In the movie The Rookie, directed by John Lee Hancock, the director tells a story about a high school baseball coach from Texas named Jimmy Morris. Morris’s dream throughout his life was to make it to the big leagues and play with the very best in the game. He faced multiple challenges that tried to hold him back from his dream. One of the challenges he faced was his dad, his father disapproved of him playing baseball and didn’t support him playing at a young age. Another big challenge was the town Morris’s family moved to, they didn’t care for baseball and there was nowhere to play. In the end, an injury ended his career and he knew it was time to give it up. Eventually, Morris got married and had three children,…
When I was in eighth grade one of my childhood dreams came true. I made the little league all-star team for the first time in my life. As I sat with the rest of the kids at the closing ceremonies of the regular season, I was not at all expecting my name to be called when the names of the select few players who made the all-star team were being announced. When they did call my name, I hesitated at first not knowing what to do. I was overcome by the awe of making the team. One of my friends told me to go up to the trophy stand where the coach of the all-star team was standing and accept my jersey, so I did. It took a while for it to really sink in that I had made the team, but when it did I was extremely delighted.…
awards. I was captain of the baseball team in my junior and senior year and was…
The essay “Still Learning from My Mother,” by Cliff Schneider is a personal tribute to his seventy-nine-year old mother. In the essay Schneider shares his fondest memory as a young boy growing up in the 1950’s. During this time it was common for a young boy to “have a catch” with his father. This was a time to toss around the baseball and to talk about life. Schneider shared he had many catches with his father, but his most memorable were with his mother. Schneider’s mother was a fierce competitor. She loved the opportunity to grab a glove and fire a fast one at him. Schneider’s mother was a female jock ahead of her time. She lettered in field hockey and basketball while attending Hofstra University in the 1930’s. This was a time when it was not fashionable for women to chase after a ball and get sweaty.…
Growing up with a dad who was All-State for Basketball, and a Grandfather who played Division I basketball; I was always expected to be good at ball. I was always decent but never quite lived to expectations. When I turned 12 years old, I was diagnosed with Type 3 scoliosis, which limited not only my quickness but my ability to twist and run normally. The basketball dynasty was coming to an end as I had lost a lot of athleticism. I was always on the middle team, not very good, not very bad, but I always tried new moves; which made me hard to guard. I finally quit all sports because my back couldn’t handle the stress, and I wasn’t prepared to go into surgery. One day as I was watching…
Long before Martin Luther KIng’s “I have a dream” and the bus standing from Rosa Parks there came a man, baseball player, and great enthusiast, Jackie Robinson. I was born on January 31st, 1919. My older brother, Matthew, participated in track, and I wanted to be like my brother. When I was younger people were constantly being rude to me, but I tried to push through it. I became a basketball player, football player, baseball player, and I was also involved in track when I was in high school. I graduated from high school in 1937. When I started playing professional baseball I played in the negro leagues for the Kansas City, Monarchs. I was later signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.…
I’ve played softball since I was five years old, when I had to have two knee surgeries in less than a year it was very devastating.…
plate problems while trying to learn breaking pitches while a sixteen-year-old with similar symptoms may have a torn ulnar collateral ligament. A twelfth-grader will say “This is my senior year and I really want to play” while a sophomore or junior will usually say “I want this fixed now so that I can be ready for my senior year.” Similarly, college players worry about eligibility and “red-shirting”. Professional pitchers are worried about their careers and remaining competitive.…
Baseball comes to mind first because I have been playing baseball all my life. The road here started my senior year when spring baseball was picking up. I was somewhat of a talented athlete that was looking to play at the next level. I took the first step by contacting, Coach Knight of the baseball team. After coming into contact with him, he started to recruit me and my best friend name to come play here at Ecclesia College (EC). After the recruiting process was over Coach Knight…
Athletics has been an integral component of my entire life. While never being the most athletic or skilled, baseball was my passion growing up. The sport served as a garden for me to grow as a person, learn invaluable lessons, and gain friendships that will last a lifetime. After years of playing year-round, I was blessed to have the option of playing at a couple Small Division II schools or pursue a more academically rigorous degree at UVa. Ultimately, I chose the latter and it has been at the University of Virginia where CrossFit transformed from a supplementary regimen to my passion.…
When I was 12 years old, I tried-out and was selected from over 300 kids ages 11-13; to play on the Junior Naval Academy baseball team from Annapolis Maryland. I played with this team for two seasons and have told friends and family many stories from my memories about this time.…
I’ve been an athlete for 15 years and primarily a baseball player. I’ve had incredible opportunities to participate in athletics beyond being a player. I’ve coached youth sports, umpired little league baseball, facilitated youth baseball clinics; volunteered with youth groups, camp counselor supervisor, and mentoring young children.…
I stand and walk over to the left side of my room to look in the mirror on my wall. I run my fingers through my hair and try to think of a new hairstyle to please my father but multiple shiny gold trophies catch my attention. They bring back memories of everyone at Brookwood High cheering “Francisco, Francisco, Francisco,” every time I walked onto the field, but that’s all over now. Ever since my ‘father’ told coach to not let me play. My main priority is to just get into an Ivy League college and get as far away from my father as possible.…
Being cut from a team can also have a negative outcome in the long term. Being cut can make people feel like they are not good enough and some people carry this memory with them all their life. Greene says in his writing “…I have found that an inordinately large proportion of successful men share that same memory - the memory of being cut from a sports team as a boy” (Greene 86). All of the people Greene has interviewed also carry this memory with them throughout their life. For example, Dan Rather talks about how his school was small and did not have a cut list. Even though he was on the team the coach never put him in to play no matter how hard he tried. He always hoped that he would be put in and one day it finally happened. His coach finally put him in but it was already the final game, last inning, two outs and there were already two strikes. Dan Rather talks about how humiliating that was for him and even though that was forty years ago the memory is still…
My dad has always played a major impact on my career in basketball. He has not only been a supporting parent, but a coach…