Basketball Monologue

We walked together to the field, the spikes on the bottom of my cleats clicking with each step on the parking lot pavement. A huge field with onlookers filling the bleachers on the far side came into view, lit up by the soft evening light. I spotted the girls on my team and my tired looking grey-haired coach. Me and my dad split up, me going to warm up with my team and my dad going to sit with the team parents. As I was passing with my teammates I watched the opposing team carefully. I observed how neat their drills were and how accurate their shots and passes were. They all looked so athletic and that really made me doubt myself. How was I supposed to prove to everyone that I was a good player if I had to play against a team this good? What if I mess up and the other team completely destroys my team? The loud buzzer that ended the warm ups sounded and both teams went to their side of the field. My coach called today’s starters out, and luckily he didn’t choose me. Relieved, I went to go sit on one of the hard metal chairs they provided for the teams on the sidelines. The chairs were uncomfortable but that didn’t bother me. I had other things on my mind. I sat shivering watching the events of the game

Imagine standing on a softball field expected to perform at the age of 5. Even though the butterflies in my stomach were starting a war, nothing was going to stop me from stepping on that field to play my first tee ball game as a Little Tiger. Fans cheered, but what I noticed most was a little boy in the outfield picking his nose. Standing in the box, I was terrified; the field looked huge. I had never seen anything like this before, but I knew that the little boy was the person I needed to hit the ball to, so I hit the ball as hard as I could. The ball went soaring through the air like a bird on fire. Dropping from the air, it rolled to the fence. At that time, I knew I had fallen in love with the game of softball. I was smiling from ear to ear, I couldn’t believe I had hit the ball that far! Both sides screamed, yelled, and shouted with excitement. Was all this commotion for me? I rounded first, but I couldn’t go to second because my teammate, Kylie Leach, didn’t run. I didn’t know what she was doing. Sadly, the batter after me hit a ground ball to the pitcher, and the other team threw him out at first.

A mistake, there must have been a mistake it's not real it can't be happening. I raised my head to look at one of my best friends shock on his face second only to mine. Coach apologized to those who hadn’t made the team and offered, if anyone wanted to know why they had been cut they could come speak to him and the assistant coach privately. What did I have to lose? So I went. It would have taken a real man to be able to look a coach in the face immediately after his dreams had been crushed, I am not embarrassed to admit that there were tears in my eyes as i conversed with the two of them. The news of being cut stung, but the reasons that followed pierced my soul; being told that with my skill level i should consider playing a different sport. Life stood still, i told them i would come back the next year and improve and prove myself to them; they had no idea that i had no intention on keeping this promise. Baseball was over, as i tried to gather up the last reserves of my pride i looked across the gym to my friends and lifted my hand in farewell but couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my cheeks. As I walked through the front door of my home i collapsed right in the doorway and finally felt safe enough to truly let my emotions show; I cried for a long time and only paused for a moment when my mother arrived home and looked at me expressing her sorrow through the way she looked at me. If I

Every one was stretching and doing hitting practice. Unfortunantly I was not gonna pitch this game. The game finally started and in the first inning the pitcher was giving up so many runs. Eventually he got three outs and the score was 4-0. When we went up to bat we scored no runs unfourtanatly and the coach was kind of mad at us. When we went back on the field our pitcher gave up one more run and the coach decided to take the pitcher out and switch him out with the first base men. Also i was playing 3rd base throught the game. The new pitcher threw really hard and was striking everyone out, and because of that the inning went by really fast. When we went up to to hit this time we started scoring runs on the other team and when the pitcher finally got us out we had already done all the damage and the score was all tied up. The other team was scoring no more runs because of the dominate pitcher we had on the mound. However, for some reason we couldnt score no more runs against the other team, even when we had runners on base we couldnt do nothing, they

As soon as I made my very first varsity baseball appearance, I knew that I had to be the very best I could be or there was never going to be a chance of ever putting on that white and maroon crisp cleaned dri-fit Russel number 18 jersey. My heart was beating beyond faster than it should be at my first at bat because I had always heard “Just wait you haven't seen nothing yet, wait till you face them varsity pitchers.” Players older than me had constantly been saying that throughout my freshman season and it kept repeating over and over in my head like a broken record. Although I had studied the pitcher and had seen with my very own eyes, he wasn’t as good as everyone talked him up to be. I was still overawed and very nervous about messing up.

Have you ever wanted to be in Williamsport playing baseball? Well, I have I’ve been practicing since I could hold a baseball. Now all my training paid off. I finally made it. So did my friend Johnny. Johnny and I made it to Williamsport on different teams. It’s the Elimination game. Who ever loses goes home. It was a close game. Until the 9th inning the bases were loaded. Jimmy was on 1st, Timmy on second and Joey on 3rd. I’m up - 3-2 count. Johnny is pitching. He throws me a fastball right down the middle.Crack I crush it. Going… going… gone! A walk off grand slam. We win! After the game we go shake hands with the other team. I come to Johnny. I put out my hand and he doesn’t even make eye contact. He just walks away. The

