A feel good story....
I have umpired adult softball for over 30 years and have developed into a very skilled official. Well a couple of years ago I moved back to my home area and of course wanted to get into umpiring here again. I ended up being put on the field with entry level 8 to 12 year old girls. The 'Junior' girls league as they are called. Half way through the season I was asking myself "WHY am I in this league!?".... I felt my skills weren't being used. But as the end of the season came I was seeing the girls improving and having fun. The joy they experienced when they got that first hit or caught that pop up.... was truly contagious. Now in my 3 season ... 
I really enjoy umpiring in this league and here is the latest reason why...this happened just last week.
I of course encourage all the players with positive reinforcements and sometimes advice on the game as they are batting or on the field. Since I am so close to the batters (just one umpire) I generally will tell them if they were ahead or behind the pitched ball when they swung the bat... or I will let the catcher know if there is a force out at home when the based are loaded. If the catcher has a hard time throwing back to the pitcher and happens to throw a couple of good ones back.... I will tell her how much she is improving...ect..ect... Always positives...I ignore the negatives... I figure the coach or parents will do enough of that.
Anyway... this one particular girl is in her first year 8 or 9 years old... she doesn't seem to have a lot going for her with her physical skills... nor does she seem to be particularly bright. Her swing is very weak and her hand eye coordination is low. Still, I have given her encouragement as she bats and she even started to swing the bat once in a great while. Mostly she just stands there and occasionally will get on base with a walk.
Well she gets put as a catcher quite often and her throws back to the pitcher are also weak and erratic. But I continue to praise her when she does do well. Early in the game, the bases were loaded I told her quickly.... "It's a force at home now... the bases have a runner on every base so the runner from 3rd has to come home and it's a force out. All you have to do is get the ball and touch the white of home plate."..... she just gave me a weak smile and then I continued with the game. I really questioned if what I had told her sunk in at all! So... this situation happened again... but this time her team was winning by one run... it was the bottom of the last inning with 2 outs and the bases were full. I had thought about reminding her it was a force out at home but decided not to do it this time. Mostly because I really didn't think she understood and the batter coming up was already in the box... the game was getting tense for both sides... so I just continued the game. Well wouldn't you know it, the batter hits a dribbler about 3 to 4 feet in front of home plate. The pitcher knew what to do... run and get that ball and touch home plate b4 the runner from 3rd. Everyone was yelling and screaming... the pitcher tried to get to the ball b4 the catcher did..but this little girl ran out from behind home plate and picked up the ball just b4 the pitcher did and ran back to the plate and touched home a half a step ahead of the runner from 3rd!!! Her team wins the game with her getting the last out and all I could do is give her a high five and say "YOU DID IT!!! YOU DID IT!!" Her team was ecstatic and giving her a lot of positives... she had the biggest smile on her face... She will never know exactly what she taught ME! To NEVER EVER underestimate anyone! NEVER assume.... I left that field feeling great that I had told her earlier in the game about the force out at home. But felt I messed up not reminding her and assuming she really didn't understand anyway...why bother. I don't know if it was her mother but as I had to walk through the winning teams dug out area to leave the field a woman came up to me and thanked me for praising and giving this little girl a high five. She also was very touched by this simple little event ... by this little girl who needs all the positive encouragement she can get as her life will be a challenge and everyone who knows her understands this. But on this day... this little girl was happy!! Very happy and I was privileged to be part of it.
= new reply since forum marked as read
That is a wonderful story...
Thank you!
I think what is important with this experience is that you never know where you will learn your next lesson. Life has way of teaching you things that if you are aware enough you can learn from the simplest of experiences.
YM
You probably won't know it, but this will no doubt be an event that she looks back on and smiles. Good for both of you! 
one of the things I do know about all children but especially young girls.... is that self esteem is a vital part of a successful transition from those preteen years entering puberty to becoming a self confident young woman.
I know this one event can't make up for all what is necessary for a young girl to gain enough confidence in herself to make it through those tough years...but one positive at a time is all we can do....
It amazes me to look back to the time prior to sports really being open to young girls as a way to allow them to feel those successes that build self esteem. Young boys had this all along... thank goodness our society changed and now girls can build and grow through sporting games also.
Thanks for you nice compliment and input.
It was all those rolled in one!
Towards the end of that first season umpiring.... there was a little girl first year... absolutely didn't know what was going on.... at the start of the year she came to bat and stood on the plate....lol... she very seldom took a swing at the ball... but near the end of the season she did hit the ball once... a little grounder that went towards 3rd. She couldn't run very fast and I could tell she must have had some type of disability since she ran with a different gate. Anyway.. she was running as fast as she could.... she fell down about 10 feet from 1st base but didn't stop... she crawled the final ten feet and beat out the throw. LOL.... she was SOOOO HAPPY! She was jumping up and down on the base ...hugging her base coach.... it really changed how I looked at this league. It actually brought a tear to my eye. Now in her 3rd season she swings the bat fairly well and gets hits once in awhile although they never leave the infield... She loves to play the game... and I am sure it is the highlight of her summer.
I guess that is why we come here in the first place... to try to help each other along the way.
I was picturing my 9 year old grand daughter as the little girl. She has similar problems, she's very shy, wears glasses and LOVES sports. Her eye hand co-ordination is just not there, as of yet. I only hope she would be lucky enough to find someone like you in her "sports" life.
Well I am sure that you have read the previous posts and my responses...and I mentioned this earlier... it's hard to believe in our youth this wasn't possible since girls didn't have the opportunity to play in team sports such as this.
These girls LOVE to play in this league. There is a tremendous amount of encouragement from all people involved and from the teammates who cheer on their fellow players.
I do have to chuckle as on more than one occasion the catcher would instead of discouraging the batter at the plate, would say "Good Luck"
Of course this isn't the case with all of the girls but I can definitely see a different attitude towards the game than with boys.
One thing I do know is that your grand daughter was in this league she would feel very welcomed and it would be a positive experience for her.
Right back at cha!
