In the lives of many people, there are happy and hard times. It’s how you act during the struggles in your life that define who you are as a person. People may ask, how do you deal with it? How can someone handle so much pressure and still be smiling. My answer is, sports. I choose to combine my behavior in the sports that I have played in, with everyday life. Having to wake up at five in the morning for practice, and bloody scrapes and broken bones, gave me discipline and drive to finish any task. Moving my body a few inches to the left so that I could see a wide receiver from a better angle for a better throw, made me think about seeing life from a different angle as well.
When I was 18 years old I faced a pitcher who was 6’4’’ and threw 92 miles per hour. At that age I’d never seen a pitch that fast before, but I knew I had to be ready to hit the ball even though I was pretty intimidated. The principle of being scared of something, but still having the courage to do it, is what transfers over to everyday life whether you are shooting a ball or kicking one. It gave me motivation and belief that anything is possible, but you have to be willing to try. This made me visualize not only the game differently, but also life.
Many people in baseball are afraid of striking out and in life some people are afraid to fail. I have struck out so many times that I am not afraid to fail anymore. Teammates constantly scream or throw objects when they make a mistake in a game, but what’s going to happen when you fail in life? Sports trains you to become immune to mistakes made in life because in my opinion you will fail 70% of the time in sports, especially when starting out. It is how you choose to respond to these errors that makes your character grow and helps you adapt to adversity.
The subtlety of sports is amazing because it teaches you how to be a professional, keep your composure, become a team player, perform under pressure and have 100% focus on a task. These are the key components to not only being a successful employee, but a good person or parent. It is much easier to communicate with people and be understanding when you have these characteristics. Athletics teach life.
