There is an old proverb, it goes “ Treat your work as though you will reap a harvest from your labors”. I had never heard of said proverb before my first day of baseball, and even if I had, I would not be able to relate in the slightest. Growing up, I learned that my natural abilities in athletics and school made it so things just came to me, I thought I was a natural born winner. This gave me the mindset that hard work was for people who actually needed it, I (obviously) not being one of those people. This mindset would be crushed on my first day of baseball practice, where I was put in my place and forced to re-evaluate what it truly means to be a successful person. Baseball has taught me that no amount of inborn genius can or should …show more content…
I had come up against something that I wasn’t good at, and it angered me. Everyday after practice for the next week or two was no different. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting better and what the point of all this suffering was. One night after an especially hard workout I had a talk with my dad, who was an exceptional baseball player in his day. I asked him what I need to do to get better. His response was simple but set the tone for my new mindset for the rest of my baseball career. He told me that all I had to do to get better at baseball was “work hard”. With this new thought in my head I went to practice with one goal in my head, to “work hard”. At times during those that first month of practice, I started to lose sight of this new vision my dad had given me, but was refreshed fully when I started to notice changes in my baseball skills. I started to pick up the pace more and more everyday. This was not due to natural ability or god given talent, it was due to the fact that I showed up to practice everyday and gave it my all. The term “ hard work” was given new value in my
A couple of our guys got on, but then I was up to bat. I was so excited. I got up there and decided that I was going to take the first pitch (not swing at it) to get my timing to make sure I get a hit. Ball one, I step out of the box taking another practice cut. I got back in the box and waited for the next one.
Misjudged On a hot sunny day at the baseball field I was trying out for the carolina lining and the coach that was their did not believe that i could play good baseball but when we started practicing it looked as if I was the best player on the team and the coach was looking at my dad and was nodding well I figured that he wanted me on the team but even after that I still put one hundred percent on the field every time I put my foot on a baseball field and that is why i 'm still playing of the carolina lining. So don’t ever give up even if you don’t think you are doing good trust me it will work out for you.
All I cared about was being the best baseball player I could possibly be. Little did I know that this sport would present me with an opportunity to do something I had never thought of. The opportunity came to me when I was asked by a family friend to help with the Challenger Baseball Program. This program was created to give kids with special needs a chance to play baseball. All of the participants have some sort of handicap and this program allows them to feel like a normal kid.
Having a dad that is a softball coach, has also motivated me to work my hardest, and do my best. I was only in third grade, when I decided to become a softball pitcher. I worked every day, doing the best that I could. Sometimes I was right in the strike zone, other times it was “miles” over the catcher's head. For a small 9 year old girl I guess I was pretty good.
It made me realize that hard work and practice will help me make the team next year. Practicing was the key to making the team. Before the next tryout I went every night to go hit and field to get better. On rainy days or days my dad had to work later I would hit
It felt as if I was unfamiliar with knowing how to hit a baseball. I thought to myself "I've been hitting a ball with the knowledge of how to do so since I began playing baseball. " That is when my teammate told me that when I was batting left-handed, I swung the bat entirely different from when I hit right-handed. That sparked a light bulb in my head on how to correct my
When i was in elementary and middle school I was a part of a recreational softball team, not because I wanted to play softball but because my mom, who throughout high school and college was a softball star, wanted me to play. I was never good at softball despite my mother's and my own best efforts, I would go to every practice, spend obscene amounts of time at grimy batting cages, and practice throwing and catching balls in my backyard. With all of this practice you would think that I would have gotten at least a little better at softball, but whenever it was time for a game I could not throw, catch or hit the ball, and I spent as much time as possible on the bench. It turns out being unimaginably bad at something despite your best efforts is incredibly emotionally draining. My parents did not understand how someone who went to all the practices and always put in the extra effort could still be so terrible at
For most of my childhood, the sport of baseball was the one activity I loved above anything else. Nothing could compare to the exhilarating freedom and satisfaction of bolting full speed around the bases, determined to steal 2nd, beating the "Throwdown" by a fraction of a second. The massive dust cloud kicked up by my cleats and the thunderous boom of the umpire shouting, "Safe!" made me feel empowered. It was in moments like those, when I was in control of my own fate, choosing whether to stay or to run, whether to play it safe or to risk failure, that I learned one of the most important lessons of my life.
Baseball is what changed my life and has taught me valuable lessons in many different ways. Going into my freshman year I received the worst news I could think of, I did not make the travel baseball team I had tried out for. This ignited a passion inside me and made me realize one very crucial aspect of life. Nothing in life is guaranteed and you have to work for it. The moment I heard I did not make the team I was focused and determined to do one thing, get better.
Overall from this experience I did learn something and take something from this experience. It showed me how much love I have for the game of baseball and how much I cherish it. The pain of sitting out all those games made me realize that. I don 't need to be doing all these extra little things like basketball camps or whatever. Possibly risking injury and having to recover and miss time from the sport I 've played my
But my course in life has switched courses. Along the way, I dropped off the other sports and continued on with America’s Favorite Past time: Baseball. Since my size dictated my playing time, according to the coaches, it affected my devotion to the game because it is heartbreaking to be told you cannot do something. Over that period of time I realized how influential coaches are to their player, so I decided to become a coach to instill the never quit attitude in younger player’s minds. I have been coaching with Boca Raton Little League Baseball since my sophomore year, teaching the fundamental skills of baseball
Then next thing I know is there is two people in front of me before I am up to bat. So I get in my bag to get my batting gloves, helmet, and everything else I needed to go hit. I stand towards the front of the dugout till it is my turn to take some practice swings in the on-deck circle. The batter that was up got walked and now it was my time to do my pre-hit routine in the batters box. I took three swings, then stretch, then talked to people in the crowd to not sike myself out before
There is a saying in softball it’s that “however hard you work in practice is what is shown on game day”. When game day comes I know I’ll do just dandy if I did fine in
My coach always said, “There is somebody working just as hard as you, what sets you apart from them.” That created a fire inside of me because when it’s late at night and it’s been a long day, I go back to what he said and it drives me to get better. I feel this way when I train for baseball, when I do schoolwork, and when I do anything in life. It has also given me a dose of humility because I have come to understand that I may not be the most skilled player on the field at times but nobody will outwork me. It has created a drive to succeed in everything I do and a competitiveness that has set me apart from others.
Think Big Leagues When I play baseball with my friends I have lots of fun, but imagine what it would be like to play on a professional team. My parents dream for me is to be successful and happy, but I have had an interest in baseball since I was four years old. I remember waking up ready to go play a tournament in the fresh summer air. When I watch the games on T.V, Mike Trout always stood out to me.