Walking up, anxiously awaiting to look at the Southside Softball tryout list only to see my name, not on that list. After twelve years of non-stop competitive softball, I could tell my career was coming to an end. In that moment, I felt like I was never actually good and I was only ever on a team because my dad was the umpire of all leagues, and it would have looked bad if I wasn’t ever on a team. Then again, I knew that couldn’t be true because I was on the Van Buren Softball team as well as Berryville Softball team. Throughout my years playing, I’ve played countless victorious tournaments, games, and even became an All-Star player three years in a row, so I knew I was good. To this day I still wonder why I didn’t make the high school team.…show more content… But luckily for me, I had found an outlet that helped me get through my struggles as a person. When I felt sad, I had a team to make me smile or mad I had something different to focus on. Softball taught me to trust people more and be more open. Softball, at that point in life, was not just a sport; it was my life. My only way of feeling satisfied with myself as a person. It took me a lot of growing up and mental determination to push through only relying on the negatives instead of looking at all the good things I had done. By defeating my toughest negative hurdle, I had become an optimistic and positive person. Softball has helped me to be determined, be the best possible person I can be, and figure out how to get through tough things in life. Constantly being in a competitive environment had helped me in the classroom and with life, always wanting to be my best. Without softball being there to push me I don’t believe I would be where I am at in my life today, a hardworking confident optimistic person always striving to be my best and work harder to get better at any task I am trying to complete. For me, softball was not just a game it was my foundation, my everything, something I could never leave
