Personal Narrative: Softball

Growing up my parents, more so my dad, was huge in playing sports. He played everything he could during his high school years such as football, basketball and of course baseball. He played baseball at a junior college as well as a division 1 school. For my dad, he never missed a day of practice and his parents (my grandparents) were there every step of the way. With him being an only child, my grandparents not only spoiled him but pushed him to be his best in everything just, so he could be the best he could be. Later, my dad got married and had 2 children, my twin sister Sydnie and I. Things took a tremendous turn when this happened. He made sure he was there at every event not only through sports but school events as well. My dad always said

I fell in love with the game of softball at the age of five. This is my fourteenth year playing softball and I still enjoy and love it as much as I did the first day I started playing. Every opportunity I had I was at the field or doing something related to softball. When I was young, softball was more than just a game to me, it was a way of life. It was my escape. Whatever was bothering me, just did not seem to matter anymore when I was on the field playing. All my worries go away as soon as I pick up a ball and a glove. It has taught me many things in life such us determination and plenty of life lessons. I gained new relationship and friendships. Sydnie and I were always big into softball, which probably had something to do with my dad being a complete stud at baseball and playing more than half of his life. Throughout my career, I have made life-long friends just by playing softball. Who would have thought a sport could bring me an opportunity to make such good friends? My dad has a huge role in this because without him helping me make friends and allowing me to play with many different recreations and teams, I would not have met the many people I have

We had no clue what we were doing out there. After tee-ball, I started playing coach pitch. My dad was my coach during this league. He taught me little details about the game and how to play. Next league was slow pitch. This stage was a little more intense. This was live pitching, real umpires, and it was taken more seriously. Finally, I started playing fastpitch softball which is where I am today. I started playing travel ball at the age of eight. Travel ball was much more than what I expected. I was playing every weekend during the summer, getting more experience from playing other teams, and getting coached by different coaches. When I was able to play in the older age groups, it got more tough. It was tougher than I thought it would be because the competition was extremely harder compared to league ball and not having my dad as a coach was a new experience for me. Although it was tough, I got great exposure in showcases where college coaches from all over the country came to watch and recruit players that played at their best ability. During this time, I began dreaming of becoming a college softball player. At this point, I did not care if I played at a junior college, or any place smaller than a divison-1 school. Any opportunity that was available to me, I