Following the Memorial Day Parade on Monday, our Little League re-scheduled its Opening Day ceremonies since they had been rained out the first week of the season.  I always push my teams to have a strong turnout as Memorial Day has always been something that was important to me (one might say, duh, it's important to everyone, but the truth is that the turnout is never as strong as it is for the tree lighting or St. Patrick's Day ceremonies).

It was great that we had such a great turnout, since this was a special occasion.  I have a young boy on my 11/12 year old team who's father is currently serving in Afghanistan (leaving a wife a three kids back home).  Unbeknownst to me, Nick's dad sent a flag back to us to use for the ceremonies and Nick was selected to throw out the first ball for the league.

When he was called up there, I had this feeling that his teammates should do something to show their support for him and his dad.  All I could think of was to quickly tell my son and one of the other leaders on the team to get up and slowly take the team out in front of the crowd behind him and take one knee behind the pitcher's mound to quietly show that they were behind him.  When he looked over his shoulder and realized that they were all out there with him, he just flashed a quick little smile.  He wound up and not surprisingly, threw a strike (he is one of the better ball players on our team).

It was a really cool moment in what turned out to be a great day.  As my son and I walked off the field, I told him that I thought he did a great job.  He replied that it was scary out there in front of all those people.  I said to him, just imagine how nervous Nick must have been.  We headed off to our game, played well and won, then shared a BBQ afterwards with the other team (including a cold beverage with the other coaches that we discreetly won't reveal).  I love my town.

I hope everyone had a nice, respectful and thoughtful Memorial Day.