Softball is one of the biggest parts of who I am and I fell in love with the game early on. That love made it easy to spend almost all of my time year round, every weekend, and every summer since I was 8 playing that game. The physicalities of the game have always, and will always be, important but playing softball when I was younger and growing up as a part of a team that shared my passion and mindset taught me more than how to pitch a ball or hit a double. I learned respect, how to work with others, time management, how to overcome adversities, and how to push myself and others to improve, to name a few.
When you spend so much time with the same group of people they become your family and its true, every girl I had the pleasure of playing with became my sister. I was given the opportunity to work with an amazing group of girls to accomplish a common goal and further instill my indescribable love for the game and what it is about.
The ridiculous amount of time I dedicated to practices, lessons, and tournaments made it difficult to manage schoolwork, friends, and family sometimes but I learned early on that if softball was going to remain such a big part of my life, which it did, I would have to learn to use my time wisely and keep my grades up. Playing softball basically forced me to learn organizational skills and time management, a lesson invaluable to me now as a college student.
My love for the game made it easy to dedicate most of my life to it but with that much time spent on the field getting hurt was almost inevitable. I have faced bumps, bruises, scrapes and scratches since my years playing t-ball but it wasn't until 2007 and then, yes again, 2011 that I broke my right and left ankles respectively. It sucked but once the recovery process was over I didn’t let my fear of the possibility of getting hurt again keep me away from the game. That lesson still pertains to every other aspect of life.
My life has thrown me plenty of curveballs (pun intended) but Softball was a constant, it was my outlet, my go-to. Sports were a big part of my life and since going to college I have struggled to find something I love as much as I love playing the game. Each season, each new group of girls, each coach, impacted who I have grown to be.
It’s obviously cliché, but when all was said and done and my last softball game came to an end I couldn’t remember the score of any of the games I played. Instead, I can, and always will, remember the butterflies while standing on the mound, the smiles of my teammates, the exhilaration of winning a close game, and the moments of pure joy I had on that field -- my home away from home.
So what did softball teach me? Everything.
