The “Tee-Baller” of the Darmstadt Whippets cannot complain about the popularity at the moment. And with Mikka Brauch you have a very great talent in your own ranks.
Someday they could become something: the current tee ball team of the Darmstadt Whippets. Photo: Sandra Labisch / SLmotion
DARMSTADT – The Darmstadt baseball club “Whippets” has been a popular contact point for the youngsters in the “tee ball” for many years. Especially in the recent past, however, more and more children have become interested in this American sport. “There are now over 30 children, this applies to the tee ballers alone. In the other departments we have 21 student players, 15 youth and six junior players,” says trainer and head coach Tamina Domas, pleased about this increase. “There is a new registration almost every week.”
Tamina Domas trains children between the ages of three and eight in the tee ball – a simplified form of baseball. Of course, she benefits from the fact that she actually works as an educator. Because the most important thing Tamina needs is patience and enjoyment of the matter. “I just enjoy teaching the children something and seeing how they develop over the years.” Real baseball is not exactly played with the very young. It is a bit more simplified by the rules – but still it is always focused on the point. Throwing, hitting, catching, sprinting – all of this is already trained with the little ones. The focus is always on understanding the game, for example the question: How do I have to run after I hit the ball? The difference is between lighter and slightly shorter clubs, and the playing field is also smaller. This means that even the very little ones can learn the basics of baseball.
For Tamina, the main attraction of the tee ball is the work with the children and trainers. She describes the club as a “small family” that can always get bigger at tournaments. “There is less of a competition. You are happy to see each other and to be allowed to play against each other, to be able and able to learn something from each other. There is not as much pressure as there is perhaps in other sports.”
She also trains five-year-old Mikka, to whom she attributes great talent. For his age he is already very far, he constantly demands new things in training, which he then implements immediately. In addition, he also trains a lot in private with his father and sister. At just five years old, Mikka is one of the up-and-coming talents in baseball. But the club has also produced some other talents – these are now playing in the Bundesliga, national team or the Hessen team.
The whole family around Mikka has caught baseball fever – and they are in good hands with the Darmstadt Whippets. A day without baseball, whether on TV or even training, is unthinkable. “It is part of our daily routine that we watch the highlights of the American Major League together and talk extensively about it over dinner,” says Sabrina Brauch, mother and manager at the Tee-Ballern.
A whole family
under the spell of baseball
Just like her two children, she has been drawn into the spell of sport. “In the beginning I still read a book on the side at the games, but of course that no longer works,” she says with a smile. It is not at all a matter of course that her son plays baseball: when he was two and a half years old, Mikka was still on the football field.
The next step after the tea ball is the class of students. The Whippets regularly organize get-to-know days for interested children. The Tee-Ballers train twice a week in winter and once in the summer season. That could change in the coming year, then another training session per week should be added. Corona had also hit the baseball club, training was out of the question for a long time. Over time, the older ones were able to do punch exercises with the trainer again, at least on the laptop – but of course that does not replace training on the field.
In line with the coach’s impression that competition comes second, Mikka and his sister also support each other at every game. Of course, there are also discussions between siblings, but at the end of the day they always cheer each other on. Every game or tournament becomes a little highlight with the Whippets. And who knows where the journey of the talents of the Darmstadt Whippets will lead.
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