What Does Softball Mean To Me Essay

“Be remembered!” echoes through my mind every time I get up to bat. From tee ball to now, softball has made a massive impact on my life. Ever since I was five years old, I have been playing the game that I love the most.

Softball is a growing sport for girls within the United States. Whether you are an 8-year-old girl, to a senior in college softball, it’s a sport that many are attached too. A new form of hitting came into play during the 2005 Women’s College Series. Slap hitting is a new form of hitting that changed the way the game of fast-pitch softball is being played. Slapping changed the way coaches and players think about how they are going to field a slap hitter. This form of hitting is becoming a major role within fast-pitch softball. When I got the opportunity to learn how to slap hit I was excited to gain this ability. With practice, patience and determination, I began to learn the hitting style that I use today.

Softball is a sport that is known throughout the United States and the world. Softball originated on Thanksgiving Day in Chicago in 1887. The game was actually said to have begun as an indoor game. Softball was started by a group of men who had gathered at a club to watch the Harvard vs. Yale football game. When the news came that Yale had defeated Harvard, 17-8, one Yale supporter, overcome with enthusiasm, picked up an old boxing glove and threw it at a nearby Harvard alumni, who promptly tried to hit it back with a stick. This gave George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, an idea. He suggested a game of indoor baseball. Naturally, Hancock's friends thought he was talking about playing a game outdoors, not indoors.

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.

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

The next practice I was putting my gear on slowly like usual so my best friend Trinity could get there before I had to go practice with another girl, since Trinity was really the only one who was interesting to talk to. When she finally got there, we starting practicing normal catch with the softball. After I finished telling her that I wanted to try pitching, and after a lot of convincing her that I could do it, I tried my pitch. It was to low, and Trinity got it as a ground ball. “I told you you can’t pitch, let’s just practice the normal way.” I said no, I needed to become a pitcher, to help my team and help me to not always be at 3rd base.

“Decide what makes you happy and fight for it”-Anonymous, and that’s exactly what I did. As a kid my parents put me in every sport possible to see which ones I liked best. It wasn’t long before I decided I had a love for softball, and I was good at it too. Ten years have passed since I made that decision, and I still love the sport. Although, this love didn’t come easy; I had to fight my way through the last ten years to get to where I am now.

Some people just think softball is as simple as someone swinging a stick, hitting a ball, and trying to get back to where they started. They don’t see what softball really means to someone like me. Someone who has dedicated their life just to be able to play on that field at a certain level. Someone who wants to go to college and play the sport that they love. Well, I play softball because of the love I have for the sport.

Until I became a high schooler my dream was to grow up always playing softball. Softball was my all time favorite sport to play. My dream was to be a softball athlete my entire life. When I was younger I started playing as a little kid and I grew up playing until my sophomore year in high school. I played on and traveling team and started on the high school team practicing and playing with all my closest friends. I played for DeWitt and Maquoketa and I had fun both way. I always tried to stay active in it.

As most parents do, as soon as their kids are at a certain age, they throw them into a sport. My parents did the same in my case; I was thrown into T-ball when I was 5 years old. I was so young and i’m not even sure if I wanted to play. When I was in third grade I ended up falling in complete love with softball.

COLLAPSE Participation in Softball Taught Me Valuable Lessons I’ve played softball since I was eight years old, many of the lessons I have learned from softball will be carried throughout my life. Softball taught me one very important thing about life, it may not always be fair, but with hard work you can make your way to the top. Also, it has enforced teamwork and the power of working with others. Not to forget, being healthy is very important.

I would not be who I am today without the loving and supportive parents always standing behind me. I have been extremely privileged to have the opportunities to play competitively for 11 years. Over the years, I’ve been taught by professional coaches to assure that I am pushed father than my own perceived

A feeling of resentment almost caused me to lose my best friend. In my 6th year of playing select baseball, I had daily practice with my Dad as well as practiced on my own so that I could become the starting pitcher. I practiced pitching every chance I could. I handled the ball walking to school, lying in my bed, and even watching TV. I even dreamed of pitching when I slept!

Growing up I was never sure what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I thought about being a nurse and specializing in one of the fields. One for sure that I thought about a lot was becoming a pediatrician. The thought of getting to work with the tiny little babies all was made my face glow. One thing for sure though was I was going to play softball in college. I have been playing softball since the age of 4, that’s when my dad started me off in T-ball. While playing softball at a young age I had my moments where I didn’t want to play anymore, and my dad would ask me why and what was my thinking of the situation and my feeling. Then about an hour after the talk I was always out there playing again. When I started middle school I wanted to stop playing softball and just do strictly volleyball. My parents decided that I was not going to do it because they had invested too much time into my travel team now for softball. I decided that I would do volleyball in the fall and softball in the spring.

Softball has taught me a lot: how to work with others, to think ahead, but two years ago taught me the most. One game in particular stands out in my memory. We were down, and the long innings before hand was wearing me down as our only pitcher. Our best catcher was switched out with a younger and less experienced one, so that she could play shortstop. Before this game, I hadn’t realized how weak the new catchers throw was. I pitched, got the ball back and pitched, no problem. Until finally someone was on third. The other team had already been doing delayed steal to second and third, taking advantage of her short throw. But, for whatever reason, I didn’t think these delayed steal would transfer over to home. Sure enough, pitch goes in, the catcher