I wrote this when I was thinking about my school team. It is not my best piece of writing, but I hope that this chapter is something that everyone on a team sport team is able to relate to it. There will probably be another chapter, and the rating may or may not go up.
I am fifteen years old. I am burdened with the insecurities of my friends, and I struggle to keep my priorities straight. Like many other high school students, I am under a lot of pressure. Sometimes I worry too much about things. Sometimes I don't worry enough. I don't have the best relationship with my mom, and my relationship with my dad is getting worse. There are many things I want to do, but just don't have the time for. I don't have any part of my future figured out, and because of this, I get nervous sometimes. But when I step onto the field, all of this disappears.
We are a team. We work together, we win together, we lose together. Everything is together. It's never she made an error, it's we made an error. It's never she needs improvement, it's we need improvement. It's never she was great, it's we were great. We are a team. There is no I, no she, only we and us.
We work hard in the off season. We have morning and afternoon workouts where we lift weights, run, do abs workouts, agilities, plus any shape or form of torture that the coaches can think of. We are expected to play on summer and fall ball teams in the off season so that we can be prepared for the school season. We also workout in the weight room over winter break, and I think that this is partially because it is said that people gain around five pounds in the holiday season. Coach wants us to be in shape, and we want to be in shape, too.
When the season comes, all your hard work, practicing, playing, learning, lifting weights, hitting, throwing, team bonding, everything that you have done so far all pays off. And the season is only the beginning. We are finally able to throw and have a full practice without it being illegal. We finally get to work together and function together on the field as a team. We learn as much as, if not more than, in the season than in the off season.
Your teammates are always going to be there for you, on and off the field. They pick you back up when you're down, they encourage you, they challenge you, they push you. They help you, whether it's with making a play or with that homework that you didn't know how to do the previous night.
We are not a club. There is a difference in a club and a team. We are like a family. We have to trust each other. A team does not gossip, put down, or spread rumors about each other. The people on the team are like your sisters. They will make you mad, they will drive you insane, but you love them anyway.
Our coaches are not just the people in charge. They are part of the team, part of the family. We can always talk to our coaches about just about anything, whether it be something that your struggling with, or merely something funny that happened over the weekend.
Our coaches push us in workouts, both physically and mentally. They are smart, and know that a lot of the game is mental. They try to incorporate exercises that challenge us physically and mentally at the same time. They also acknowledge the importance of functioning well together as a team. This is why sometimes we will have team bonding exercises. Whether they be playing tackle football with no equipment where we almost get concussions, doing a scavenger hunt where the teams that we are divided up into end up all working together to avoid running gasers, or playing some random game that Coachie (our head coach) made up, they are always fun and a nice break from regular workouts.
School ball isn't the only place that you have a team family. Any team that you are on will bond together to function on and off of the field as a team.
We have fun together. We go places together. We have certain things that we do before games. On a game day, we come up to our indoor facility after school, turn the television on the music video channel, turn up the volume, and dance and have fun to the music. After a while of this, we go to the parking lot and drive to Subway to get food. The non-drivers hitch rides from the upper classmen. On days where baseball also has a game, we race to the cars so that we can get to Subway before they do. If someone doesn't have money, then another person on the team is kind and buys them something.
On the field, we pick each other back up and encourage each other. We stay focused, and cheer for our teammates. Our games are never silent. I can remember that one time, we were losing badly to our rival team, and we were all growing angry at ourselves. Our catcher called time, and we met on the pitcher's mound. She smiled and pointed behind us at a rainbow. That one, simple gesture raised everyone's spirits a little.
We are fighters. We are competitive. We will not go down without a fight. We are strong, spirited athletes. We are also Christian, and we pray before every game. We show good sportsmanship. We love each other. We love our coaches. We love what we do.
We are the softball team.