New sports season, new people to tell

We got the info on Liam's first baseball practice this year. I have mixed feelings about that these days. He's getting to an age where it's less acceptable to skip practices, but if I know he's overstimulated and tired after school, it's really hard for me to take him to practice. I also had to write the obligatory email to the coach in response to his email regarding the first practice:

We're looking forward to it! FYI- we put it on Liam's registration, but just so you know ahead of time, Liam has Tourette Syndrome. It's a neurological disorder that makes him have motor and vocal tics. The motor tics are pretty small (at the moment). His vocal tics can be pretty loud. He does not have coprolalia ("the swearing tic").
Tim Howard (the soccer player) and Jim Eisenreich both have TS.
We're very open about it, please feel free to pass this on to other parents (though many of them may already know, it's always good to let people know ahead of time). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or Brian :)


I have mixed feelings about doing this- part of me feels like I should let it come out organically, but that leads to misconception and I'd rather have it just out in the open at the beginning. I have flashbacks to my worst moment with Liam's TS with me standing helpless on the sidelines while the kids on the other team screamed at him to stop making that noise. I wanted to run out on the field and grab him and hug him and bring him home away from that. Instead I waited just on the edge of the field, and smiled at him as he came off and we talked to the other coach about TS when the game was over. It was one of the worst moments of my life. The other coach was fantastic and understanding, but there's only so much you can do in the moment. If it were left to me, we would stick with karate where everyone already knows Liam and just ignores the tics. I know that's not fair to him and not good for him. So off we'll go to baseball and hope for the best.