When I first started playing softball, I never thought I would be where I am today, which is finishing up my senior year of college and still playing softball. I started playing softball at the age of nine, with no skills and only knowledge from watching baseball on television, learning to play a new sport was challenging, but learning to play a sport with teammates was rewarding and tested my willpower and determination for the game. However, through tenacity, patience, hard work, and constantly practicing, my playing ability developed rapidly. Depending on what level of softball I was playing, we practiced anywhere from four to ten hours a week as a team, and individually I would put in two to three hours a day. Although practice didn’t make me perfect, it taught me to never give up and that if I wanted to live my dream as a college softball player, I was going to have to develop the work ethic to get there.
My career as a softball player has had the greatest impact on my life. Playing on a team was important to me because it represented a challenge: transcending the familiar confines of my life and entering
…show more content…
completely unknown territory. I had to step outside of my comfort zone when I first started playing; being shy wasn’t going to help me make friends or help me compete in the sport that I had grown to love. I wanted to meet people from different backgrounds and go to places that I might never have gone otherwise. That’s how I found myself here in Illinois. I was born and raised in Northern California, not even a half hour south of San Francisco. When I was looking for colleges I never imagined leaving California, and at first I didn’t. My first semester I went to college at Dominican University in San Rafael, California. After the first semester I realized that I didn’t belong on their softball team and at such a big school, so I went searching for a smaller one with a better softball program. That’s when I got recruited to play for Lindenwood-Belleville. Accepting a spot on the team and moving here to Belleville was the best decision I have ever made. Throughout my undergrad career I have taken all business courses required for obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management, along with literature, music, science, geography and history.
For the first couple of semesters in college, academics didn’t mean much to me because at that point I thought that the main reason I was in college was because of softball. Fall semester of my junior year, reality hit me when I figured out that softball isn’t going to always be there, my education will be. I started buckling down and trying harder in my classes; focusing more on what I was getting out of the class instead of what my final grade would be. I started taking more classes and focusing more on school because the experiences and topics that I have learned will ultimately help me in my future career field more than playing thirteen years of softball ever
would. I believe the sports industry has so much to offer for me, but I don’t want to limit my knowledge to just sports management; that’s why I want to get my Masters in Business Administration. I’ve overcome many obstacles in my life, and although I’m not a hundred percent sure where I will be in ten years, I know that I will have had the best education and life experiences that I could possibly imagine. Lindenwood-Belleville gave me so much to learn about myself and the value of education and that is why I would be forever grateful to continue my schooling at a place I know so well and where I know I can get the best experience.
I swear it’s a sickness. It’s either that or gravity has a bit of a crush on me, since I can never seem to stay upright and on my feet. Last summer during softball alone I had many semi-catastrophic occurrences involving loss of balance or coordination such as getting a cleat stuck in home plate and almost kneeing myself in the face and tripping in the indent in the batter's box while going after a bunt. These events, however, were by for not the worst that happened. The worst took place during the Presque Isle tournament, facing none other than the Presque Isle panthers.
Though the practices performed within softball literacy do not immediately seem as if they should be considered a literacy practice, according to two of the six propositions about the nature of literacy, it is. Not only does it involve the physical performance from a play, but also includes formal writings, new rules and regulations, and offer different rules in different countries. I think softball should be counted as a literacy practice because it appeals to Barton and Hamilton’s propositions and includes artifacts that make it a community and artifacts that provide the players with essential people skills.
“Batter up!” the umpire yelled from behind home plate on the diamond-shaped field for the inning to begin. Adrenaline rushed through the players’ veins as the crowd cheering echoed from the bleachers to the outfield. Softball and baseball are team sports which both require an umpire and a diamond shaped field. All players are important. Most aspects of the games are the same. Each team has only nine players on the field at nine different positions. Each inning ends when there are three outs. Baseball generally consists of nine innings, whereas softball usually is played in seven innings. People think that softball is not as tough as baseball because they think that softball is a soft sport. I have been playing softball for about ten years, but prior to that I played baseball. However, the game of softball is on a whole different level. Softball plays require much more speed, and there is a greater possibility of getting injured. The game of softball is more hazardous and fast-paced than baseball.
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.
Softball, what is it to people. Most people see it as just a game others a way of life and many others believe in something else. Even if you don’t play softball or any sport at that matter. We can all agree that when we find our passion we find meaning to it. It can impact your life in a good or bad way.
