My Greatest Talent

One summer’s day in 2014, I borrowed my neighbor’s lawn mower and met my teammates at the batting cage. I began mowing down the weeds, while they raked. Others restretched the netting back across the top of the cage. By the time the afternoon came we had a batting cage and a real sense of pride. From that day forward, we began practicing every day, year round. We talked baseball, walked baseball, lived and breathed the stuff. We shared our equipment and made do with what we had. We turned ourselves from a rag-tag bunch of misfits into a

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.

I was born in Independence, MO on November 14, 1999. I was born into a sports family. My great grandpa and grandpa started teaching me baseball as soon as I could hold one. My great grandma and grandpa babysat me while my Mom was at work. He would sit on the floor and roll the ball to me. When it got warmer, we would go outside and play on his deck. I have loved baseball ever since. Sports have always been my passion. I play baseball and basketball. I started playing basketball my freshman year of high school and started playing baseball as soon as I was ready. There was never a time in my life where I wanted to stop playing sports, never once. I have never had a coach that has made me want to quit playing. If I had a coach that hated me, I paid attention to myself and didn’t let him get to my head about playing the game. I am going to try so hard to go as far as possible with baseball. I want to play baseball for the rest of my life. It’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was in middle school. I’ve known what I wanted to do with my life for the longest time. Sports are “my everything” and

I went home full of excitement and quickly recounted to my mom the success I had that day at baseball. I went to bed that night with more confidence than I thought possible and looking forward to another day of baseball. Made my way through school that day visualizing my performance that afternoon for tryouts. With more excitement than nerve I began the second day of tryouts. Thursday we worked on throwing and catching skills, friday was batting. An area in which I struggled a little more than others but with confidence pouring out of me I stepped into the box. Even with the confidence boost working on my skill I struggled heavily and was not happy with my performance. So trying to keep my confidence up I tried to finish that day of tryouts but I could tell that the coaches were less pleased with my performance that day. There’s not a much faster way to be served a large slice of humble pie than to realize you may not be all that you once thought you were. So keeping that in mind I finished the day doing my best. When we gathered together to make final cuts I could feel my heart beating in

Since the age of four my father has trained me to be the best baseball player I can be. Every single day my dad would practice with me. He would make me do drills and plays until I got them right. Due to my father’s commitment of making me a great baseball player, we won three championships: two in Little

I chose to play another year of recreational soccer, making sure to come back the next year to prove a point that I can put in the work and give myself the best opportunity to make the top team. Everyday after school, I would head to the fields and practice every aspect of my game. I would arrive an hour early to every practice, and I would leave an hour after practice. Day in and day out, I worked diligently on my fitness. For a year, I stopped at nothing to give myself the best chance I could to reach my goal. Motivated after that dissapointing tryout, nothing could stop me from doing my best. Standing on a different field, one year later, tryouts began. I was determine to produce my best performance. Two hours later, every player stood single file. Coincidentally, I was the first person called up; the coach informed me that I made the top team. However, this team played for a different club than the one I tried out for last year. This team competed at a much higher level. Not only did I make the team, but I gained the knowledge and appreciation for hard work and dedication. People rarely receive everything they want; however, they can always put in their best effort to provide themselves the best opportunity at obtaining what they

(swing bat) Well, there's my 60 th home run. I am babe Ruth, if you didn't already know. And I want to talk about my life. I was born February 6, 1895 and I was one of 8 children in my family. With my parents working long hours I was a troublemaker, since there no one was to watch me. At age 7 my parents sent me to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys. I skipped school a lot and caused a lot of fights around my neighborhood. That's when my parents realized I needed a more strict environment. At school I started to fall in love with baseball. At age 19, my mentor Brother Matthias invited Jack Dunn, the owner of the Baltimore Orioles, to watch me play baseball. Jack Dunn was so impressed that

Each of my years playing softball has been a momemtous experience for me. Indeed, I have learned valuable lessons about life. I have not only gained experience on how to approach different life situations, but the game has also provided an insight of me. In other words, softball has impacted my life and will also shape my future. Therfore, this will seek to discuss some of these impacts contributions to my life.

