My Favorite 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.

“Take your base,” yelled the umpire as Kevin was hit with a pitch on his back. Kevin trotted at a snail's pace down to first base, his face was filled with agony as he grabbed his rib cage. As the game proceeded the pain from the pitch increased but Kevin thought it would eventually go away so he played through it. The game went on and it was close all the way till the end but the Stars pulled out the victory. They are now the 2016 South Carolina 2A High School baseball Champions. The team went crazy, the fans rushed onto the field to celebrate the victory with them. The team and the fans were bumping and brushing up against one another while they were screaming and hollering. Kevin was in the middle of the crowd with all his friends and

When first learning the different technical aspects of volleyball, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. During my first practice, I had no idea what it meant to be athletic until I realized the necessity of hustling and focusing

It was a night resembling every other preceding it, though within it was a pivotal moment directing me on a path to a world of medicine. As the rays of light began to recede and the sounds of the crickets chirping resonated louder with each passing minute, there I sat upon the curb watching my younger family members race back and forth across the gravel in pursuit of earning their team a goal. The parents stood idly by conversing with one another, failing to notice when a particular young boy tripped on one knee with great force. Slowly he stood as the other players on the field continued playing without a glance towards their injured teammate. Turning in the opposite direction he walked to a secluded area, slumped down, and bowed his head while cupping his knee. Approaching him, I noticed there was the faint sound of sniffling. Bending down I asked if he was hurt and at last he raised his head, still holding on to his knee. Putting on a brave face he responded with a resolute no.

“You guys want an ice pack?” asked Grace. “Yes!” exclaimed Ashley Nohl. As a group, we all agreed that it would be best if we went in and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. On the other hand, just as you thought things could not get any worse for Ashley Nohl, it does. Her foot slips through the ladder, making so one leg was on the trampoline and the other leg was beneath the trampoline, along with her hip on the bar of the ladder. Delaney and I rushed over to help her out of the strenuous position; above all, I mostly did it, because I felt bad for hitting her in the back. While Ashley Nohl is stuck, Grace and Sarah are on the other side laughing their heads off about what they had just witnessed.

My stomach twisted at the thought of losing when we pulled into the McDougal High School’s parking lot. I ran into the building where our coach taught us the new positions until it was time to play. The ref blew the whistle and threw the ball into the air. I jumped up with my feet dangling off the ground and slapped the ball out of its orbit and ran down the court. I could feel my heart beating, I lurched to a screaming halt at the three point line and pushed the ball towards the basket. I shut my eyes hoping it would make it. I heard the ball drop to the ground and the crowd that was erupting with cheers, I opened my eyes and saw my teammates smiling. “That’s a girl!” my coach hollered as I ran towards the sideline and sat down on the bench. We ended up winning by 2 points after two overtime periods.

It was June 11th, 2015 and the softball team was headed to Radford for the state tournament. The nerves of everyone was running wild as we all sat on the bus listening to music in our headphones. While everyone sat in silence I could see the on everyone’s face that they were trying to strategize, including myself, on how we are going to win these last two games. The previous year the softball team won the state title. This created a high bar for this team to reach. As we sat on the bus we started talking to each other about how we can remain calm and drive ourselves to do the best that we possibly can. Coach Gaines reminded us, “play every play and at bat like it is the last time you will ever play softball”. As I hear these words echoing over

The ball shot off the bat, blazing at seventy miles per hour toward my right shin. Collapsing to the ground, I was like a tree falling in the woods. Rolling over trying to gather my bearings I heard the first baseman, Sydney Norris, expressed with fear to the second baseman, Hannah Bryant, “I think she just broke her shin.” As I stood up, I noticed Hannah’s face turn from

This was my first volleyball camp at Michigan Tech University this summer and I was ready. Coaches sorted us into teams, taught us some intermediate skills revolving around the technique of the game, and scrimmaging from time to time. My team leader was Ali Gerring, a recent graduate from Kingsford. We did bump-set-spike drills and six different rotations to get ready for our big scrimmage the next day. You could see the sweat glistening on our faces, and smell the hard determination to improve. You could hear players call for the ball at every court yelling, “Mine, mine mine!”

