Experience That Has Changed My Perspective On High School Tryouts

I was 13 years old and playing my last summer baseball game for the Warriors select team. “ Strike three!!” the ump yelled, and the game was over, we won. This was a great ending to our successful season and the beginning of the real hard work, training for the Stratford high school tryouts. This is what every young baseball player wants to accomplish, they want to make their high school baseball team. It is no different for me, that is why I played summer ball and why I am training so hard for the tryouts.

The tryouts will be around January and until then, I will be working hard on improving and getting better. This is what I have worked for my entire time of playing baseball, from T-Ball to high school baseball. If I were to achieve this goal it would be a dream come true, it would be as if I won the lottery. I continued to play baseball throughout the fall as well as work out and train in order to make sure I was in my best shape for the tryouts. The weeks were long and tiring leading up to the tryouts but I knew it would all be worth it in the end and so I pushed on. The next thing I knew the tryouts were only a week away and I was getting nervous. Thankfully my family was there for me and supported me throughout that long week leading up to the tryouts.

Finally the day came, I went to the field right after school and there were so many other kids out there also trying out. It was as if the entire school was trying out. I pushed all that aside and tried my best, the tryout was a couple of hours long and in the end I thought that I performed very well, and I went home and told my parents of how I did. Now we had to wait for the results. Those were some of the longest days of my life, waiting for the coach to call and let me know if I had made the team. All the anticipation was killing me until finally we got the call. My mother answered the phone and talked for a short period of time before she suddenly got a sad look on her face. Then she turned and told me that I didn't make the team. I was shocked, stunned even, but most of all I was devastated knowing that I could not do what I love most. All of this hit me like a punch to the gut. I ran to my room and just sat down, not saying a word for a couple hours. My dad eventually came up to my room and talked with me, little did I know that this talk would change my life forever. He helped me realize how far I had come and to not give up now, he was there for me and was a big reason why I continued playing baseball. Both my parents helped me find another team to play on for the year and helped me get better for the tryouts next year.

The team I played for was Power baseball, and they significantly helped me improve and become a better baseball player. Throughout that year I persevered and didn't let getting cut have an impact on me, I improved my skills and worked harder in order to make the team next year. My parents also signed me up for lessons at a baseball facility called D-Bat, that helped me improve in multiple ways, especially with my pitching. I learned so much from the instructors there and they immensely prepared me for the next tryouts. The Stratford High school tryouts were at the same time as last years and they were only a couple of days away. I continued to work hard and prepare myself for these upcoming tryouts, I would not just give up. When the tryouts finally came, I went out to the Stratford baseball field right after school ended and there were just as many kids out there as last time. I did not let this affect me and I focused on myself, not anyone else because now I knew that I control what happens not someone else. I performed extremely well throughout the tryouts and I was proud of myself, I then went home and talked with my parents about what happened and they were proud of me as well.

The next couple of days were agonizingly long as the coaches decided who all made the team. When the call finally came my mom answered the phone and this time she smiled from ear to ear. She said I made the baseball team and I was so excited. It felt as if this enormous weight had been lifted from my shoulders because now I have finally made the team. My family congratulated me on all of my hard work and that night we all went out for a celebratory dinner at the Taste of Texas. During the next couple of days I saw how this experience has helped me learn so much, such as how I can't let someone decide what I can and cannot do. I can't let someone else decide my fate for me, I decide my own fate. Also, how you have to work hard to achieve your goals, you don't get them by doing nothing. It takes hard work and dedication to accomplish them and I know that now.

This entire experience has changed my perspective on high school tryouts and my personal work ethic, it is not the end of the world if you don't make your high school baseball team. There is always next year and if you truly love the game then there are countless other teams that you can play for, don't let the coaches decide if you keep playing or not. You make that decision for yourself. Then the way that I persevered and didn't give up on my goal of playing baseball taught me a lot about myself, how I am not a quitter and if I set my mind to something then I will make sure I complete it. It also helped me discover an important principle to live by and that is to work hard for something that you want, you will not achieve anything without hard work.

This experience really helped me see these things and I will carry these life lessons with me forever. Even though this experience was one of the most difficult for me, I am extremely thankful for it because through the various lessons that I learned from it they will all better prepare me for the future and any other difficult situations that I might face. After I finally made the Stratford baseball team and looked back on how I was able to do it I realized then that my parents provided me with so much and helped me in countless ways, I was extremely grateful for all of their support throughout this difficult time in my life. Without them I would not be where I am today, playing baseball for Schreiner University.