Upon Further Review: You never forget your first time
How many of us will never forget our first time?
You know, the first time we hit a home run or scored a touchdown.
You thought I was talking about something else, didn’t you?
First times are things we will remember forever. Doing it for the first time is what makes many of us continue to play a sport.
When you’re 6 or 7 years old playing baseball, it’s every child’s dream of hitting one over the fence for that first home run. I remember my first homer, when I was playing junior league baseball. It wasn’t exactly what I had been dreaming of, but it was my first home run.
I was standing at the plate staring down the pitcher, just waiting for one right down the middle. The pitcher let it go, and sure enough it was just the pitch I was looking for. So I laid the bunt down the first base line and headed for first.
The catcher picked the ball up and slung it into the outfield as I rounded the bases for my first homer. OK, it wasn’t over the fence. But at the time it was just as good as hitting one over.
It took a couple more years but I finally yanked one out of the Dottie West field for my first true over-the-fence round-tripper. It was a thing of beauty.
What about the first time you crossed the goal line for a touchdown? Or made a big play to help win the game?
Yes, when you’re a kid those things are important and you probably didn’t think much more about it until you had kids of your own.
Growing up playing ball isn’t all about learning how to play a sport or learning what sportsmanship is all about. Yes, learning to lose as gracefully as you win is very important. But getting that first hit or making that big play makes for something very special. It makes great memories.
The older we get the more we seem to look back at those great moments in our lives and wish — at least just for a while — that we could go back and relive those first-time events.
That’s what kids should be doing, making great memories of their childhood. Sports are something we should enjoy — not something that we look back at 20 years from now wishing we’d never played.
Every kid needs a little push in the right direction every now and then, but just a push — don’t demand or criticize to harshly when it comes to playing ball.
Some parents cross the line when trying to teach or even watch their kids playing.
When that line’s crossed, I find in some cases it’s the parent trying to live out their dreams of playing ball. It’s not about their kid at all, but about them.
We all need to experience our own first time, for ourselves and nobody else. If it’s not for ourselves, it really won’t be a good memory, now will it?
Each kid deserves his or her first time of hitting one over the fence or scoring that first goal. It’s going to be their great personal achievement and you should be privileged to share that with them years down the road.
For me, I’m still holding on to a few first times — and still looking for that first hole-in-one.