A Special Day for Young Athletes

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love shooting youth sports. My journey of shooting for young athletes began with my own, my son. He started playing baseball at 3 1/2 years old, and his passion for the game grows with every passing year.

He and his teammates got the opportunity to attend a varsity game at a local high school, where they took turns as bat boys in the dugout with the high school players. As much as I view my son as a "big kid" approaching his teen years, the view of him in the dugout next to these teens reminded me that he is, in fact, still just a little kid.

My boy got to throw out the first pitch with a couple of other youth players from younger teams. It was really just a great evening of baseball. The future of the game, right there, with the big kids.

To me, baseball is one of those sports that photographs just beautifully. I've photographed other sports, but very few allow you to isolate one player at a time and focus on his/her emotions and movements. There's a sense of intimacy a spectator is granted when watching baseball that you can't easily achieve with other sports.

Part of it has to do with the fact that you sit literally a few feet behind the action. You hear the players' reactions, commentary, sighs, grunts, and cheers. You're right there for all of it, good and bad. And young players like these are never at a loss for emotion or commentary during the game. Makes my job as a baseball mom and photographer pretty awesome :)

#baseball #youthsports #sports #Lanier #2016 #spring