with the rest of the meal!  And, it smelled so good...we were all pretty hungry by the time dinner rolled around!

When the games were over, the kids gave high fives and told the other team good job--such good sportsmanship. :)  And so cute.

Then, after Landon led us all in a prayer, and everyone's hands were sanitized, it was time to eat!
We all mingled and chit chatted and it was a nice ending to a fun (though exhausting!) day.

And, as a bonus, thanks to our awesome group of volunteers, clean up was really pretty easy and quick and we were at Swirll with some friends (who had been out there all day with us too!) enjoying some frozen yogurt and trying to ignore our aching feet. 

All in all though, we couldn't have been happier with how it all went down--and the kids seemed to have a good time and actually learned something about softball! :)

And now, we've got all this softball equipment in our attic, so we just might have to do it again, sometime in the (not immediate) future...