At a 10u tournament yesterday, between games, we had 5 kids from our team enter a HR derby. There were a total of 35 participants. My 10 yr old son (he turned 10 in May) had made it to the final round with 2 other kids. They were playing on a field that was 200 ft to the corners and 225 to center with a 6-7 ft fence. The tournament volunteers had created a line out in the out field that a player had to clear in the air to gain points. (There were tournament judges out there as well) It was 1 pt to clear 3 pts to hit the track in the air and 10 points to put it out. No kid had ever put one out before (in the this competition). Well my son was the last to bat. He had 7 swings and the leader had only cleared the line twice. So he had 7 swings to at least tie. On his first swing he cleared. On his second swing he tied it. Third, he fouled one off deep. On his fourth swing he crushed one to left center, not only did he clear, he became the first kid to clear this fence. He hit one that I would estimate at about 240.
I typically don't like to write this type of stuff but it was a great moment. My son was piled on by his teammates. Other kids from the other teams ran into the woods to find the ball to give it to him. My son earned that trophy yesterday because he is dedicated and works extremely hard.