Why Failure Is Important

“When life gives you bad hops, make great plays” -Anonymous

This quote relates a bad hop that a ground ball takes in baseball to obstacles in my life as well as relating great plays to overcoming those obstacles. This brings me to my laws of life which are how to deal with failure and how to make the best of a bad situation put before you.

Baseball is a hard sport to like if you can't accept failure. In fact, one of the most important parts of the game is centered around failure: hitting. If you achieve a hit three out of ten times you're considered successful. Therefore, you fail almost 70 percent of the time. But believe me, having a hitting percentage of thirty percent isn't as easy as it sounds. Try imagining standing in the batter’s box the pitcher staring you down, the crowd chanting, then lifting the thirty-two inches of aluminum off your shoulder. Your timing has to be perfect or else you’ll hit nothing but air, not to mention the pitcher can change the speed and movement on the pitch he throws. With all of that pressure to succeed, failure is inevitable. I’ve been

in a predicament called a hitting slump, which means that I haven't gotten a hit for many consecutive at-bats. During a hitting slump, my mind wants to tell myself that I will never get out of it. A hitting slump feels like the pitcher is throwing fireballs at me and my bat has as many holes as Swiss cheese. I've come to the understanding that the best way to get out of a hitting slump is to keep a positive attitude and to persevere. However, failure isn't always a bad thing. I made the realization that failure is healthy and can only make me stronger. Before I made these realizations, whenever I would fail, I would get down on myself and lose confidence.
Next, I grasped the idea that I can't let my negative feelings get to me on the field, because that's the worst way to deal with a lousy at-bat or a fielding error. I made this mistake one time after I bobbled a ground ball. When I misplayed the baseball I erupted with anger and slammed my glove into the dirt out of frustration. Once the inning was complete, my coach pulled me aside and told me how immature and selfish that action was. I felt awful after that game and I've tried my best ever since to control my feelings while on the field.
My second law of life, is how to make the best of a bad situation.

It was a warm spring morning, the baseball season was about to start, and I was as excited as ever. The only problem was that I had been feeling a sharp pain in my lower back that felt as if someone was sticking a needle into my spine. This discomfort occurred whenever I arched or twisted my back. As a precaution, my dad brought me to the doctor to see if it was anything serious. The doctor took a few x-rays of my back, but he couldn't see any damage. Regardless of the x-rays he still recommended that I get an MRI just in case. So we went up to Akron Children’s Hospital to get the MRI. They put me into a dark, tube-like, machine and told me to stay as motionless as possible. At first, I was a little on edge, but after a couple minutes I felt calm and comfortable. When we returned to the doctor’s office, dreadful news

followed.
“Well, Nick,” the doctor started, “I looked at the MRI and you have two fractures in your lower spine, one on each side. Arching your back while throwing most likely caused this.”
“How long will it take to heal?” I replied nervously.
“It may never heal completely, but if you strengthen the muscles around the fractures it would support the injured area and the pain would stop.”
“When will I get to play again?”
“You will not be able to participate in the baseball season this year, but you should be back in the lineup for next year.”
I was devastated. My entire off-season of hard work would be put to waste. Not to mention, I would be put a year back in terms of on-field experience. I realized that unless I wanted my season to be meaningless, I had to find another way to help my team out. One way I helped my team was by learning how to keep score of baseball games so that one of my coaches didn’t have to do it during the game. I also made it to almost every game during that season so I could cheer my team on. At the end of the season, my coach came up to me and told me how much he appreciated that I made an effort to support our team even though I couldn’t participate. This made me realize how much of an impact I made even though I hadn’t played.
In conclusion, my essay explains how I overcome failure on a daily basis, and how I made the best out of a bad situation. The quote, “When life gives you bad hops, make great plays,” describes the situation with my back injury. This is because when the injury occurred, it was like a bad hop, but I didn’t get down on myself, I turned it into an opportunity to try new things, and to have fun supporting my team, which was like making a great play. I also described how I overcome failure on a daily basis by keeping a positive attitude. I am certain that I will be able to overcome any curve balls that life throws at me.