Losing sports to the coronavirus is necessary, but it still hurts.
Right now children across our community should be having some wonderful moments playing in youth baseball and softball leagues.
There is still hope — and a little bit of time — that the games will be played.
Officials at the Greenville Parks and Recreation Department say they are in a holding pattern right now about whether or not they will play this season. Currently, there is still a prohibition of gatherings of more than 10 or more people.
Meanwhile, Beth Giachelli, who oversees play at the Delta Sportplex, told me that they are waiting until May 15 to make a decision. Giachelli has discussed several different options with her board depending on the soonest available “start play” date.
Let’s all hope that this crisis passes soon so the children of our community can get back on the field this summer.
While nothing can take the place of playing for your youth baseball or softball team, I do know from personal experience that there are still plenty of ways for kids to have fun while swinging for the fences.
Some of my most fun memories as a child were playing wiffle ball in the back yard with my brothers. What made wiffle ball so much fun was there was absolutely no stress. There were no adults watching. It was just us kids having fun. If you struck out, no one cared. If you lost, no one cared.
And, unlike organized baseball where I never had much power, in wiffle ball I could launch home runs just like Reggie Jackson and Dale Murphy.
And, when I hit a homer, it was always the pitchers responsibility to jump over the fence and retrieve the ball. Nothing was much sweeter than that!
Wiffle ball can be played with just two people, but ideally I have found that three people per team works best.
There is a website I checked out called wiffleball.com, and you can go there for some ideas of how to play. But, actually kids should probably just make up their own rules about how they want to play.
If they don’t want to run the bases, they don’t have to.
If they don’t want strikeouts, then no one strikes out.
If they want to quit, and jump in the pool, that is fine too.
Over the years, it seems some parents have taken organized sports to completely crazy levels. The time and money it requires to play in some leagues may be a little too much for many kids.
They may have more fun staying home and playing wiffle ball.
David W. Healy is sports editor of the Delta Democrat-Times. He can be reached at dhealy@ddtonline.com