​I’ve been playing baseball since I let out my first cries. For me baseball is a battleground. The side that is better prepared and executes well is the one who usually wins. Just like how you don’t go out to war without any training, the same goes for baseball you don’t go and just play baseball. Practice in general is important for anything that you do; it allows you to experience a situation during a time where it’s not important. I can’t recall a time where I didn’t practice and performed during a game. Baseball has taught me that if I want to succeed you have to prepare yourself. It doesn’t just happen. In terms of school, imagine going to take an exam without sort of studying you won’t do so well. Apart from practice, which prepares you physically, if you’re not mentally right, you won’t do so well.

I, Damien Smith am a baseball player and I been playing baseball since I was 6 years old. I started in youth baseball and worked my way to the top for a spot on the varsity baseball team at Mount East High school. Let me tell you about my father, my father’s name was Rick Smith and he was an exceptional great man and a great baseball player. He was a professional player in the minor league and my dream was to follow his ways of baseball. Dad introduced me to baseball as a child and I fell in love with it ever since. Unfortunately when I was ten years old, Dad died from a tumor in his brain and it was a stage four tumor. Doctors couldn’t do anything about it and it was a terminal illness and dad knew he was going to die soon.

Pete Rose, one of the greatest professional baseball players to ever play the game, talked about how is father impacted his early years before the stardom. He said, “My father taught me that the only way you can make good at anything is to practice, and then practice some more.” Pete was saying that his dad. My dad may be tough sometimes and push me to my limits, but he’s the reason I turned out to be the person I am today.

It is a game of inches played nearly everywhere by every age. From backyards to little league parks and professional stadiums, by tee-ball playing kindergartners to old-timer leagues, baseball is a game that is considered America’s pastime for a good reason. Baseball, and simply sports in general, help teach many important life lessons such as hard work, sportsmanship and dedication. These qualities, along with many other things, are necessary for success in today’s world. The sport of baseball is very popular in other countries as well, and for many of the youth in these countries, it represents a way out. A way out from the poverty and crime and a way to a better life here in America. Out of all of the opportunities afforded to me

Since I was eights years old, I’ve been hitting a ball off a Tee. Sometimes it becomes repetitive and boring, but stepping into a live batters box is where all of that hard work comes into play. Growing up, my parents would always find someone to give me lessons or find a travel team that seemed to be a good fit for me. I was fortunate to have parents to push me to become a better athlete and support me at all of my sporting events. I’ve had several, and I mean several, batting, pitching, and fielding lessons. Because of my ability to quickly learn something after seeing it done once, I picked up how to become a

Baseball to the vast majority sounds like that one Sport where whatever you do is lounge around and hold up to hear the break of the bat. That’s not what the sport of baseball genuinely is. But to me, this sport has transmuted the way I see life all in all. Each and every athlete on the team has been illuminated to have extraordinary dedicated demeanor, regardless if it's in a training room or pregame warmups. Mentors have disposed initiative chances to teammates year after year and this this season it's my turn in light of my strong efforts and sturdy and my competency to be on the team. I did not turn into the individual that I am by lounging around. If it wasnt for baseball,

From the time I was able to walk I wanted to be a professional baseball player. I always fantasized it being game seven of the world series, with my team down three runs, the bases loaded with two outs, and I was up to bat. Of course every single time I fantasized about this, which was a lot I might add, I knocked a 400 foot home run in the left field bleachers to win the world series. I played in numerous amounts of wiffle ball games with my brother, sister, and my dad in backyard even when I was only two years old and would run the bases backwards. By the way, my family is super competitive, so there were some intense games in my backyard. Baseball has been my love since day one. The word “ball” was even my first word. I have played in probably a billion baseball games in my life and I have not regretted one second of it. I have had an amazing career playing and I am truly blessed for the ability I have been given, but I know I will never actually be able to