Introducing Maverick!

I now have a suitable nickname for the Older Boy. From here forward, I will refer to him as Maverick. If you’ve seen Top Gun, then you know that Maverick was a hot shot pilot until his RIO (Radar Intercept Officer) is killed in an accident. Maverick is then gun shy and doesn’t want to “engage” for fear of someone else getting hurt. His confidence is shot. He eventually gets over it and gets his cockiness back.

The older boy is going through the gun shy stage. He was a solid hitter in baseball last year, striking out only once. He was doing well this year as well, until he got hit with a pitch. He had his back turned and the pitcher didn’t hold the ball like the umpire told him and got beaned in the shoulder. Since then, he’s been stepping back from the plate as soon as the pitcher pulls his arm back to throw, thinking all the pitches are coming at him.

I’ve been working real hard to get him over it, but it’s been frustrating. I’ve been just trying to get him to not back up and swing at the ball, forget about hitting. But he won’t “engage”, hence his new nickname, Maverick. Like Maverick, I’m hoping he gets out of this funk. I got a great suggestion from one of the other dads. His kid went through the same thing. He got his kid over it by pitching rolled up socks to him. Doesn’t hurt when you get hit, and you can still throw it fast. Hopefully Maverick will again realize which pitches are actually strikes and hittable, and which really are coming for him.

Engage, Maverick, engage!