Personal Narrative: Softball

Words: 499
Pages: 2

Before I started softball, I was a lesser person than I am today. Softball has transformed me from an uncoordinated, shy girl into an athletic, outgoing, and well rounded individual. Prior to starting softball in the seventh grade, I participated in little other than school and reading, which contributed to my internalized and self-contained personality. Softball has taught me valuable lessons about perseverance, failure, and responsibility I’m not sure I would have learned from academia alone. Softball has played an integral role in the person I am today. I picked up a glove for the first time when I was 12, without an ounce of athletic talent in my body. I felt as if every person on the team was better than me. I wistfully wondered if I’d ever catch up to them. Full of doubt, I went to my dad. My dad had been an incredible softball player in his youth, surely he knew some secret to success. My dad shared some advice with me that rings true to this day. “You get out of it what you put in”. He explained I could be as athletic as I wanted to be, if I was willing to work hard. From then on, I worked out at the field every Sunday with my dad. I put all my effort into every after school practice whereas my teammates messed around. This extra effort instilled a mental and physical …show more content…
Until the start of my softball career, I hadn’t been exposed to failure. I was a 4.0 student with a type A personality. I wouldn’t let failure apply to me. However, softball is an imperfect sport: even when you strikeout seven times out of ten, you’re still considered fantastic (Thanks for that advice, Dad!) Occasionally, you lose that clutch fly ball in the sun. You strikeout with runners on. Softball taught me that a successful person does not let their previous mistake cause another. Failure is inexorable. How you respond to failure determines your