Blast Ball

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Lucas had his first Blast Ball session last week. After locating his coach, we found out that he was on the dark blue team. That works out well since his favorite color is blue. The coaches let the kids name the team, and I think a couple of the older kids (it's 4-5) came up with the stunningly uncreative Blue Jays. Compare this to Lucas's daycare buddy who is on a team named the Green Goblins.

The way Blast Ball works is that during the first half of the session, the coaches work with their own team, teaching them basic fundamentals like batting, throwing, and fielding a ball. At this point, no gloves are involved though it's expected they'll start using them by the end of the season. In the second half of each session, two teams actually play a game of Blast Ball against one another.

The rules for BB are pretty simple. Each inning, every player on a team gets one at-bat. They hit the ball off the tee and then need to reach the base--located approximately where first base would be--before the other team gets them out. To get an out, the other team must pick up the hit ball and yell, "Blast ball!" Keep in mind that no score is actually kept so it's all for fun at this stage. Also, the base honks when you step on it so the kids get a kick out of that.

I got a few pictures and videos from Lucas's first day at Blast Ball. They aren't the greatest quality. but it's a long season--until the end of June--so hopefully I'll have a chance to get plenty more.

Before we started playing, Lucas wanted to test out the honking base. About 20 times.

Here he models his new hat and t-shirt.

This is the only shot I got of Lucas's team on defense. If you look closely, you can see a white blur on the left side of the photo. That's the ball, and Lucas is the leftmost player so I think he's the one who fielded it.

This was Lucas's third or fourth time up to bat.

I had the foresight to videotape Lucas's very first time at bat. So on the off-chance he's one day the starting shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he can look back and see where it all began. It wasn't the best start, but he finally did figure out the tee. Also, once he realized he needed to run, he *was* pretty quick, even if he completely blew off the coach trying to give him his hat back.



One other thing I'd like to point out is that Lucas exhibited almost no shyness whatsoever. He stood with all the other boys, did what he was told, and never came running over to me crying. His mind did wander, and he didn't always pay attention to the game at hand, but I can live with that!