Looking back at our many years being together, it was always a love/hate relationship, with the most ups and downs anyone could have ever experienced. I never claimed you as my own, so I could never see how you were molding me. After having more than a few months to look at who I was then and who I am right now, there is one common factor. Only one thing at the end of every “why am I the way I am?” and it’s you.
At the age of 11, you taught a young girl grit. Even in competition with a group of established girls, a new girl could compete. You allowed her to find that little spark of determination that would eventually seep into every aspect of her life. Eventually you lead this girl to her first select try out. Knowing it would scare her, you helped her learn to be confident. Although this attribute would still be in the process, you allowed her to realize with a little bit of confidence and determination, the limits were endless.
As you and her continued to grow together, you knocked over one small, but mighty domino that would place the idea of becoming a collegiate athlete in her mind. You taught her that through sacrifice, comes success. You taught her to work through the never-ending days of weights in the morning, then classes, and finally to practice until the sun set. Through these tiresome days, you taught her to set small goals for herself and slowly but surely achieve them.
You showed her that although she wasn’t the strongest or the most recruited on the team, what mattered most was her consistency as an athlete on the field. You allowed her to be comfortable in her role as a teammate rather than the star player. Little did she know, this lesson would be the most important one she ever learned. The only way a team could be successful is not by having the greatest players, but by having the best teammates.
Thank you for allowing her to find her forever coaches. During her years with you she met people who believed in her more than she did herself. You showed her that she was not alone in her goals and that her forever coaches would always be there to help her.
Her time of being recruited slowly came to the feeling of being impossible, until you let her receive a call that would change her life. She was going to be a collegiate athlete at none other than Texas Lutheran University.
While at Texas Lutheran, you let her meet her family and home away from home. Although college is not easy for anyone, there were many trials not only academically, but personally, and also financially. There was a moment in her life where she felt like everything was falling apart and she had nowhere to go, but thank you for letting her find her home away from home where her teammates and coaches encouraged her and helped her through the most devastating times she had yet to see. You were her out in a world full of closed doors. Thank you for bringing coaches into her life that taught her how to escape her mind and be present. Thank you for showing her that nothing is ever final and as long as you're moving things can always change.
So, thank you softball, for being her out, for being with her when she needed you most. Thank you for bringing her teammates that became family and coaches that became forever. Thank you for bringing her the ups and downs and everything in between. Thank you for allowing her to learn how to fail so her victories were so much greater. You taught her you are more than a sport. You taught her how to be strong, independent, and lastly how to persevere to achieve every goal that little girl had on her plate.
