Mighty Mites and Little Aces

Yesterday Zach had his first golf tournament.

It was part of the golf program he participated in at the club, and he was so excited. He definitely didn't win, but he did have a good time. He was in the boys 5-6 year-old group, and they played 3 holes with a maximum of 10 strokes per hole. Mike went with Zach while Drew and I went to the grocery store, but we got to the course just in time to see Zach putt on his last hole. Apparently on the first hole he hit the ball right into the sand trap and just could not get it out of there. Sand traps are tough, that's for sure. So he got the maximum 10 strokes on hole #1. The second hole he hit it into another sand trap but hit it out of the sand trap on the first try. Then he hit it right near the green, but then struggled and got another 10. The last hole was his good one, where he got a 6. So I think the lesson here is that Zach just needs a few more holes so he can be properly warmed up. So he ended up with a 26, and I think the winner in his group got a 19. He told me later that he was nervous before the first hole because he wanted to play well, but he did have a lot of fun, which is all I care about. After the kids were done they got to eat pizza and got a little treat bag with candy and a new golf ball, so I think that was Zach's favorite part.

A few shots from the tournament:

Because of the tournament, Zach has to miss his first day of Little Aces Tennis. I would not have signed Zach up for tennis this summer had he not asked me to, so he's been eagerly awaiting these tennis lessons for over a month now. He got his tennis racquet from Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Dick for his birthday, and he just could not wait to use it for real today.

The tennis teacher seems really nice and is great with the kids. He is a retired teacher and just seemed to have a good connection with the kids. Zach is the only boy with a group of girls, but he didn't seem to mind or even notice.

Mike and I enjoy tennis and even have racquets, but we're not (or at least I'm not) what you would consider real tennis players. Some of the stuff they did at the lesson (ok, most of the stuff) they did at the lesson I never would have come up with. They started with balancing a little bean bag on their racquet to see if they could hold the racquet with one hand or if they needed two. Then they would toss the bean bag up with their racquets and try to kick it.

Next they balanced a cup on their racquet and eventually an upside down cup with a ball on top. Then they worked on tossing the tennis ball up, letting it bounce, and catching it in the cup. The instructor told us that once they can really catch the ball in the cup in their strike zone, a whole new world of making contact is about to explode (or something along those lines). Eventually they got to hitting the ball with their racquets, which I am sure Zach was pumped about.

They even got to have the little machine shoot balls at them and they'd try to hit them. The kids struggled with this, but Zach did manage to hit one or two. You sure could tell the difference between him and the girls- he swings that racquet as hard as he can!

It seemed like Zach had a great time and he's looking forward to tomorrow. With each new sport he tries and loves (I don't think he's tried a sport he hasn't loved), I am left feeling more and more curious about what sport or sports he'll end up choosing as he gets older, if any. I'm just glad he enjoys all these sports so much. I wonder if Drew will be as into sports as Zach is. Stay tuned...