True, it may not take quite as much skill as many sports, but we’re talking about 5-year-olds here. How hard should it be?

Enthusiasm, and not skill, is needed more than anything else in a game during which no score is kept.

For those of you who have never been to a T-ball game, let me explain the sport.

First off, everybody gets to play. If there are 20 children on the team, then 20 children take the field which means each team has about 10 shortstops.

What this 10-shortstop defense brings to the game is excitement, because whenever a ball is hit, the side of the field the ball was hit to explodes into action.

If a ball is hit to third, two or three outfielders and the six closest shortstops are there to assist the third baseman on the play.

And in T-ball everybody gets to bat. The innings don’t end until every child has been to the plate.

Batting isn’t quite as difficult as it is in baseball.

The hand-eye coordination needed to hit a 100 mph fastball is acquired through years of intensive practice. The hand-eye coordination needed to hit a 0 mph T-ball is acquired during the walk from the dugout to the plate.

In T-ball where terms such as “out,” “safe” or “baseline” have little meaning the child hits the ball and is encouraged by parents and coaches to run in the general direction of first base, where the child is then encouraged to stop running.

Sometimes the child successfully hits the ball, runs to base and stops there. Other times the child hits the ball and runs past first base into right field, whereupon he or she is encouraged to turn around.

Sometimes the child may hit the ball and run around in circles in the infield until someone stops him or her and puts the child on the closest available base.

This may not quite mesh with the traditional rules of baseball, but nobody cares. It’s fun.

And that’s why T-ball is the best sport in the world, because all the negatives are taken away.

There are no unreal expectations, so there is never a sense of failure.

There is no score, so there are no losers.

Everybody gets to play, so nobody misses the cut.

Girls and boys play together, so children aren’t exposed to sexist stereotypes and misconceptions. Instead, they are exposed to equality of opportunity. Both girls and boys are allowed to do as well as they can.

And they do well. T-ball is a fun sport to watch. They play every Saturday morning at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds, so go out and watch a game sometime. It could be the most fun you’ve had in ages.