From March 4th to this past Friday, I was involved with my school baseball team. It has been a very busy past few months but looking back, there is no other way I would spend it. The friendships and knowledge I've gained have just been overwhelmingly positive. Baseball became a large part of my life when I tried out for my school team freshman year. I had stopped playing baseball two years prior so needless to say, I was not going to be a starting varsity player. Actually, it turned out, I wouldn't even make the team. I was cut. The one memory that will always stick in my mind is going into the auxiliary gym of the school at the end of the three-day tryout. The kids on the team high-fived each other and were all smiles as they rejoiced in the fact that they would be hanging out with one another for the next three months. There I stood, frantically scanning the varsity and junior varsity rosters, hoping to spot my name. I didn't. That moment changed my life. I joined a spring baseball league, played in a summer league, and began going to the gym before school (starting my sophomore year, I previously went to the gym after school). I remember running sprints during the summer in my front yard at 9 PM, pitch black out, trying to ease my nervousness about the upcoming tryouts. They were in 9 months. For those next 9 months, I thought about it constantly. "What if I don't make it?" poured through my friend over and over. I'll cut the suspense, I did make it. Junior varsity. I didn't care that I never played. Bottom line, I set a goal and I achieved it. However, at the start of the season, I was asked to become a pitcher in addition to the outfield. This would become my next goal.
After my sophomore season ended, I reached out to a local pitching coach. I attended his summer camp and I worked with him every week from July to February. Building my mechanics was my number one priority and it paid off when I made varsity this year. Although I only pitched two games (for JV), the experience I gained from watching and acting in these spots is priceless. Words cannot describe how disappointed I was when our team lost in the state tournament this past Friday. I got a little choked up when the coach asked someone to put the pitching bag in the shed. It was at that moment that I realized I would need to wait another 9 months to start the new season. But I guess it's for the best because now my goal for this offseason is to become a pitcher for the team. While I already am, I was a sixth-string pitcher essentially. I want to bump that up and become a better pitcher. I will try to work with a buddy of mine who is becoming a strength coach, I will continue to work with the local pitching coach I mentioned earlier, I will play Legion this summer, and I will always work on my game when I have time. I want to give this all I have.
