Reflecting on the True Joys of Being a Dad

Father’s Day might be Sunday, but for me it occurs every Saturday morning when I get to help coach my son, William’s, baseball team.

There is nothing better as a Dad than getting to toss the ball around with a son and teaching him the fundamentals of America’s pastime. I get choked up every time when my son comes up to me after a practice or game and tells me, “Dad, I love you being my coach and throwing me the baseball.”

As iconic sportswriter Grantland Rice famously wrote, “For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes - not that you won or lost - but how you played the Game."

That’s the lesson myself and our head coach tries to teach William and the other nine members of his 7-8-year-old clinic team.

Being a clinic team means you don’t keep score, you play three innings and everyone gets to play while trying to learn the basics of baseball. However, that apparently isn’t good enough for some parents and grandparents.

Part of our strategy for teaching the youngsters is to move them around to different positions and bat in different spots in the lineup. That usually means mistakes will happen, which was the case with our most recent game.

We had a boy that was playing catcher for the first time and missed several balls thrown his way, although not for lack of effort. That wasn’t good enough for one family member of another player. That spectator watching the game could be heard saying, “they call the position catcher for a reason” and “these coaches aren’t very good.”

Now, I can take criticism well, although I never pretended to be Buck Showalter. But, making fun of an 8-year-old boy trying his best is just unacceptable to me. Someone like that has no perspective of what’s really important in life.

Just getting the opportunity to coach my son and watch him play is all I need in life. I appreciate every chance I get to spend time with him – and my 4-year-old twin daughters Megan and Marissa – because you never know whether those special father/son, father/daughter moments will be snatched away in an instant.

In moments where I get frustrated with my kids I take a minute and reflect on how luck I am as a father to have three kids I love and how love me unconditionally.

As I’m playing in the pool and grilling burgers with my kids on Sunday, there will be many children and fathers who will be wishing to do the same.

Just consider:

• Christian and Garrett Falkenhan will be spending their first Father’s Day without their Dad, , who was the volunteer firefighter who died in the line of duty in January.
• Alana Stump, 4, will be without her father, , the 24-year-old Perry Hall man who was killed in a car crash earlier this month.
• Anthony Fuller is spending his first Father’s Day without his son, , who was killed in an automobile accident on St. Patrick’s Day.

 Do I want my children to succeed in life? Absolutely. But, just as important, I want them to enjoy life and enjoy being a kid. Some parents seem too concerned about rushing their children through childhood instead of enjoying the precious time they could be spending together.

As for me, I’m going to wake up, give my kids a hug and a kiss and tell them I love them. Hopefully, you'll do the same. That’s the best present a father can ever have.