I open my eyes and see that I’m surrounded by a volleyball net and hundreds of people in the crowd. I look to my side and see Kerri Walsh! All around me are signs with, “2016 Rio Summer Olympics” on them. I realize I’m actually in Rio at the Olympics and I’m playing sand volleyball with Kerri Walsh!! Woah. Kerri hands me the ball and tells me I’m up to serve. So I nervously shuffle back to the end line, still in awe that this is happening. The score is 20-19 and we’re down by one. I serve the ball and the other team retrieves it, hitting it back over. We volley back and forth 5 times, until Karri set me up and I hit the ball so hard that I get a kill! The crowd is going wild! It’s tied up with 5 points to go. I keep serving. We

The first practice came on Thursday and when she was practicing with her team, she felt light headed for a second and she couldn’t see anything for a few seconds and one of her teammates spiked the ball right into her face, and when Lexi could finally see again all she saw was blood dripping down her mouth and nose, she screamed and passed out. Lexi woke about a few minutes later in the clinic and when she woke up the nurse gave her an Advil to relieve her pain and she said asked Lexi a few questions “do you have a headache, do you feel any excruciating pain in your nose?” Lexi answered with a straight up “yes”. The nurse recommend taking her to the hospital to her mom because the nurse thought her nose was broken and Lexi got worried because she didn’t know if she could play or not. When Lexi got to the hospital she go it x-rayed, and the doctor said to Lexi that there is a major fracture in her nose and that they would have to do surgery on it, Lexi was

Volleyball is a very adaptable and flexible sport. It can be played indoors, outdoors, and even in water. The rules can be altered to fit any situation. Around the world, people came up with new rules and ideas for the game. “The offensive style of setting and spiking was first demonstrated in the Philippines in 1916.” (Volleyball Court Central). “During the 1930s, the Czechs and Russians were known for their skill at blocking.” (Sherrew 11). Players decided to focus on a certain skill as the game became more competitive. Each person had their own position that they were advanced

Erika and I were both in the back row. Our jobs were to bump any balls that came toward our area. I was doing good until the tallest girl on the team, Grace, spiked the ball. I tried to stop the ball from hitting the ground by diving and throwing my arms out in front of me. However, instead of hitting my arms, the ball nailed my face. I laid on the ground for a few seconds pondering about what had just happened. Soon after, I felt someone tap my back. It was Erika, and she was making sure I was alright. She helped me up on to my feet, and I saw a drop of blood on the gym floor. I touched my nose to see if I was bleeding, and sure enough, blood was pouring out of my nose. Erika saw my nose, and she quickly ran and got the coaches. The coaches told me to go to the bathroom to get paper towels, so Erika walked me there and got them for me. Next, we walked down the hall to the nurse’s office so we could get an ice pack. This was not fun for me, as my shirt was bloody, but Erika comforted me and made me feel happy. If it weren’t for her, I don’t know what I would have

"Bump, Set, Spike"  When I was a kid I was always the worst kid on my sports teams, weather it was baseball, basketball, or soccer. That was until 6th grade when I started to play boys volleyball at my grade school. I quickly latched onto this sport.  That love for the game that I had never experienced before led to me working on my game and becoming one of the better players on my team.  Freshman year, after my schools camp, I discovered that there was a local club team that was holding tryouts.  I am grateful to my parents for the financial and time sacrifice they made, because playing club introduced me to a whole new game of volleyball.  I was a little flustered being thrown into this environment as a young player with only school experience,

September 31st was the morning we had all been looking forward to for a very long time. As I approached the bus I immediately noticed the excitement rumbling throughout. It was full of laughter and jokes all trying to cover up the nervousness we all had. We all had hopes of playing in the 2012 Fall Baseball State Tournament. The weekend ahead of us was going to be full of baseball and fun, but little did I know it would end with an injury that would change my life forever.