As a kid when you start playing sports, you don’t think about the impact you could have on other kids around you. You just want to go out there and have fun with your friends. For me, this is what sports were always about, until recently when a friend of mine told me how much of an influence I had on her life. When I started playing fastpitch softball I was chosen to be on the twelve and under team at the age of nine. I was terrified, fortunately at the first practice everyone was so welcoming, creating friendships that I still have to this day. I’m thankful I played with the older team, even though I was three or four years younger than the girls on the team, I learned so much from them. Specifically, I learned how to become a leader and how to focus a more in tough situations. That’s something that sometimes younger players aren’t able to achieve due to their maturity level. Being the youngest player on the team I was challenged to be as good as the older players. Leaders develop through doing and by being put through perplexing situations. It was vital for me to become quicker and think faster on the field. In conjunction with the technical challenges I had to learn how to keep my emotions in check. You can’t get …show more content…
angry when you strike out or make an error on the field, you have to recover from it and start thinking about the next play because your team is depending on you. After a couple of years, a girl a year younger than me joined the team.
Her name was Kamron, she was really quiet, but had a lot of potential; she had a great deal of power and could hit the ball hard! We were eerily similar; she was interested in playing third base, which was one of my best positions on the field. I took her under my wing at practices and helped her overcome her trivial fear of the ball. She liked to spend time with me when we were warming up and we would always challenge each other to see who could hit the most home runs during front toss at practice. I never thought that I was teaching her anything significant. I always just wanted my teammates to have as much fun as possible, because after all, it is just a
game. Kamron still plays third base, except now it’s for our high school team. At my graduation party, Kam gave me a book called the 52 Lists Project (a year of weekly journaling inspiration). It’s a journal with 52 different prompts for you to write about each week. I was appreciative for the thoughtful gift. It turns out she had written inside the front cover. I didn’t find this out until I got home. I won’t tell you everything she said, but the ending goes like this “I’ve never told you this, but when I started softball I looked up to you. Thanks for being a great role model and being an example of never giving up.” When I read this I shed tears, which is rare for me. I never for one second believed that I was a role model for anyone. It’s not something you plan, and for Kamron to write something like that meant a lot to me. I was always a calm player, taking everything as it came to me. I never complained about the tough times but the fact that she saw how I handled everything and thought to herself that is someone who I look up to and strive to be like, is remarkable. There is a quote by J Sakiya Sandifer that states “True leaders don’t create followers… they create more leaders.” What I carried with me through everything is that sometimes you are going to fail but, as long as you know that you trained hard and did everything you could no one can take that from you. Other people see how hard you work and they follow those footsteps.
Stephen D. Keener, writer for the New York Times, says in his article Sports Teach Kids Valuable Lessons, “The lessons young players gain between the foul lines have guided some to become astronauts, emergency first responders, bestselling authors, military heroes, professional athletes and even president of the United States” (Keener). Keener talks about how playing on a sports team as a child can teach the kid very important characteristics, like: teamwork, leadership, and sportsmanship. Any kid who wants to get a job when they’re older is going to have to know how to work well with people, which is where learning the skill of teamwork is so huge. Considering Ripley’s point about sports lowering academics, Keener argues, “These lessons directly translate into the classroom and beyond” (Keener). These are some very important lessons I think that kids can benefit from
when I was ten years old I lost my grandpa, it was a very bad experience for me but it made me stronger. I remember when he taught me how to catch a baseball, ride a bike, mow the lawn and a lot of other things that I will forever cherish in my heart. the memory I will never forget though is when he taught me everything I needed to know about baseball. we would always go outside together and he would do certain agilities with me to build my stamina, teach me how to catch a pop-fly and he would work on pitching with me which is actually one of my main position that I play today. baseball was a big part of my grandpas life and he always wanted me to play In the major leagues. once he passed away my motives for playing in the major leagues increased.
It was the beginning of a new softball season, and I couldn't wait to get out there with my team. At our first practice I remember feeling back at home on the field. Just when I thought this was going to be our teams best season, my parents moved me to a private school. Leaving what I was familiar with was not an easy task, and deciding if I would continue my passion of softball with a different team was even more difficult.
In fourth grade I was 9 years old. At that age I didn't even think of playing sports. I was just like a normal 9 year old. So one day my auntie told me that one of her friends daughters is playing softball for Port City Girls Softball League. Then asked me if I would be interested to play. I answer saying sure I will try it out, so my auntie went and signed me up. So the way that league works is they have a draft to pick their players for their team. Then, the first practice started, I knew nothing about softball so I was brand new at all of it. When it came to one of the next practices one of my older sisters came to watch me and noticed my coach. It was one of her friends! Then my sister told me that one of the players
I spend six days per week for twelve months straight practicing catching, throwing, and hitting a softball. My friends call me crazy when I have to leave their house at ten o’clock on a Friday night to go play in a midnight madness softball tournament. They think I am insane for travelling to away, out-of-state tournaments each weekend. However, ten years of competitive, travel softball and nearly nine hundred games have molded me into the person I am today. Many people do not understand why I spend the majority of my time playing competitive softball, and they fail to recognize that my entire identity is a result of this sport. However, I am aware that I would not be who I am without it.
I have played softball for four years, Softball has always come to me naturally. It was my third year playing when I moved to Friendswood, I was new to everything. During this year I met a girl named Shaye Brockwell. She was really nice to me and we hung out many times. Then her dad started coaching and I got on their team the next year and everything changed.