I have played softball ever since the tee ball days. It has been a sport that I have grown to love and couldn’t imagine not playing. The way I have grown up playing softball has changed tremendously from the time it was 1st created in 1887 on Thanksgiving Day. The first time this game was even thought of was when a group of excited men threw a boxing glove to another man who swung a broom trying to hit the boxing glove, like a bat hitting a ball. This group of men, who were all apart of the Farragut boat club, decided they would turn this into a game of their own and softball was born. Although the name softball was not finally decided on until 1926. It was first called indoor baseball. Kitten baseball, or pumpkin ball. Softball didn't grow rapidly until 1933 a softball tournament was set up at the world fair. There were 55 teams in the invent and over 350,000 watching. The game of softball went crazy. Not just in the U.S., but all around the world.
I tried out and made my highschool team. While playing on my highschool team I joined a travel team for the Brooklyn Cyclones while still playing for my church’s high school team. My passion for softball could not be taken away from me. Even when I failed, I did not give up on my dream. Giving up on my dream of being successful in softball would be equivalent to letting down my past self who was just a little girl who fell in love with softball. Playing softball was my parents way of wearing me out, but it was my way of getting away from the problems of the real world and into a world of my own. Between two white chalk lines nothing else mattered, but playing the game I fell in love with when I was only ten years old. On the field, I was able to feel pure bliss. Playing softball for seven years has not only given me joy, but it has also taught me life skills that I use from day to day. I learned to work as a team to achieve a common goal, to communicate with others better, I have learned to cherish my wins while accepting my losses and I have learned no matter what happens in life, you always have to put your heart and soul into everything you
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.
As the clock struck 3:15 we began warming and limbering our muscles. I stretched my legs as far as they would go to the side and reached for the grass. I ran my fingers through the grass and counted along with the team. I felt my legs slowly begin to loosen with each stretch and sprint that we did. Following our series of warm-ups we began playing catch Pop! The sound of a ball hitting leather filled the outfield. As our coaches approached the throwing stopped and the field returned to silence, the buzz of anticipation in the air. Coach McGownd and our assistant Lori gave us a run-down of the practice plan, which included infield-outfield (IO), hitting drills, fielding drills and various base running drills. As he spoke, a few of the upperclassmen whispered back and forth amongst themselves. I caught bits and pieces of phrases like “come on it’s just the first day” and “how about no”. I stood drinking in every word and ignoring their muttered curses. I had never played softball and was determined to learn as much as I possibly could about the game. Coach McGownd asked us to go to a position we thought we might want to play. I ventured across the field and stood by first base. My parents and a few of my friends had told me that I would make a good first baseman so that seemed like the best choice to me. I had no clue how to actually play the position. My emotions ran amuck, ultimately stopping at optimistic.
The women’s baseball league, also known as the All-American Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), was created by Chicago Cubs team owner, Phillip K. Wrigley. As the league went through its years, only lasting from 1943 until 1954, it went through different ownerships besides Wrigley, such as Arthur Meyerhoff. During the final couple years of the league’s existence, they were individually owned. This league took place around World War II, and with these women playing baseball, it kept the public eye’s attention in order while the majority of men were away fighting. However, even before this league came about, something else stirred up decades after the Civil War happened. This professional league did more than just give women baseball; it helped
Softball has always been a huge part of my life, but once I got to high school I was not sure it was what I wanted to do any longer. After being forced into trying out, I made the team but little did I know that would change
For the past eight years of my life I have been playing softball. It all started when I was eight years old and my dad took me to my first softball practice. I was thrilled to be playing a sport. My dad grew up playing baseball and his sisters played softball so he was ecstatic when I was finally old enough to play. I loved softball for the first 4 years of playing when it was all fun and games. In middle school softball became harder and more competitive and I slowly started to lose interest in it. I thought high school softball would be different; I would love my teammates, make varsity, and all along have a great first season of highschool softball… I was wrong.
Recreational Activities is a fancy way of saying,”Doing something I like.”. My recreational activity is playing softball. It makes me forget all my problems with school, my friends, and family, and everything else. Therefor I just focus on the game, nothing but the game. Softball is a huge part of what makes me, me. It benefits me because it keeps me in shape and helps me maintain a healthy diet. Softball keeps me healthy and helps me get my mind off things. Yes it can be hard and you do have to do a lot of training. But it’ll all be worth it when you get to the final destination. The champions of the world series. It is such an accomplishment feeling when you get to accept the trophy. And this is all because of my recreational activity.
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