Even when my mom brought me to my first practice, she never thought I would stick with you. However, the opportunity to play you with my friends was the reason I started and why I have stuck with you for so many years.
I’m not going to lie, you knocked me down my freshman year of high school when I got cut from the school team that all my friends had made. But because of that, I got back up and I learned what it meant to put in the work when absolutely nobody was watching. You gave me a drive to be the very best I can be, rather than comparing myself to others.
You threw my family for a loop and probably made my parents want to pull their hair out when I started playing on a team that was a 3-hour drive from home. But now I cherish the uninterrupted conversations I got to have with my mom and dad to pass the time on those drives.
Even when my sisters and I would annoy each other or fight over clothes, it wouldn’t be long before one of us asked the others if we wanted to shoot around at the field that afternoon. I’ll always cherish summer evenings, when my entire family would drive up to our high school fields and my sisters and I would fire ball after ball at my dad until he couldn’t take it anymore (or until I dislocated his pinky; sorry Dad!).
Over those years, you pushed me to my physical, emotional and mental breaking points, but it bonded me with people that I now consider family. Although the wins and championships were pretty sweet, it was my teammates that made it the best experience of my life. Because of you, I became confident in myself. I learned how to become a leader; one that leads with love and humility, not through yelling and screaming.
You taught me about loving the process more than the destination because I would do it all over again if I could. Even after so many years, you continue to give. Now, you are giving me an opportunity to travel the world and experience a new place and culture.
As I reflect on the past 18 years of my life, I realized that you were an avenue through which I was able to establish my identity, not my identity itself. I have a lot to offer this world on and off your fields, and because of you, I’m confident and crazy enough to believe that I can do whatever I set my mind to.