On a misty, chilly April evening, Malachi hit his first home run. This kiddo who begged me not to sign him up for baseball, who may have teared up a bit walking up to his first and second practice, and who didn’t want to play because he didn’t know how yet. For the record, he’s spent the past two months going to the baseball field, the playground, or across the street to play baseball every single day. So yes, I may have signed him up against his will, but his actions showed he wanted to be there if it weren’t for the fear.
So he hits the ball deep into right field which begins the trek around the bases and, of course, I am hollering like you would expect me to. My love for baseball runs deep thanks to Brady Butler (P.S. Vote Brady Butler for Oklahoma State Senate 2026). After the game Malachi and his sisters asked if they could watch the video and as we’re watching, I realized just how obnoxious my cheering was.
Upon sharing the video with the world, my Facebook comment was: “Ignore my screaming. Malachi hit his first home run!”
On my way to work the next day I couldn’t help but think about how proud I was of this kiddo who didn’t believe in himself, who hadn’t played one second of organized baseball before this season, and who didn’t possess an ounce of confidence in this domain. It was much more to me, to him, than just a coach-pitch level homerun. But that phrase “ignore my screaming…”
Ignore my cheers?
Ignore my encouragement?
That screaming, that cheering, that encouragement is the evidence he has someone in his corner! A whole slew of people in his corner!
There are several places in the bible that say “build one another up” (1 Thess. 5:11, Eph. 4:29, Romans 14:19) and it makes so much sense. Life is hard. People have hard jobs. Walk through tough situations. Sometimes hang on by a thread to a semblance of sanity. It’s nice knowing there’s someone in your corner. So maybe it’s okay to be the one causing a ruckus from time to time. To be the voice in the background saying “Run run run! Go! Go!! Run home!!!! WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”
Yesterday, I spent the morning running my second (and hopefully last) marathon. There were 30,000 runners. All along the way there was cheering and encouragement, and it’s part of what makes this race in OKC so incredible. The crowd is incredible, but there’s always an added spark of joy when I see Kyle, my kiddos, my dad or any human I know on the side of the course. It hits differently. Even at 37, encouragement is something I appreciate.
So to all of you coaches out there who are building these kids up, to all you parents who are, day after day, showing up and supporting your kiddos, encouraging them (regardless of how old they are)…I think it runs a bit deeper than we even know! It’s proof these kiddos are not doing hard things alone!