Alicia made the softball team, surprisingly enough. Contrary to what she'd been told about eighth graders always starting, we discovered yesterday that wasn't true, which dampened her initial excitement. The coach asked to speak with me (again) after their first practice yesterday, and basically said she'd probably spend a lot of time on the bench. The girls who play travel ball are passing her by because they're so hardcore, so if Alicia wants to continue playing, she needs to re-evaluate her opinions on signing up for that. He thinks she's got a ton of potential, blah blah blah, and he wouldn't have put her on the team if he didn't think so (which is true, he cut 2/3's of the them, including her BFF who actually does play travel ball), but it was still sobering. Alicia doesn't want to make this decision, but she doesn't want to stop playing, either. She really wants to be able to play at the high school level, because she likes being surrounded by girls who actually enjoy the game and want to win.
So...lots of thinking ahead. It's Alicia's decision, and we've told her we'll support whatever she chooses. She just doesn't want to have to pick.
eurydice72) wrote, 