This is hard to start writing because I don’t know where to begin. I think this is the first time I have actually labeled myself in writing as a “sports mom,” but I can’t deny it. Even if I am only considering the number of games and practices I have attended and nothing else, I am a sports mom. So my sports parenting journey began on an empty lot next to a Catholic church in Cottleville, MO back in 2003, when our son Walker had just turned five. There was never any question about whether or not we would sign up our little towheaded, bat swinging, ball throwing bundle of electric energy for the local tee-ball league. I think this was pre-determined when I fell in love with a baseball player at my university after getting assigned as his Diamond Girl for the season. And so the baseball/football/dance life journey began with our three children Walker, Peyton, and Landry – 550 baseball games, 125 football games, 11 dance recitals down – how many to go?
Ah, the baseball journey…let me just say that I could see from day one that I had an ambitious and serious sports dad on my hands. He could see that our first born was a natural athlete and enjoyed any sport he got the chance to play, especially baseball. Since my husband Russell knew the game of baseball well and loved teaching it, there was no hesitation for us to seek out families with other budding stick swingers who weren’t looking for an ordinary baseball experience. With his military officer background, his tendency to dream big, and the years he spent doing college baseball with one of the winningest NCAA coaches in the country, I was afraid we had started something I wasn’t quite ready for. I had no idea…
From the Missouri Longhorns to Team Missouri
We were ready for the start of our Missouri Longhorns 9U season – our new gear and fan wear was ready to go, Coach Jenkins looked like a college coach, and our guys looked great with their game faces and burnt orange uniforms on. Our son Peyton was ready to retrieve all the bats and drink all the team Gatorade. Our daughter Landry was ready to empty out her change purse at the “confession” stand when I allowed her to and had her bag of Polly Pockets and markers ready to be silly with our ace pitcher’s sister – a match made in heaven! After a few years of traveling throughout the Midwest during our seasons, we had earned quite a reputation and were enjoying rivalries with the Chesterfield Chargers, the Big Hitter Diamond Stars (favorite team name ever!), and the Plainfield Diamond Kings to name a few.
We then added Peyton’s team to the mix, and for five years total with the Longhorns, this was our life during the spring and summer – waking up before the sun to drive to weekend tournaments, eating really bad ball park food, losing gear, buying more gear, having no friends except for whoever was at the ball park, missing church together as a family (even though there were many attempts to move our games away from church time), lots of practicing for the next tournament or recovering from the previous one, few family meals at home…this was our life, and I didn’t think I liked it.
Though we had a long list of successes and fun memories, I was becoming more aware that our family life, with its lack of down time and margin, didn’t resemble what I had envisioned for my family before all this began. Things that I thought would be non-negotiables had gotten squeezed out due to this youth baseball mayhem. I was running the wheels off my van and feeling pretty low as I tossed questionable food around in my vehicle for meal times on the road. And it’s hard to bond with your children while you’re driving and someone’s yelling they’re about to wet their pants. What had happened to my plan to serve nice southern meals, play checkers and charades, take a few special vacations, teach my kids about Jesus, and be active with serving in our local church community? I knew it, Russell knew it, WE knew it – our attempts to weave family life and baseball life together weren’t looking great. I was trying to navigate running a home that was pleasing to God while being a good coach’s wife and meeting the increasing demands of what youth baseball had grown into. I didn’t know if I could make these co-exist.
How did we fix it? We battled…for a while. I can’t say that we fixed it, but I can tell you that we made changes, different changes at different times, looking for balance. We often struggled through the schedule, not enough home time, and other activities getting squeezed out. Then came the new endeavor, getting our newly formed program Team Missouri off the ground while managing our full-time jobs and parenting duties. A lot of this was a blur…
Team Missouri was the new baseball adventure we embarked on after closing the Longhorns chapter. It had become my husband’s dream to create a quality, competitive program in our area that was more affordable than the other local clubs while also weaving in Christian values and leadership principals. I knew this was going to be tons of work, but I knew how much it meant to him – and I knew it was best for me to support him. I decided I should pass out devotional books with our daughter at Sunday tournaments when our boy’s teams were required to play on Sunday mornings – and it didn’t conflict with the hour I taught Sunday School. This was my way of trying to show my kids what should matter to us and to ease my “family’s not at church” guilt. We asked our pastor and church staff to pray for us in the hopes Team Missouri would flourish (and I prayed it would not take over our lives!).
It wasn’t perfect, but Coach Jenkins set out for our boys and many other boys to get to be a part of something great. For the three years he led Team Missouri, I believe he achieved that. If you ask my kids today about their Team Missouri memories and friendships, the conversations are sweet. They realize it was an extraordinary time, and as they get older they realize even more how much their dad did to make it special for everyone. As for me during that time, I kept the kids sports clothes washed, got them delivered to practices in different parts of town, got us packed for tournaments each weekend, kept them fed most of the time, and kept our dog alive! I wasn’t fully sane, but we made it through with no major casualties.
On to Team Jenkins
After three years of being part of Team Missouri and sensing God nudging us on to a new place and new chapter, we chose to say a heavy goodbye to youth baseball of St. Louis and moved our family to Sun Prairie, WI for a new job opportunity. No more running youth baseball organizations, just Team Jenkins now with the blessing of being more present for the life journeys of our own. But smiling when sweet memories surface on social media…
