Life is like a sporting event. The effort you put into practice are the result you see in the final event. There are both positives and negatives, but I have discovered that when things are negative is when you learn the most and grow as a player and as a person. In any sport you have people that will influence you that are on you team and your opponents. I have learned that once you get passed the obstacles, you flourish as a person.
To me softball just hasn’t been a sport it has been my life and at times all I really had to look forward to. Throughout middle school softball really wasn’t my thing but once I got into high school it turned into my sport the only thing I ever wanted to do. It was the only sport that had ever challenged me mentally and made me learn real life lessons as well.
My freshman year was the hardest year of my life especially the beginning. My rock the person I looked up to had gotten remarried and was moving out of the state to West Virginia. My dad leaving had impacted me greatly leaving me feeling lonely and upset about things I never had been upset about before. But luckily for me I found an outlet that helped me get through my struggles as a person. When I felt sad I had a team to make me smile, or mad I had something different to focus on. Softball taught me to trust people more and be more open. Softball at that point in life was not just a sport but it was my life my only way of feeling satisfied with me as a person but also with everything at home.
The coaches and teammates I had throughout high school inspired me to be better, push the limit, and strive to be the best. At practice I not only wanted to survive my conditioning workouts but do them to my fullest potential and push the limit. Soon after that I not only found myself wanted to use my fullest potential on the field but with everything I did in life school work, chores, and just at being a friend.
I had struggled with two things in softball keeping a positive attitude and hitting. So I kept working on my hitting and got disciplined at the plate only picking pitches I was sure I could get a piece of. This discipline helped me with everything making good decisions, completing my homework to my fullest potential, and being the best person I could possibly be. My positive attitude was harder to work on though. It took me lots of growing up and mental determination to push through only relying on the negatives and look at all the good things I had done. By defeating my negative toughest hurdle I had become an optimistic and positive person.
Softball has helped to be determined, be the best possible person I can be, and figure out how to through tough things in life. Constantly being in a competitive environment had helped me in the classroom and with life always wanting to be my best. Without softball being there to push me I don’t believe I would be where I am at in my life today, a hardworking confident optimistic person always striving to be my best and work harder to get better at any task I am trying to complete. For me softball was not just a game it was my foundation my everything, something I could never leave behind.