My name is Katelynn Reiss and I play softball.

In fact, I have played softball for the last eight years of my life. It's been my life since my stepdad introduced it to me at the age of 11. I've spent hundreds of thousands of hours on the field or in the cages at various games, practices, hitting lessons, clinics, tryouts, scrimmages, tournaments or even catching the pitching lessons for any of my pitchers over the years. I've probably spent more time on the softball field than I have doing any other activity over the course of my life, and I would never in a million years change that.

Now, you must be saying to yourself, “Wow, this girl loves the sport. She must’ve had a really good career thus far.” And while I would love to say that my answer to that is a simple yes, I can’t. My career cannot be described either positively or negatively.

If I had to describe the last eight years, I would say that it's been an amazing learning experience. I gained a ton of vital knowledge about the game, team management and problem solving when a team is placed in a tough spot. The challenges I've overcome are enough to make players quit the sport forever, and that is not an exaggeration. I’ve witnessed it.

Between the numerous daddy ball coaches I've had, the bullying by teammates I've endured, high school softball politics and being named captain over a team of girls that didn't even respect me as an equal, I still have reason to believe that this past season was my most trying yet most beneficial.

Just imagine, beginning your freshman season with the coach who recruited you having to end his career before you could play a game under him. That event aside, try going into the season with the knowledge that your team will have to turn someone into a pitcher. Add on the fact that you are the only true catcher, and then tell me how you feel.

This entire scenario is the story of my rookie college season. The coach that recruited me did have to leave the team with a week until official practices started. Our mound was occupied by girls with no prior pitching experience. And I was the sole backstop. I will admit that I bawled my eyes out when I found out that our coach was leaving us, I will admit that I was frustrated with losing by the end of the season. And I will admit that the thought of being the only catcher on a collegiate program, as a freshman, scared me to death, but I wouldn't trade the memories and the knowledge I gained from this season for anything. I wouldn't trade the feeling of having a team that never wanted to give up, and girls who never gave in despite their own adversities for a million dollars. That being said, I'm not put to shame by my team’s 1 and 31 record. In fact, I'm proud of that one win that came in our last game of the season, because we truly earned it.

One day, this difficult season is going to be used to benefit others. It's helped me shape my coaching philosophy and opened my eyes to what winning really is. I've won many games in my career, but that one win that we had all season? It was a total team effort like I have never seen before.

Before the coach that recruited me to play for Cairn University took on a new career, he gave me some of my favorite sports wisdom ever received, "ubuntu." It means “I am because we are.” This difficult season was difficult for many reasons, but as one of my captains put it almost routinely, we needed to play as a team and not as individuals. That was the key and not until we were playing as a whole, keeping "ubuntu" as a goal, could we finally call ourselves winners.

So I want this article to have meaning to you, and because of that, I'm going to conclude with this:

Have the tenacity to go into whatever it is that you do with pride, no matter the situation. Take the situation and twist it so you can learn from it. And finally, remember to work as a whole, because if your team is pulling in separate directions, you'll never achieve a central goal.