My Personal Experiences Of Basketball And Basketball

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

Basketball was a new experience to me a few years ago, but i never realized I was going to love it. When I was younger, I’ve always wanted to play the sport of basketball, and I got my opportunity to play when I was in fifth grade at Monte Vista Elementary.

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

From early one, I was a standout in baseball. From ages 8-13, I made the league’s travel all-star team. Being the only black kid and the only one in public school, I often found myself sometimes out of my comfort zone when it came to hanging out with the team. Generally, the team consisted of the same players and coaches every year, so the faces rarely, if ever, changed. As we got older, things began to change. I eventually found myself on the pitching mound for my respective league teams starting at age 10. Now, not to toot my own horn, but I was hands down one of the better pitcher’s considering that I was younger than many of my fellow peers. By the time I was twelve, I could throw a ball almost 70 mph. At age 13, my team went a whopping 15-1 beating teams by an average margin of

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

My mother has been playing competitive softball since before I was born. Even to this day, at the young age of 66, she still enjoys playing on the circuit. My brother was a talented basketball player in high school and junior college until a car accident thwarted his dreams, I myself, was a 3-sport star in high school and I earned a scholarship to play football at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I was taught from a very early age that my performance in sports rests with my ability to consistently control my emotions. I have been trained to respond positively inevitable changes and

I had been playing baseball for five seasons but still couldn’t get the hang of it. Since I was seven years old I could never hit a baseball, and now I was 9 and wasn’t any better. I could never take a roaring swing at the ball and let it shoot across the field. You’d think experience would make me wiser but nothing could. My father being the baseball expert he is would always drive me home after every game trying to teach me the basics. He’d say lock eyes on the ball and bring your hands toward it. He said it like it was a simple technique but it sure wasn’t for me. Baseball never was a second language for me like it was for my father and uncle. They had always played together growing up. My father would always have a fun stories about each game he played, and how

At the start of high school my life began to take a turn. Up to that point my life had been predictable. I had the same friends, played the same sport, and was still an introverted person. My life was bland. Baseball is what I grew up playing throughout my childhood. It was that sport I looked forward to practicing, playing, and enjoying. As I started to get older, the people and coaches I played with changed. I began to play less, and wasn’t improving every week like I had hoped. I even tried out for the school team, but I was cut. For these reasons, my dedication to this sport was deteriorated. Trying out for the school team wasn’t what I wanted to do, but it’s what I presumed everyone expected of me. Once I ran passed this realization, I stopped playing baseball. This is not how I envisioned the future.

During my childhood, I grew up in the town of Randolph, Massachusetts. Most of my childhood memories came to be in this town. Throughout my childhood, I had many memories that I still vividly remember to this day; learning how to ride a bike, graduating kindergarten and learning how to read and write. During my childhood, there were days where I felt unstoppable, but there were also days where everything brought me down. Even during these difficult days, there was always a place that I looked forward going to; the baseball field. I began playing baseball when I was about 7 years old; although some people found the sport tedious, I instantly fell in love with the sport. I may have not been a prodigy at the sport, but it was one of the only

Throughout my life, I have been apart of America’s pastime--baseball. My career started in the dog days of the ‘03 season and I have not stopped playing since. Looking back, I can see the horrid field where I first started playing, and if I shift gears and look forward, I can see the shimmering astro turf I will be playing on in college. The steps taken to learn the skills, positions, and history it takes to play the game of baseball have been stored in the very core of my being, but I was launched into this learning process. I never got to play teeball like most young players do, so I did not learn the game in the same manner as most ball players have before me. The speedy progression would discourage most from ever playing again, but I fed on the opportunity and thrived. Time and time again, the game of baseball has tried to knock me out with an array of assailants, but it has not succeeded to this point, for I have gotten back up each time stronger than before. One could say baseball was the mold that made me into who I am today.

I began playing Basketball freshmen year as a way to release my emotions and forget the thoughts that gave me stress or made me overthink. My coaches gave me the nickname of “Mean Darline” because of how tough and aggressive I would get when being on defense. Little did they know that I wasn’t good at that position because I loved Basketball but because it maintained me calm and allowed me to express myself in a socially approved activity. When the season was finished and I retired from Basketball after my sophomore year I went back to going to the gym three to four times a week. Gym workouts or any physical activity is great to rechannel one’s unacceptable impulses without others criticizing us for our actions.

The game of baseball being one. Today, parents are starting kids in baseball younger than ever. In fact, it isn’t too uncommon to start training as young as 5 years old. Unfortunately, I wasn’t introduced to the game of baseball until I was 14. Up until this point in my life, I had not the slightest idea regarding baseball, nor had I ever seen it played. Like most kids I fell in love with the game. Nearly all of my friends had been playing the game their whole lives, and being blessed with a competitive nature, I made it my goal to play alongside them on our varsity 5A high baseball team. From that moment on, every weekend, or day off I had, I was playing baseball, each time picking up on more and more advice. A few years later, on the day of our freshman baseball tryout, I found out that I did not make the jv team with the rest of my friends. Rather than letting the absence of my name on a list determine if I played a game that I loved, I continued to try to sharpen my skills. When the time came for me to try again, I was so confident in the amount of time and effort I put forth to make the varsity team. I was twenty pounds heavier, I was faster, and an all-around better baseball player. Only to find out, that I again had not made varsity, and the same for the next year. It wasn’t until my senior year, because of UIL rules that I was mandatorily placed on varsity. By this

On any given sunny day, when flowers were blooming, and grass was growing, there was a game of basketball being played. I sat on my auntie’s porch watching the older teenagers and sometimes adults fearlessly tackle the game as if they were playing for the world championship or at least the national title. The only title gained was bragging rights for the rest of the day. Despite the horrible language, the twisted ankles, and sometimes busted lips, the players continued to show up daily to compete. Although I was a tad bit scrawny for my age, I desperately and eagerly wanted to join the game. I knew then I wanted to learn the sport, and it wasn’t long before I began to do so. Eventually, basketball became a passion as well as therapy for me. Every day, I dreamed of being the next Maya Moore or Skylar Diggins. Although that dream never came to be, my love of the sport continues. There are many players who agree that basketball helped them just by being on the team. Others swear that they learned to make better decisions in their lives because they played the sport as youths. Some experts even suggest that

Baseball was my life for as long as I can remember. I loved every second of it. The CRACK of the bat on the ball, the sound of a cheering crowd as your round third base, The feeling of America’s pastime, always gave me the greatest sensation. I practiced all the time. Tossing with my dad, hitting balls of the “T”, trying to make myself better than I was the previous day. I was a first baseman, and for good reason, I never let anything get by me, I wasn’t to shabby at hitting either, and through countless days of execution of these particular set of skills, I made sure I stayed that way. I worked my tail off to become the best of the best. I wanted it more than anyone else. But sometimes we don’t get what we want.

Running into the gym with my team, knowing it was my last middle school basketball game, but first championship game I felt elated and truly blessed. My knees quivered with anticipation after seeing all the bleachers filled with people. After realizing even the press and other media was in attendance I grasped the moment like a newly elected president at his inauguration. I am warming up doing basketball drills, when I began to look at the flags on the gym wall depicting the history of the basketball team. The years and dates of the last championship game, Historically a championship game had not been won since 2007 . The more I stared at the flags, the more it made me want to win this game and make history in this gym. As the crowd and cheerleaders start to chant, cheer and get loud, I started to feel more comfortable and rowdy more than I had ever felt in any other game that I’ve played. Waiting for the referee to blow the whistle for jumpall to start. I felt my fingertips tapping the side of my leg, which for some reason gives me a sign to myself that I am pumped up and ready to play!