Personal Essay: Softball

Meeting new friends, finding my second family, learning the definition of hard work, discovering something to dedicate my life to: softball. Growing up in this constantly changing world softball is the one thing that has always been constant. Softball helps me to escape from the worries and struggles of everyday life. It has taught me coordination, been my escape, fueled my passion, inspired my competitiveness, and given me strength. . Young, tall, and uncoordinated were the words that were often used to describe me as I started my softball career at 8 years old. . Catching, throwing, and hitting did not come easily, but I worked hard. By the age of 10, I was beginning to develop into a pitcher. Speed was my strength but I was unable to hit the strike zone. Batters were scared because they never knew if the ball would hit them. My uncoordinated body didn’t always do what my mind told it to and this was frustrating to me, but with practice it became better. As I learned how to control my body movements, my pitching became more controlled. Softball helped me find the connection between mind and body. Now, as a senior in high school, I have complete control of where I want the ball to go, how I want it to spin, and how fast I want it to go. As a middle schooler, taller than everybody else, I struggled with being bullied by

It has taught me that I can break through barriers which I thought were impossible and that I can always learn something new no matter how long I have participated. Softball has given me the strength to never give up. A great example of this is the state championship game my sophomore year of high school. The previous year we lost to the same team, on the same field two to zero. In the second inning they got ahead of us two to zero again, but this time we had strength. Strength to go into the dugout and score five runs to win the game. Softball has shown me anything is possible as long as you work for