My identity and background has come from one specific organization. I believe that I would not be whom I am today with it. The organization that I am apart of has formed me into the person that I want to be and has given me many examples of whom I want to be when I am older. This organization is called the Indiana Shock; it is a travel softball organization based out of a small town in Indiana called North Manchester. The Shock has pushed me past my breaking points, taught me how to become a role model for younger kids and even older adults, brought me closer to our Lord, and has made me proud to be who I am.
I have been a part of the Indiana Shock for the past five years and I am continuing to be a part of it for my sixth year now. My coaches have raised me like their own children, they have shown me what it is like to be competitive and a leader while playing softball, yet still giving all of our glory in our life to our Lord. My teammates have shown me what it means to be a true sister. They have never
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let me down, given up on me, nor have they ever showed me any hate. The moment when I became a part of that organization, we became one family. In June of 2013, while I was playing softball I was hit in the face by a line drive that came directly off of the bat.
Luckily I was wearing my facemask. After being hit, I was scared of the ball. During games I would move out of the way of a hard hit ball because I was nervous that it was going to hit me in the face. I did this countless times, I could not imagine how frustrating it would be as a coach, or even a teammate to watch a girl back away from a ball that was hit to them. This brings uncontrollable amounts of meaning to me because my coaches and teammates never grew disappointed in me. They would be there to say, “we will get the next one, it is not a problem anymore. We move onto the next one.” If they all distrusted me while I was trying to make a comeback, I do not believe that I would be the player nor the person that I am today. Each and every single person that was in the organization believed in me. They all taught me how to believe in
myself. Indiana Shock has been a major part of my life. I have cried and laughed with each and every single one of them. They have shown me what true love is, what a close-nit family could be like, and most of all they showed me how to bring the best out in whoever needed it at that time. Before this organization I was a girl who did not like to be sociable, I was not kind to many people, and I did not have a strong faith. The Shock has greatly impacted my life in every aspect.
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.
She continued to belittle me to support her reasons as to why she had left me off the varsity roster. It was hard for me to comprehend her behavior because I would practice with the varsity team, fill in for injured players during practice, and I was included in all varsity group chats and I received all the varsity text messages. When my parents would ask what my role was on the team, my coach made it clear by saying, “she is not on varsity!”. I did not understand why my coach took such pleasure at chipping away at my self-esteem. I began to have doubts about my ability to perform and lost focus on what my role should be on the team.
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
The importance of softball in my life goes unnoticed by others, but I owe everything I am to this sport. I am an organized, cooperative woman who does not let failures affect my work ethic. Although my friends and family do not give my softball career much credit, I am confident that the lessons I’ve taken away from this sport have proficiently prepared me to step up to the plate and score a successful
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.
A year later, I was again chosen for the team. This time, I worked my way from being a back-up catcher to the starting 3rd baseman in two weeks. But after going 0-2 in my first two at-bats, my coach took me out of the starting line-up. Again, I pinch-hit, and was very successful at it. I even hit what turned out to be a game-winning homerun. We later reached the championship game again, but we lost it for the second time. This time I was more frustrated than I could ever remember being. I was slamming my hand into walls and almost crying. I was really acting very childish.
It shattered my glasses and knocked me flat on the ground. My coach gave me an ice pack for my swollen eye and had me sit down while the other kids searched for the remnants of my broken glasses. Once most of the pieces were found the game resumed and I was back on the field. I kept playing hard and at one point took the ball away from a boy on the other team. His coach yelled from the sideline, “Come on! You’re getting schooled by a blind girl!” and everyone laughed.
On my first year of middle school, I was so excited because I finally could try out to be on a school softball team. I never played travel ball, only recreation softball so I've never actually been on a team that I tried out for. Over the summer I went to batting practice and fielding to get ready for the year. This is my year, I thought ready to tryout and make the team. The day came to where I had to show what I could do to the coaches. It took a while for the tryouts to actually commence because there was so much rain that week that it kept getting pushed back. This made more nervous, I just wanted to get it over with. I worked hard throughout the tryouts, but when I went up to bat I could not hit the ball. I tried many times but I couldn't do it. I felt terrible because everyone else hit great. I was embarrassed. I freaked out, this is what could ruin my chance to be on the team. Even then I still tried my best.
All throughout high school I played on the softball team. Proceeding the season before where we went undefeated with a district championship, my senior year we were supposed to be unstoppable. We received a few new players to add on to our army and the entire school was counting on our run to state. I was so excited to have an amazing end to my high school softball career, but unfortunately my dream was cut short when we lost in the first round of districts. I did not know that loss would change me the way it did.
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.
The horn blew and the game started, Dedham won the face off and is running down the field at a faster pace than I was used to. They shot the ball! I couldn’t move my stick quick enough to save it, so I threw my body in front of it and got hit right in the shoulder. It hurt a lot, but what I hadn’t realized was that it hit my shoulder and reflected ten feet away from the net where my player caught it and ran down the field and scored. The other team didn’t know what hit them. It was the half now and the score was three to nothing in our favor. Our couch told us that we needed to keep up the good work.
In the past few years I have managed to work in a various governmental and non governmental organizations. During my time at every single company and organization that worked, I met diverse group of people and each one of them had their on story and history.
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
I have participated in softball since I was old enough to swing a bat. I began to play t-ball when I was four years old and I have continued to play up to this day at eighteen years old. I have always enjoyed the sport even when times got rocky and frustration got the best of me. To me, softball was a great way to get my exercise, relieve stress, and meet new friends along my journey. Playing softball has taught me patience (as much as I could handle), it encouraged me to better myself as a player, teammate, and myself. I have developed many leadership skills that I would not have learned without this sport. I understand how to stand fair along with loyal in and out of the game. I have adapted to change and differential situations; as my
My injury was an accident, but I viewed it as a failure. Not only have I believed I failed my team and parents, I thought I failed myself. I had a goal for myself and that was to bring a championship to the program. But for it to end so suddenly caused negativity to fly around in my head, constantly bringing me down. I let my “failure” affect me mentally and a result of that, I was