Oz Baseball

Yes, indeed, there is such a thing.  There's even a professional league during the summer - the Melbourne Aces play somewhere out near Geelong, along with five other pro teams (Perth, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane).  I think we will have to make the schlep to see them come October.

Isaac played winter baseball, and the league just finished.  There aren't a lot of kids who play baseball, so the teams are few and far between.  We did a lot of driving for away games, which wasn't a terrible thing.  I got to learn where some far-flung suburbs were (Croydon?  I'd never even heard of Croydon!  Knox?  Not on the map.  Do you mean Knoxville?  But everyone says Knox?  Because Australia?  Cheers!), and Isaac and I had some bonding time on the 45 minute drives to games at 7:15 on Saturday mornings.

Baseball teams play out of clubs which sponsor lots of different age groups.  Isaac's winter club, North Balwyn, was about 15 minutes from our house.  Each club has 2 - 4 baseball diamonds, a clubhouse with indoor toilets, a snack bar that serves both beer and coffee, and of course sausages.  Isaac was on the rookie team, which was under-13s.  At barely 9, he was the youngest by far on the team.  There were four U-13 teams, two U-15 teams, an U-16 team and a U-17 team.   Volunteer coaches, volunteers running the tuck shops, parents helping out at trainings (practices) and games doing base coaching and keeping meticulous box scores.  Cost: $75 for the uniform (shirt, pants, hat), $225 for the season (three months).

Trainings were Tuesday nights from 6:30 - 8 pm.  This made waking up on Wednesdays very hard for us.  Because it was winter, trainings were conducted in the dark with field lights, often in cold, rainy conditions.  Isaac fell asleep in the car on his way home from trainings more than once.  Games for the little ones started with an 8 AM training, and the game started at 9.  Games went for 90 minutes, and ended on the dot at 10:30.  Whatever runs were scored before that time if teams didn't have equal ups, were erased.   Kid pitch, but if the kid-pitch went to a full count, the coach stepped in.  There was a four-run per inning mercy rule. Other than that, regulations as usual.

The Under-17s playing at Family Day.

This pitcher was actually recruited by an American team, according to Isaac's coach.

I feel lucky that we stumbled on this particular club.  The boys were completely welcoming to Isaac, and were super encouraging to him.  He struggled with basic skills for about half the season.  It's been years since he's played organised ball, so his batting was rough, and he was timid about chasing down balls.  But by the end he was hitting, stealing bases, making big catches from second base.  His coach was incredible.  The trainings had the boys moving all the time.

The parents were equally welcoming to me and Joel.  There was an out-sized proportion of American and Canadian expat families represented in the league, perhaps predictably, with many half North-American, half Aussie families like ours.  The Australian parents were incredibly enthusiastic about baseball, even if they didn't all know the fine details of the rules.  They always approached us and asked how we were doing, how Isaac was doing, how Isaac liked the team.  They shared advice on where to get baseball equipment (out in Knoxville - the only baseball store in the area), where the summer leagues were, where the best coffee was near each away field.

I wasn't quite sure when "License Time" was, but it seemed to be any time there was a game being played.

It was a long ceremony.  Don't judge.

As mentioned above, games were very well catered.  Each field had a cinderblock field house that had a full kitchen and indoor toilets.  Kids and adults could buy all manner of snacks and drinks.  It isn't a baseball game without a sausage sizzle.

At the end of the season, all the boys got a pennant.  Coaches gave out coaches' awards, best batting, and MVP awards.  Isaac's team finished "at the top of the ladder" so they won the "premier," (the championship) so Isaac got a medal in addition to his pennant.

Nice medals!

I'm thinking they lost Isaac's registration paperwork . . . just guessing.

Summer ball starts in October, runs through mid-December when they break for summer holidays.  (A good proportion of Australians travel extensively during the summer, so fielding consistent teams over the holidays is hard.  Plus it's sometimes 43 flipping degrees when no one even wants to leave the house, let alone run around in polyester pants.)  The season then starts up again in February with the new school year, and runs through March.  The North Balwyn club shuts for the summer and most kids migrate to the Melbourne club, which trains and plays about two kilometers from our house.  Summer trainings are Friday nights, which is awful, but at least it will be sunny and probably dry.  Summer games are Sunday mornings which is better.  Isaac will still be in the U-13s, Ruth wants to play T-ball, which is the only option for kids under age 8.