Personal Narrative: How Baseball Changed My Life

We had to compete in a dreaded lip syncing contest and a bean bag tournament. Even though we thought it was going to be embarrassing, the lip syncing contest turned out to be the best event of the night. The night was a total success. From then on, softball was a place you could be yourself. That may be cliche, but I really felt that way. No one judged you (and if they did they kept it to themselves). We were able to goof off and I don’t think anyone would have come out of their shells if we didn’t get up and do something we originally did not want to

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run”(Babe Ruth). I was wondering how much baseball really affected my life and the choices I make. The answer is a lot, and it still continues to leave a mark on this life I love. Over the many years of my involvement in the game I have learned that life is full of ups and downs. Baseball teaches people to bounce back from negatives, this I believe.

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 have been playing baseball my whole life, ever since I was three. I admire this game with all of my heart, and I will never give it up.

Getting on the softball team is one of my biggest accomplishments. Im a very hard worker and have persevered in the face of adversity. At first I couldn't even throw a ball or catch, I went into the sport, knowing nothing and came out with so much knowledge and experience. As the season progressed, I got better, actually knew some softball lingo. Softball for me is probably one of my most happiest memories that I will savor for a lifetime.

I grew up in a family of baseball players. My grandpa was the first to really get into then it passed on from my dad to me. Growing up I was always practicing or playing baseball. My father and grandfather taught me the basics and it was almost a new way of socialization. Having to learn baseball was like learning a new language. Playing baseball when I was young started as just fun. Starting at the age of 5 I never did much playing. I more so stood in the field and kicked dirt around.

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.

I step up to the plate. The hot lights of the Mets stadium hit my face. Clayton Kershaw was pitching. He is the best pitcher in the MLB. The pitch comes. It was a slow hanging curveball right over the middle. I swing will all my might. I hear the crack of the bat and I see the ball fly over the fence. I trot around the bases and I am approaching home plate. I step on home then I wake up.

One summer day, me and my sister penelope received a call from my aunt. The call was to ask if we would go to a baseball game. Well of course we agreed, why would we not go to what would be our first game. The date was set, it was a day before Independence day. I was very excited I counted down on my cute marble print planner with a big blue sticker phrased “ seize today”. Finally I’m going to do something for the summer!

I was playing center field waiting for those flying balls to come straight at me so I could catch them to get the players out. The girl that was batting hit the ball so hard that it sounded like she broke the bat. The ball was about thirty feet in the air and I shuffled backwards to see if it was going behind me sure enough it was. I sped up my speed to keep in sync with the ball, I put my glove out in front of my face and with a lot of force the ball landed right in the glove. The crowds started to cheer, and so did my team mates. I threw the ball to second base and got the runner out on a double play. The crowds cheered and roared with excitement. The game passed quickly, and we were in the last inning. Our team was the last to bat. The bases were fully loaded. The crowd cheered for a beautiful hit. It was now my turn to bat. My chance to show everyone that I improved. As I was walking my team mate shouted, “You got this, Andre!”. Then all of a sudden everyone started to chant and scream my nick name. This brought tears to my eyes because they all believed in

The passion I have for baseball would not exist if I didn’t have Tom and Melissa as my little league coaches. They coached me for only one year of my life, and that one year changed everything about me. I wouldn’t be the same at baseball and I wouldn’t be the same kid if it wasn’t for Melissa and Tom. They had certainly changed my life forever.

There's one memory in particular that I remember most. I was 11 years old living in Richmond, Virginia and my baseball travel team the Richmond Rapids were traveling to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a Labor Day weekend Tournament. The Outer Banks Classic was the the biggest tournament for 12u players in the Atlantic Region. We were the first team from our region to be invited to the tournament. None of us knew what to expect when we got there. But after an 8 hour car drive and tons of car time my expectations were exceeded when I saw where we would be playing.

The best thing that ever happened to me is when my baseball team beat Brandon Valley for the first place position in regionals. Brandon Valley was our rivals and we hated each other for not really any reason. We knew at the start of the game that winning this would put us in first place. We had lost to Brandon Valley twice before but they were beatable. It was a home game near the end of July and sunny. The conditions were great for baseball. Our nerves were high and waiting for the game to start seemed like an eternity.

Ever high school baseball player has to remember there very first high school baseball game. I remember playing two inning in state playoffs for baseball. I only got to play those two inning because one of are teammates had to stop playing. It was the best two inning in my whole life it was so much fun but also so nerve wracking at the same time because I didn’t want to mess up anything or let my team down.

I always consider myself to play Major League baseball; as I grew up; I realized that I would need a backup plan. By the seventh grade I noticed that I liked to do hands on activities and problem solve difficult tasks. I displayed all the interests of an electrical engineer. I believe that the interest really may have started at an even younger age. My father has been a maintenance technician for almost 25 years. In say that, I enjoyed watching my dad fix things which sparked my interest in fixing things, or at least look into the engineering field.