The softball field was painted with players. (Passive) They were the coaches daughters. I'm not really a self-effacing (shy) person, but that day, I was. When the scrimmage began, I was put on third base and fourth batter. No big deal at all. I was use to those positions. It was as easy as A.B.C. (Simile). I have done this a thousand times before (hyperbole). One thing that was cool though was there was another Marissa on the team. I got stuck with the nickname Mo so they weren't confused. The scrimmage went well and I started to slowly talk with some girls on the team. One was from Polson which is about 15 minutes North of Ronan. I really fancy (enjoyed) these girls. I traveled to down to Missoula twice a week for practice. We usually practiced in a gym in the winter time. More on the fields in the spring time.Over the course of those practice times, I got use to the girls real fast and they made me feel needed (wanted). Also at those practices, i became better at batting, fielding, and throwing.(Balanced) We really enjoyed the summer season. we didn't win much, but it was still an amazing season with some amazing

I was dropped off the travel baseball team? “How could this be” I asked my dad, he replied “I don’t know Josh you didn’t put that much effort into your last game and you don’t try in practice”. The travel baseball team is the most prestigious youth baseball team when I found out I had been dropped I was heartbroken I wanted to crawl into a hole and cry. My dad tried to talk me into trying to try out for different team I just turned around and didn’t say a word. I ran outside, grabbed my baseball glove and threw it in the pool I never wanted to see a baseball glove or bat again.

Clouds mugged the sun of light as the day progressed. Dusk filled the air on the baseball diamond where I would leave my legacy. Forth, was the championship game to be played, and the pressure of the starting pitcher, was not fazing me. In the zone, we said the Little League pledge. Jolts of excitement filled my muscles as I recited the piece that I know all too well. Warming up, I was controlled, and was ready to bring it. The game began with a bang. Strikeout after strikeout I fired, giving my all every single pitch. ‘BOOM’ went the glove after every pitch, whizzed right by the petrified batter. However, this was not much different for our team. Just two hits filled the board, I and my teammate Ian Keth. Scoring off of this was efficient,

What do you think when you hear volleyball; serve, bit, pass, net and ball. It's so much more than that it's aggression, passion, oomph,uphill battle, and love. At first I thought volleyball was just for fun, but then one day that all changed. "Hurry up and make sure that you have everything you need," my mom shouted. "Okay, I'll be out in a minute," I replied. I promptly jammed my shoes into my bag, zipped it and rushed out my bedroom and down to the front door. My mom rushed in and said, "Let's go." We seemed to accelerate down the road. As we approached the gymnasium the car and dashed into the building. Legion points into the game everyone started to glance around frantically

It was a very warm and tense place in the gymnasium of the Alpena High School. A group of freshman and sophomore baseball players were waiting for the words you wanted to hear which was “Congratulations” or the not so good news of “Sorry” from the coach deciding if you made the team. Personally, at the start of baseball tryouts I thought to myself it’s going to be a toss up to see if I would make the team having a 50/50 chance. I was nervous for the most part because there were an abundace of upperclassman also trying out for the team that were on it last year. There were twenty-seven people trying out for fifteen spots to play JV baseball.

In the bottom of the inning, with the chance to win, I would make the first plate appearance of the inning with hopes to start it off with a hit. Before our at-bats, Coach Sullivan talked to the team saying, “This is the moment you have all worked for. This is where all that extra work will finally pay off. This is a moment you will remember for the rest of your lives. Now GO GET ‘EM!” So I ran in the dugout, grabbed my helmet and bat, and began getting ready for my at-bat. As I was preparing Coach Sullivan came over and gathered up the next few batters, including myself, and said, “Right now! This is your time! Go do your best and good things will happen!” I was as prepared as ever when I finally stepped up to the plate to start the inning. As the pitch came towards me I swung the bat and felt a POP. I looked up to see the ball soar into the outfield and land as a base hit. The next batter was Ben Beis who, on the first pitch, watched a ball in the dirt which got past the catcher allowing me to advance to second base. Ben then did a sacrifice bunt moving me from second base to third

When I was playing travel softball for Angels Fastpitch in my second year of ten and under softball, this memoir began. My coach would not play me much because he said I was not good enough, he said I could not catch. He said many other things all were horrible. The emotions that came

Have I already told you about my past? A long time ago, i was a dreaded species by ALL ! But not only my species was dreaded by all, but further... I was...

The crowd was roaring like wild animals. Our teams had switched sides to start the second match and everything came into focus then. I could hear individual people cheering in the crowd, the student section was going nuts. The smell of the butter coming from the popcorn at the concession stands suddenly stood out to me. Most importantly, I could feel the yearning and the passion coming from my teammates. We wanted this win–bad. I was one of the leading hitters on the team and it was my job to produce the big hits for the team and motivate them to take everything the other team would hit at us. We started the second game and things were still going well for us! It wasn’t a fluke! We were playing well because we were working hard. If we didn’t hit hard they were going to pound it down, we couldn’t let up. So when our setter set me up and I saw out of the corner of my eye a triple block I knew I had to get it through their hands, but the ball was behind my head. In that split second I made a decision that changed my life forever. I swung away and I felt my shoulder pop and then the worst pain of my life went through my entire arm. I grabbed it right away knowing something was wrong. I’ve never felt pain like this in a game before. In that moment I knew that was the one. Every player knows what it’s like to get hurt. You get sprained ankles and sprained knees all the time, but this was the injury I knew had been coming to me. I looked up at my parents in the crowd and they knew too. Something was wrong.