You love the game but you’re tired of the dirt in your hair, the bruises on your legs, and the farmers tans. You’re tired of waking up at 5 a.m., driving three hours, and melting in the sun. You’re tired of missed birthday parties. Sometimes the game leaves you lying in a heap on your bed on a Friday night, but you keep playing. You ice your bumps and bruises, you wash off the dirt, and you put aloe your sunburn. It’s exhausting but you keep playing.

Don’t stop-no matter how many biased coaches, lost tournaments, or errors. No matter how many strikeouts, rude parents, or Saturday games. Keep playing. Don’t play for the coach who took your playing time and handed it to his daughter. Don’t play for the championship trophy. Don’t play for the perfect stats. Don’t play for the home runs or the fans. Play for yourself and your teammates. Step onto the field with respect for your coaches and your parents but swing for yourself and your teammates. And know that when you score that game winning run it is your team’s victory, no one else’s.

Appreciate your losses. While they may seem like they pile on game after game, don’t let them get to you. It may sound cliche but these setbacks are what will drive you to be a better player. The missed pitches, ground outs, and over-thrown softballs will teach you much more about the game than all the strikeouts, home runs, and double plays. I’m not saying it’s bad to win, winning is an amazing reward for all your hard work and determination, but it is not all that there is. Some of my favorite games were spent fighting to keep from being mercied- simply because after finding ourselves on rock bottom, my team fought with a ferocity that left me confused as to how we were losing in the first place.

Cherish your teammates. You may not like them all, you may even hate some, but cherish them anyways. There’s nothing quite like the bond of a softball team. The dynamic is confusing; there’s drama, and secrets, and cliques. But once you step on that field you are all teammates who share a passion for the game of softball. You may share your first double play with the one girl you can’t stand, but you’ll hug her anyways. These 12-or-so girls that you share the field with, you will also share hundreds of amazing memories with. These girls will be by your side for every victory, every loss, every 8am game, every tournament diner run. You will learn to love them even for every one of their quirks that drives you crazy.

Run that extra mile (or base). Don’t wimp out during conditioning. Put that extra effort in now and it will show later. You’ll be happy when your time to first is .5 seconds shorter and when you finally get that double play started. When your swing has a little bit more power and you get a little bit more spin on your pitches, you will know it was worth the extra work.

Take your injuries seriously. They may seem like little roadblocks keeping you from enjoying the game, but they are warning signs that you need to listen to. Learn how to decipher between a sore muscle and a sprain. A small ache and a damaged ligament. Once you learn to recognize these differences you will be able to prevent serious injuries from keeping you off the field.

Enjoy every second of it. Don’t take any of it for granted. There will come a day when your nails are clean and your tan is even. There will come a day when your legs aren’t bruised and your Saturdays are free. One day you won’t be waking up at 5am for a game or driving 4 hours to a hotel for a tournament. One day your glove, and bat, and helmet will all sit in a heap collecting dust in your garage. They’ll join your old soccer cleats, worn out dance shoes, or broken lacrosse stick. There will come a day when the game is no longer in reach and you’ll be stuck on the foul line wishing you took advantage of the years the game gifted you with.