I started playing baseball right after I moved to Virginia, coming from California. At first I wasn’t that good, because I was only six years old at that time, but it was okay, because the other six-year old were not much better than me. It was the first time I was to play a sport, and it turned out to be my only sport later in
I have been playing softball since the age of six. From the time I could walk, my dad had me out in our yard teaching me how to swing a bat and throw a ball. Growing up, softball is all I have known. Both of my parents played softball and baseball growing up and in college. They both have taught me everything they know about the sport. Softball has taught me more than the physical aspect of the game. In softball a player can strike out seven out of ten times and still be considered a good hitter. Everyone has rough days, but I have realized that I just need to come back the next day and work harder. My parents have showed me that working hard at it will help me succeed. Whenever I have a bad game, instead of getting down, I take it as motivation to try harder the next time.
Participating in a sport at an early age can be essential to the overall growth process during a child’s upbringing. Whether the participation is through some sort of organized league or just getting together amongst friends and playing, the lessons learned from this can help teach these kids and provide a positive message to them as they develop. There is a certain point, however, when organized sports can hinder progress, which is when adults get too involved and forget about the underlying reason to why they are helping. While adult involvement is necessary, adult involvement can sometimes send the wrong message to children when they try to make participation become more than just about fun and learning. According to Coakley (2009), “organized sports are worth the effort put forth by adults, as long as they do what is in the best interest of their children and put that thought ahead of their own agenda” (Coakley, p. 151). This is a valid argument because once adults put themselves in front of the children and their values, it needs to be re-evaluated as to why they first got involved in the beginning. Partaking in organized sport and activity from a young age can be beneficial to the overall development of children, as long as decisions actions are made in the best interest of the children and not stemming from ulterior motives of adults.
Softball, also taught me how to play by the social norms. While trying to avoid the assumptions of being labeled a tomboy I unintentionally played the femininity game. Mariah Burton Nelson wrote about the femininity game in the article I Won. I’m Sorry. “Most female women play the femininity game to some extent, using femininity as a defense, a shield against accusation such as bitch, man –hater, lesbian. Feminine behavior and attire mitigate against the affront of female victory, soften by hard edges of winning” (526). As I grew older I learned, to use femininity when the occasion called for it. I was still extremely competitive, but I made sure I wore a bow in my hair to add a bit of femininity to my competitiveness. I know longer wore the same baseball t-shirts to school my wardrobe began to
I was able to see my teammates’ strengths and weaknesses. I knew if the person beside me was going to be able to get to the ball or if I needed to get it. When I get to know a person I automatically look at what they are capable of doing themselves and what they might need help with. This quality is what makes me a good leader. I understand that I am not the one to score all of the points in a basketball game. I know that I don’t have to slam the ball down in a volleyball match in order to get the point. I play with a leader mindset. I know that if I get the ball to one of my teammate’s, she has the ability to drive in and score. I know that if I tip it to the outside hitter of the other team, she will be too slow to get to the ball, resulting in a point for my team. This quality also carries over into other aspects of my life such as group projects or Bible Bowl competitions. I am so grateful that I developed this mindset because I know how to make a group of people
Walking on the field for the first practice I was both nervous and excited. The thought of messing up was all I could think about because I did not want to disappoint the coaches. The practice was very difficult and I did not do as well as I hoped I would have done. Although I have played softball for three years I was still nervous the first few practice, but as the season went on I improved my softball skills and I learned more from my coaches
Over the past few years I have volunteered as an usher at my church, as a food vender at the PGA Honda Classic, helping my best friends mom in her classroom, working a food stand at a local softball tournament, as an assistant coach to a 10U travel softball team, and as a camp counselor at a softball camp. Personally, I think that being an assistant coach for a 10U travel softball team helped shape me a lot. Helping coach the younger travel team felt great to give back to the community, and it made me think of where my own softball journey began. I absolutely loved coaching the younger girls because I am now much more experienced in the game and can help them a lot more and get them stronger so that they can excel more in the game. I want them to love the sport just as much as I did when I was younger so that their love for the game will grow even more just as mine did. Coaching these girls was one of the best things I could’ve ever done. Talking to the girls about when I started softball, what my favorite part of the game is, going to college to play the game I love, how much they love the game now, and how they’ll all be in my shoes in a matter of years had me grinning from ear to ear. I loved every minute of it, I loved hitting to the girls, working on their fielding, pushing them to be their best, making sure they put 110% effort into everything they did, and
As a kid growing up I never realized the huge impact sports had on me growing up in a “hick town” called Chouteau, Oklahoma where either you’re born to be a farmer or “Amish”. Sports to me is more than just picking up a ball or bat and playing, it’s about the love you have for the game. Sports to me is an outlet or stress reliever when life gets hard. My brother had anger issues as a child growing up so my mom put him in football as way to get some of that anger out on the field. Some would distinguish the worth of youth sports for their capacity to ingrain solid and positive characteristics in young boys and young girls. Sports can help a youngster take in critical life lessons like on how to buckle down in life, continue on, be a leader, set objectives, learn healthy habits, and how coaches have a huge impact on a child’s life.
The benefits of sports range from physical, mental, and social. Exercise keeps people fit, develops healthy muscle tone, and reduces heart and lung problems (Oak, Manali). Sports studies have shown that “youth are motivated and engaged in ways that do not happen regularly in any other parts of their lives. Their experience of sports stands out from nearly all other activities, including socializing and schoolwork, in providing enjoyment where they are exerting concerted effort toward a goal” (Larson, Reed, and Sean Seepersad). People who play sports bond over a common interest. This opens up children to meeting new kids and socializing with many more. In Kindergarten, I played baseball. Even though I did not truly understand all the mechanics of the game, I met new friends and began to develop motor skills. This was very useful starting at an early age and pushed me to stay active throughout my life.