Essay On Slammmers

After walking onto the field at seven years old, I found my passion, my strength, and my world. Softball has been in my life for the past ten years, and I intend to play in college if I’m given the opportunity, nevertheless, I am going to fight to play. Playing softball has changed my life; I do not know where I would be without it. It has given me the best experiences in life, and I have made long term friends while playing. I hit my first homerun at 12 years old, and have been a power hitter ever since.

I was dropped off the travel baseball team? “How could this be” I asked my dad, he replied “I don’t know Josh you didn’t put that much effort into your last game and you don’t try in practice”. The travel baseball team is the most prestigious youth baseball team when I found out I had been dropped I was heartbroken I wanted to crawl into a hole and cry. My dad tried to talk me into trying to try out for different team I just turned around and didn’t say a word. I ran outside, grabbed my baseball glove and threw it in the pool I never wanted to see a baseball glove or bat again.

When I was nine years old, I was offered the opportunity of a lifetime - or rather, the biggest opportunity a nine year old could be offered. After three years of playing little league, and one year of All-Stars, I was contacted and informed of a new travel ball organization starting up – the Portage Bulldawgs. I was shocked. Travel ball was the epitome of organized baseball up until the high school level. When my dad told me the Dawgs (that's what we referred to the team as) wanted me to try out, I was so ecstatic that I could barely finish eating my dinner.

Over my life I have had the opportunity to travel around the state to play baseball from twelve years old all-stars, making it to the Cal Ripken World Series, to playing in Arizona with my high school team. Our team has had a great deal of success throughout my high school career winning the state championship, getting second in state, a semifinal appearance, and

We all have that one kid in our class who thinks they are the best. That is Slam in the book Slam by Walter Dean Myers. Slam moved to a new school where he thought he had more basketball skills than everyone else on the team. The only thing he cared about in life was basketball, but in this book that changed. Slam, the main character in the book, grew as a person, found another hobby besides basketball that was interesting to him, and was mentored by Mr. Goldy.

The tryouts went by quick. I wasn’t on my game and to be legitimate, I didn’t train at all to prepare for the upcoming season. I was all talk and didn’t do what I said I would do to be ready. In account of my lack of determination and exertion, it came to show at the tryout. I didn’t do as well as I presumed I would. Soon enough, I got an email a few days later from my coach telling

Description: Physically I have always been built very muscular my Dad is also. At a very young age I was considered to be a wanted commodity in any sports program. I was recruited to play football, baseball, even basketball by little league programs in my community before I even knew the rules of the game. Along with the assumption I would be good at sports came the assumption I would never excel in school that my future would be determined by my success on a field of some kind. I did excel in sports and played them all but was only mediocre at best in basketball.

It was the place to put the worst player. In a way resembling the “Bad News Bears” movie, I overcame my poor batting skills. Sometime near the end of the season, I would lean into the strike zone and be hit by the ball getting an automatic trip to first base. I discovered pain could be used to gain praise. At one game where I had been hit twice, the pitcher deliberately walked me. We ranked third in the standing, as the two better-ranked teams had abandoned the championships to play in a state series. We played our best games in our series and won the title. Because of the two walkouts, my first victory as a kid was by

I became so much better than I was the year before that I was able to join the team at districts that year. I may still had have my sister's hammy downs, but I was more confident and more skilled in the game. Each year I got better with more experience, and became higher on the list of players on the team. Sadly after a couple of tournaments during the golf season junior year, I severely injured my wrist. I pulled a tendon, had a gap between my growth plates, and lost blood flow to a bone just in one wrist. I was out of the game for six months with tons of physical therapy, but what my failure from seventh grade had taught me was not to give up. During the time of my injury I helped the team by coaching them during practice and being a cheerleader. I may not have been able to play, but at least I was there for the team and gained some more knowledge of the sport from watching. Right after my injury was healed I went right back to practice. I know have arthritis in my wrist and there are days that I can not practice because it hurts, but I pushed through it. The whole year was hard on me but I was able to make the team again. This year I am no longer in the top five of the team, but I am still able to play and help the team

As I put off opportunities to improve my skills, and my character, the toll only became harsher and more difficult to overcome. In turn, my status among the other athletes began to deteriorate. Witnessing my peers expedite their game as I still struggled did not phase me so much at the time. In fact, I was sure that my role on the team would remain the same. This was obviously false, as within the matter of weeks I was pushed back further in the batting lineup, and committing more errors in the field than ever before. It was during our playoff run that I had realized the resulting detriment, when each player was counted on more than ever before. We ended up making it to the championship, only being one run short of winning. Although our team was able to accomplish that much, I felt short handed when it came to the successful

The first day of tryouts came around and I woke up that morning shaking with excitment and shear nervousness. I ate my bagel and chocolate milk, (a pregame ritual of mine) laced up my cleats, and was on my way. The second I got to the field I knew I was in for a long day. Most of the guys were double my size and looked like they were professionals. After a few days of the long, hard, and grueling tryout process the coaches posted the team on their website. When I saw my name wasn't on the list I felt spiteful, angry, even a little ashamed with myself. I knew I deserved a spot on that team and I was determined to claim it.

I started on the high school football team and didn’t do too bad. I ended up getting all district defensive back which was good to have. I also started on the high school basketball team. This was a pretty good year we didn’t do to bad but got beat out in regionals. It was one of the most painful times of my life because it meant a lot to me and the team. I couldn’t believe it happened. We worked so hard. A good thing about it is that I improved and did better that year. I also tried a crazy thing which was to play baseball. I have never played baseball in my life nor did I like it. I went ahead and tried it out anyways. I enjoyed it but I was not good at it. I couldn’t seem to find the ball in the outfield. I was a decent pitcher and batter though. The best part about baseball was the bus ride I enjoyed them a

I set my goals for the year and tried my hardest to stick to it. Not to mention, I did exceptional in my previous season in baseball. I was named the Jv batting champ and was all league. I was a little disappointed in myself though because i did not perform as well during the summer. I got a few hits and there but i wasn't satisfied at all because I know competition is always around. It can get stressful at times because then all you start to think about is who is going to take over your spot and who's going to overcome you. I tried to ignore that feeling but it kept getting back to me. In addition, try outs were the second week of school so i knew i had to step up my game. After tryouts, i thought i did really good. I Only miss through about 2 throws and I was throwing harder than I ever had. It was until the next day, my point of view towards this whole program

“Slam” by Hornby is an inspirational novel that influences many individuals. The majority of citizens have all witnesses similar conflicts like parents are not getting along, problems with parents-in-law and girlfriend problems. “Slam” is relatable to most people as we all human beings faced young teen problems. In the “Slam”, Sam Jones faces parent problems and transitioning out of high school, girlfriend problems. Same Jones isn’t good at school and it worries him what to do after school.

Going into my eighth grade year I got a few of my friends together and we lifted almost everyday we also stared working on our plays to get us ready for the season. I did not want to only win two games again. This is when I started to become a hard worker for football. On the very last game of the year I hit someone and put my head down. I compressed a disc in my neck and was rushed to the hospital I thought my Football days were over. After basketball I decided not to play football my freshman year or so I thought. My friend Anthony’s dad came and talked to me one on one. He explained to me that if I didn’t play then I would be letting my team mates down and in the long run my school. I decided to keep playing.