Don't Get Off the Bus “ I don’t want to get on the bus!” He feared that when he got on the bus, it would be over. The end. No more baseball. As I watched tears roll down his handsome face, smudging the eyeblack on his cheeks, it seemed like only yesterday he was a little boy and I was rolling a baseball to him in the front yard. Sixteen years later he and I were facing the end of a journey that we both would never have dreamed would have taken us to far. Youth league, High School All America, Team USA, the Area Code Games, two JUCO National Championships and two NCAA regionals. But he had run out of college eligibility. The long bus trip home would be to turn in his uniform. I get calls all the time from fathers wanting to pay me to work with their sons and I feel sorry for them because they are not sharing this precious time with their sons. Reality is that 50% of all the boys that start playing at age six will be “on the bus” by the time they are thirteen. Share and treasure this short and precious time that you get to play ball with your son. Even if you are so fortunate as I to get to share this experience for such a long time, I assure you there were moist eyes and an ache in my stomach at the thought of an end to baseball shared with my son. P.S. He ain’t “on the bus” yet! THE METS CALLED HIS NAME IN THE 34 ROUND. He gets to keep following his dream. You better believe it will be a happy Father’s Day for me. From "Tips From The Coach"
Used with permission