Opening Day Youth Baseball and Self Doubt

I am sitting in a Comfort Inn in Tennessee this morning. My son is fast asleep. He is about to play in a weekend baseball tournament. He plays on an elite baseball team that is scheduled to play 75 games this season. He is the team's starting catcher. Last year he was the team captain. He will have to earn that title again this year. I am confident that his hustle will be noticed again.

He has been on this elite team for 3 seasons already. My son has the highest career batting average over that period. He should. He has had a personal hitting coach for years. We pay that coach $60/hour. Lots of his teammates have started using my son's private coach. They want that extra edge too.

We had a great time during the 6 hour drive last night. We listened to NCAA basketball and talked the entire time. We stopped for a quick dinner at Chick-Fil-A. During dinner, we talked about how he was feeling about the tournament. He shared that he was excited and scared. I asked, "what scares you?". He was afraid that he would not get any hits. I told him that he might not, but reminded him that at the end of the year he will look back and remember lots and lots of key hits. He said, "I don't hit well in tournaments". I said really, "How did you earn All Tournament Team honors at the CABA World Series?". He said, "I know, but I did not hit well in the AAU National Tournament." That was the last tournament last season. He did not hit as well as he usually does and he remembers it vividly.