I still remember the day I first saw the coach who would change my softball career forever. I was on a small hometown team who had one of their best seasons in years. He was coaching that year’s state championship team. We were only down by a run or two and playing great. Our coach was encouraging and positive. The other coach was spastic, yelling, and quite frankly just plain rude. I looked right at my mom and told her I would never play for him.

Little did I know that I would be playing for him a few short weeks later as a pick-up for his final tournament of the summer and later, as his number one pitcher for six years.

We’ve all had those coaches, whether it was for a season or a lifetime. They yell, they curse, and they might even throw things. But they essentially teach us the most and leave the biggest impression on our lives both on and off the field. I played for this coach for six years of my life. I laughed and I cried, but I also got a Division 1 college softball scholarship out of it. He pushed my teammates and I both mentally and physically and I can say we are better for it. We won countless tournaments and a state championships.

Whether it is softball, baseball, football, or any other sport, there is always that one coach that can make the memories last a lifetime.

Thank you for the life-long friends

We all bonded at practice by venting to each other about how hard you were on us. We even bonded more that one year we had to spend our entire Christmas break laying down carpet and turf in order to get the facility open on time. You hit the ball at us as hard as you could and made us do things only MLB players could do. You didn’t care that we were only 14 because we were going to be champions. However, no matter how crazy you got or how much you yelled, we knew we could always count on you to make us laugh. The random “celebrations” you would come up with just so we could all get together helped immensely. We got to know each other so well that we could simply look at each other and know what to do. These girls are still my best friends and will be forever. No matter where we are in life, we know we can count on each other and we have you to thank for that.

Thank you for showing me that sometimes criticism is what you need

No one is perfect and you made sure we all knew this. We could turn a double play to win the game and our shortstop would still get yelled at for doing the wrong footwork. I would throw a beautiful drop ball and get cussed out because it was supposed to be a rise ball. Although, we all knew that this criticism came from a good place because you knew we could be perfect. You saw our potential even when we didn’t. We knew that the yelling usually came out of frustration when we played below our potential. Even if we were tired, you demanded our perfection. As we move on with our lives, this will eventually help us when our bosses criticize our work only because he knows we can do better. When this happens, I know we will all think about our crazy coach standing by the third base with his hands on his hips giving us “the look” because we missed yet another bunt. Then smile because we hit a homerun the next pitch.

Thank you for teaching me to play with passion no matter what happens off the field

No life comes without drama. Yes, some people do have more than others, but when you step onto the field and feel the dirt beneath your spikes, it should all go away. No matter who said what about you the day before, the passion and love that you have for the game should be there. You taught us that. The softball diamond was our happy place and a lot of that was thanks to you. For some of us, it was the times where we could forget about school or work or anything else that was bothering us. For at least two hours a day, we could just play. You always had passion in your voice when you showed us each drill and corrected our technique. You made sure that passion rubbed off on us and that we caught the fire in your eyes. With that passion, we were able to translate it to other places in our lives and we thank you for that.

There were some good times and bad times that were spent with you, but luckily the good outshine the bad. I want to thank you for always pushing us to be the best we can be and always being there when we needed you. When some of us moved on to play softball in college or just wanted to quit, you were always there to sit down and talk about it. Even if there were problems in our lives outside of softball, you were there to help. For this, I want to thank you. Thank you to the coach I never wanted to play for but wouldn’t change for the world.