Baseball Life Changing Event

Baseball: My Life Changing Event My Uncle Kirk has been my idol in baseball for as long as I can remember. He pitched for The University of Northern Iowa. When I was about two years old, my parents and I went to most of my uncle’s college baseball games. My first baseball memory is after one of the games when I went to watch him play. After the game, my uncle came and got me from the stands and took me out on the field to play catch with him and the team. The team also invited me into the clubhouse for pizza to celebrate a big win. My parents tell me that when I came back onto the field with a piece of pizza bigger than my head, I was smiling from ear to ear. My uncle walked me out on the mound, and gave me a signed baseball that I still have to this day. It is safe to say I was hooked the moment my tiny fingers touched the raised seams of that baseball. I started playing t-ball when I was just four years old. The only thing that I remember from this time is

I went from being on a team where I was a leader, and one of the best players on the field, to once again being the smallest player on the team and having to work for everything I deserved. My freshman year I was on the Junior Varsity team, where I played in most of the games, but my spot was always up for grabs. I felt as though people were always doubting me, and I was only out there because I was the best option for the team. In the offseason before my sophomore year, I worked really hard to get bigger, faster, and stronger to improve my odds at playing on Varsity. When tryouts rolled around, we had a new coach, and it felt like a chance for me to prove myself to the team and myself. I made the Varsity team, but I only played in about one-third of the games that year. At the end of that season the new head coach sat me down and told me that if I got stronger and kept working hard, I would have a shot to earn a starting spot on the varsity