One day my son came home from Kindergarten all excited, because one of his classmates brought in his t-ball trophy for show-and-tell. The presence of that trophy sealed it—he simply had to play t-ball this season. This was fine, since we were looking for a sports activity for him to do in the spring.

In case you're not familiar with the concept, t-ball (or Tee-Ball) is a game for little kids derived from baseball. The primary difference, to the casual observer, is the lack of a pitcher. Instead, the children take whacks at a ball mounted on a tee. It's a gentler version of baseball intended primarily to build skills in a fun, non-competitive way.

Actually, in hindsight, I have to change my mind and state that the primary difference is this non-competitive aspect. There are no losers, and no winners. Or, perhaps, everyone's a winner. Either way, it can be a little confusing for parents new to the game, especially when trying to figure out when an inning's over or puzzling over the fact that a kid who was clearly "out" is still running on to third base. Everybody gets a turn at bat. There are no strikes, no outs, and no score. It's for fun.

I suppose it would be easy to criticize t-ball as a touchy-feely, self-esteem building exercise that ultimately deprives children of the satisfaction of winning or the lessons learned by losing gracefully. In fact, that was my first gut reaction (cynic that I am). But after watching a few games, you really begin to see that the non-competitive nature of t-ball is really there so that the kids learn and have fun in the process. If it builds their self-esteem in the meantime, that's fine. They'll have plenty of time to learn about the proverbial "thrill of victory and agony of defeat" in later sports activities.

I also look back to my brief and extremely undistinguished childhood baseball career. Basically, I was awful. I was also one of the littler kids in the neighborhood (my brother and the other children younger than me were to small to play) and always ended up playing with older kids with more skills than me. Pee-Wee Baseball was our summertime ritual. It was less organized than t-ball in that we didn't have uniforms (only a generic baseball cap and t-shirt), cleats, team banners, or any of the fancy stuff that the Little League-run t-ball teams have. But it was competitve, and if you're not very good, then that's a lot of pressure for a little kid. I think ultimately I would have had a lot more fun, and learned a lot more, playing t-ball.

That said, the no-outs, no-score nature of the game tends to kill any of the suspense inherent to a game with actually competition. When someone scoops up a grounder and sends it to first, or catches a pop fly, it doesn't really mean anything to the game, but you can cheer the accomplishment and the fact that they're learning to play. Ultimately, that's what it's all about.

As a postscript, I sent some photos of the first game to a family friend, who asked "If there's no pitcher, then why are they wearing batting helmets?"