Kickball

Will came home from school wanting to sign up for after-school kickball intramurals. Talk about surprised?!!! Sports have not been our friend in the past. I think he's actually up to the task physically and coordination-wise, but he can't follow the rules of the game. He can't keep up with the nuances of what you're supposed to do when. In a few years, he probably will be able to, but right now, it's still a bit of a mystery. But, hey, when your son actually ASKS to do an activity, ya better sign him up! So I sent in the application, cringing.

Well, the first day he was to play, I took him outside before he got on the bus and played a little bit of kickball. He seemed absolutely fine to me, and I was surprised how much he had changed from last year. It was great! But the real test is in an actual game. I didn't get to see him in the games because I would arrive just in time for the games to be finished, but I tried harder to arrive earlier towards the end of the season. What I noticed was an interesting phenomenon. In this particular group of kids, there were MANY kids who were uncoordinated, not necessarily successful kickball players. It didn't much matter. Had we found the perfect sport? In some ways, yes -- because Will didn't look that different from many of the other kids. His trouble was in knowing WHEN it was his turn to kick the ball (the other kids let him know when it was time) and how he should best kick the ball so he would not get out, and so his team would score. Many times he would hold on to the ball too long when a bad serve was given, and that annoyed his teammates, but other than that, it was a pretty happy experience. I highly recommend kickball intramurals!