Introduction
Sports have been for years on end considered a co-curriculum activity in most countries in the world with the exemption of just a few. But the latest trend has revealed that most nations have so far changed this direction and sports is now seen as a full time career for individuals. This can be seen by the way there have been a lot more international championships. Sports is therefore used not only to generate money for the organizers and participants, but also as a means of entertainment for thousands of spectators and funs. Sports can be of various kinds: – Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, Gymnastics and Athletics among others. Different people have got different kinds of sports interests. In my case, I have been a baseball player since the age of four. This research paper contains my experiences, memories and feelings that I have had in my baseball sporting career and what these experiences have taught me in life.
My Sports Background
Though not a famous kind of sport in most countries, baseball is the in thing in my country, and immediately I came of age, I knew what I had made my mind to go for as far as sports was concerned. Therefore, at only a tender age of four, I was already in our junior baseball team. Thanks to my mum who saw my interest in the game and encouraged me to nature my talent [it sounds surprising for such a statement to come from a female figure yet baseball is not that common to the womenfolk]. My encouragements did not stop at that, my coach too realized how great my interest was in baseball and took it upon himself to help me utilize that potential. Though I was nowhere near the standards of the so called best players, my interest and willingness to give my best, pleased the coach and I was mostly in the starting team. I believed would be the best…it was only a matter of time.
I continued playing baseball into my senior year in high school. By then, I was a great asset of the team. I could stop at anything which help me improve my talent. At Thirteen, I was selected to join Michigan Wild Cats and for the next six years, I played with them before joining University where my talent was yet again noted by the Lahser Knights coach. For subsequently three years, I played with the Lahser Knights.
My Experiences, Memories and Feelings as a Baseball Player
In my life as a baseball player, I have learnt a lot in life. And just like most retired sportsmen would say, that the time they have had during there hey days in sports were one of the best in their lives, I too can assert to that. Lucky enough, I still enjoy my early days to date since I am not yet retired. The memories I have since I begun playing baseball are so fresh as if it were yesterday. The days when I would miss to hit the butt severally but still promise myself that I was the best. At some point I would be left out of the team in favor of another player during a crucial game.
The most memorable times though are my days in high school when I had fully developed my talent and I was a dependable player in the team but still we could be beaten by our chief rivals. I was expected to save the team from humiliation but things just did not go right. Our supporters [mostly ladies that form choir groups to boost the teams moral] at some instant could get tired with cheering a losing team…but what else could I do? In such scenarios, I felt I was letting the team, the coach and more particularly myself down. And looking at the ladies [who were singing their hearts out and dancing as if no one was watching], one would never stop to shoulder the blame of a lost game.
Impacts of These Experiences in My Life
There is a saying that goes “one person doing something alone can not do much, but many people doing many things together have got unlimited ability to their achievements”. That is the spirit of real sportsmen, and it was our motto in the baseball team of Lahser Knights. Through baseball, I learnt the principle of team work and how much one can achieve working within a group of supportive individuals, as compared to the results when working a lone. This is a principle that I have managed to apply even in my life outside sports and the results are outstanding.
Leadership skills is also another attribute that I got to acquire as a baseball player. Though I was never directly in charge of neither of the two teams that I served, There were instances where I was put in charge of a group of individual fellow players in order to do some sort of activity together. I have to admit that those were the most trying moments as far as leadership was concerned. I had to deal with some players who were much older than me, some of whom had different opinions which they felt had to be respected. As a leader, I had to harmonize all the ideas [even the remotest ones had to be taken into consideration] lest the final decision misses to reflect a universal decision and interests of the team. I had to deal with people who had been shaped by different circumstances in life, fixed minded, emotional and all other negative traits. And in case of a failure, it is the leader to shoulder the responsibility. I can say being in the baseball team helped me identify this hidden talent of leadership that I had.
Have I talked of the “never give up” attitude? No! What of “never say it is over until it is so”. These two sayings were my driving force as I developed my talent. I applied the former, basically during the times when was training. Some people would look at me, gauge my standard and compare it to what was required then say, “Boy you will never make it”. But I knew from deep within my heart that I could do it, even though from the physical eye, I was pathetic…I did not stop even for a moment to give a thought to the negative comments that such people had to make about me. But I have to admit that at some point, I almost believed them, but thanks again to my mum and my junior coach who believed in me. They kept my spirits burning. I am now a living testimony that “it is possible if you believe so”.
I applied the second phrase after making it into the big teams (Michigan Wild Cats and Lahser Knights). During some crucial games, we would be drugging behind and it was apparent that we were going to lose only to come back from nowhere and win the game. Though in some matches we would lose but we still managed to narrow the gap and at least lose honorably. We used the phrase to mean that before the last whistle is blown, we still had a chance to make it. We never conceded defeat until we heard last whistle. In my life, I have managed to apply this teaching to never give up on anything. I believe that one is only considered a failure once he/she stops trying.
Baseball is never a ladies game, but I believe that they too can perform just as good as their male counterparts. My mum on her part is a lady yes, but she managed to see the baseball talent in me. The ladies who were charged with the responsibility of sparking ours spirits when the game was not in our favor were just great; they were able to read the state and mood of the game and asses the overall situation. I believe that they can make good players too. A ladies team needs to be encouraged in all countries in the world to help those that want to make baseball a career.