Love Me Back Then Love You Still Poem

It was my junior year at Summerville High School, and I was 16 years old, trying out for the varsity baseball team. The year previous I was offered a spot on the roster, but had turned it down to get more playing time at the Junior Varsity level so I could try and perfect my craft, get more innings and in turn be more prepared for the next year when I would be playing on the varsity squad. However, that plan would not come to fruition.

When I showed up to softball tryouts at the beginning of my senior year, I was convinced that I was going to be put on the junior varsity team for the fourth consecutive year. I was sure that I would never be moved up to varsity, regardless of how hard I played. My junior year I was embarrassed to be one of only two juniors on J.V. I was so self-conscious, that I had considered quitting so that I wouldn’t be the only senior not on varsity. However, I decided that quitting would be more humiliating than being on J.V. and forced myself to play my final season of softball. I showed up to tryouts the first week of school, and I played with every ounce of effort that I had. When teams were announced, I was legitimately shocked to find out that I

My whole body was in shock, everything I had worked so hard and long for was gone. All the time I had spent was wasted and I didn't think I would accomplish anything ever again. After a lot of persuasion and complaining I decided to continue playing softball on a travel team so I had some what of a chance on making the team in 8th grade. The longer it was the harder I started working so I could get a spot on the team. I knew it was going to be a challenge but I was p for it. I worked harder than I ever have all year so I would be ready. When the spring finally came around I tried out for the team and made it. It felt so amazing knowing I can do anything if I try hard

There have been moments in my softball career when quitting appeared to be the best option. Ordinarily, it is not difficult to believe quitting

The long series of events started when I was seven years old and my parents signed me up for Bobby Sox softball. I soon grew to love the sport and came back to the organization every year until I turned ten. I stopped playing for the league and tried out for a local travel ball team and made it. I soon had a career out of playing travel ball, it was my whole life. I had been on many teams and created many memories. As I got older, I didn’t enjoy playing softball as much as I did before. I was scared to tell this my dad this because he had high hopes that I would play in college. When I told my dad that I wanted to quit softball, I learned that I need to do what makes me happy even if it disappoints people.

Ever since I learned the ropes, I wanted to play because it has always been my dream to play softball. My mom told me I could try out for Lakeshore Playground that got anyone involved in any sport. There was no such thing as tryouts for this playground. During some of the games, I had my good days and my bad days at either hitting or catching. I loved being on that field. I felt that it was just only my teammates and me on the field waiting for our rivals to hit the ball. That season was a good one, and I will never forget it. This is what started my dreams from just playing on a playground field to being on an actual team. To everyone else it may be just a field with red dirt, but to me it is more than that. It is everything I could dream of because the game is about my teammates and me. I loved my passion, and will continue it later on in my

Since I was five years old softball and sports have been a huge part of my life. In softball, specifically, there are many times of failure and success. High school sports, for me, has taken a lot of my time, effort, and commitment. From the first day I stepped onto the court and field to the last, I want to be able to say I did my best. It has been tough and frustrating at times. I experienced failure many times, even when I did not want to admit it. My moments of failure within high school sports have turned me into the character and person I am today. It has taught me how to take failure and turn it into success. Failure has made me realize that the only way for you to succeed is for you to fail first.

If I didn’t get to bat, I learned it was equally important to cheer on my team. If I was placed in the outfield, I was just as eager and ready to make a big play. I learned at an early age the importance of unity and being a team a player. Win or lose we all worked together in order to overcome challenges and strive for success. Because of my positive attitude and devotion to boosting team morale I ended up winning the Best Sportsmanship Award during one of our last games at state sectionals, something I’m extremely proud of. I have since had to take a leave of absence from softball due to a serious knee injury, but I continue to put forth the same amount of perseverance and allegiance towards all other aspects of my

Softball ruled over my life from the time I was five years of age until I was fourteen. According to the people who had watched one of my games, I played first base phenomenally and had some wonderful at bats when I focused on centering my power to hit the ball with all the force I could muster. Unfortunately and fortunately, my father coached every team I played on from T-ball to fast-pitch. At every game, he observed my mechanics and hand-eye coordination, and this pulled memories of watching my brother hit numerous home runs and make game-winning outs from his mind. On nearly all of the car rides home, he would tell me “You remind me so much of Dusty. I see him the way you throw, in the way you hit the ball, and the way you present

To recover from this defeat, I continued playing on my previous softball team. My passion for the game drifted away that season as I

“I’m sorry Larry, but she’s wasn’t good enough to make the team.” This is the phone call my dad received when I was a 7th grader. He comes in and tells me and he sees how I break when he tells me it. I am not playing junior varsity softball. This may seem insignificant, but to me this was huge. A sixth grader made it to junior varsity over me. I was told that I wasn’t good enough. I was told that I’d never be a championship pitcher. I remember when I was seven or so when we were losing a game on my first softball team. There was three of us pitchers. The first was hurt, and the second was too tired to keep pitching accurately. The coach looks around the dugout and asks, “She is getting tired. Who can we put in?” His eyes hover over me and anticipate that I might be going in the game. The coach looks over me and decides that the pitcher that is physically drained should stay in the game over me, who is still full of energy and ready to go in. I started thinking, was I not good enough for him? Was I a failure to the team? Was I even useful?

When I was little I loved to play baseball and other sports. Although, my favorite sport of them all was baseball. My dad was a really good baseball player when he was young and he taught me everything I know. We would spend hours outside in the yard playing catch. Dad was my first baseball coach when I was little in Bitty Ball. Each year we would practice really hard so I could become a pitcher. I kept working hard at it and when I was a freshman in high school, I tried out for the baseball team and made varsity. I was one of the toughest pitchers on the team and by my senior year I was almost throwing no hitters each game. My favorite year playing baseball was my junior year. All the

I still remember the day it all happened. It was my freshman year of high school and baseball was right around the corner. Playing varsity baseball as a freshman was almost impossible to do. As coach called me into his office, the anxiety set in. I knew the varsity team lacked a starting pitcher but i never would have thought i would have the opportunity to get pulled up to play that year.

My sweetest baseball victory came not when I was eight, beating several of my friends on the opposing Little League team, not when I was 15, against our cross-town rivals pushing my school team into the JV playoffs, but the first win of the team that I helped coach. It was just the second game of our season, and only an hour and a half long, but it was a representation of the backbreaking work put in by everyone involved. After my ninth grade year playing JV ball, I decided that I needed to focus on my schoolwork, as it was tough to maintain my grades while juggling sports and other extracurriculars. However, I continued to play club baseball, as my passion for the game never faltered. The trend continued in my junior year, as I needed to drop

In eighteen years of my life I have learned some qualities that I will carry with me forever. Playing sports have taught me how to deal with emotions and not always getting want you want, for example not always being able to win. I will never forget the lessons that I have learned through softball. I was raised as a Christian, but it wasn’t until I got older and became involved in my softball that I realized how you can apply your beliefs into your sports, your work and the way that you carry yourself as a person.