Many athletes say “Fear is often just an illusion”. However, every professional athlete has been fearful at least once in their life, and that is the time they first thought to themselves they were going to chase down their dreams. Many athletes refuse to give in to fear, including myself, but that feeling is similar when many think to themselves, “what if I give my all and put everything into this and fail?”
As a young child, sports, family, and my faith were always a large part of my life and this has formed who I am today. At the age of 3, I enjoyed playing all sports, especially because I was a natural born athlete. However, my main focus was on baseball, soccer, and basketball. I would pursue these as my life went on. Through sports and life events I developed an insane work ethic and mindset which took me to another level. I had to believe that the work I would put in was going to get me to where I wanted to go.
I feel a pivotal moment in my life was when I was about 5 years old during a little league game when I played on a team called the Reds. I remember coming up to bat with two outs in the last inning, we were down by 3 with 3 runners on base. All I wanted was another at bat so I could give my team a chance to win, and when I got one, I was calm and had some fun. I knew in my head I would handle business and so I did. The pitcher threw me a fastball and I hit it down the right field line which one-hopped the fence, and because I was fast all of the runners including myself scored. I walked the game off for us and the feeling sank in after my team had dog-piled me at home plate. This moment really showed me the type of player I was and the player I would turn out to be, it gave me a deeper confidence, and pushed me to make sure I will be the best.
All sports prepare you for life, but baseball does it the most for me because baseball is a game of failure. Many coaches and players say that this game will keep you humble because a lot of players will fail seven out of ten times but if you can do that a majority of your career, you’ll be really good. The game teaches you how to handle failure and overcome adversity. Baseball has never left my life and it has become my main focus going into college. As a young kid, I had dreams and goals that I wanted to reach. I have always had a plan of what and who I wanted to be and that vision hasn’t changed. Almost everybody seeks success, but many won’t do what it takes to achieve it. On the way to success and chasing down my vision, life has thrown a lot at me, but I continue to persevere because I know that means I’m close and on the right path. I know I have to be different and keep going. I have to fully trust and love the process, and believe in myself because not many will. In life I have always been an underdog and had a chip on my shoulder and because of this it has allowed me to outplay and outwork others. This chip on my shoulder has developed over time and a large factor is because of how many people said I can’t do it. Odds have always been against me but it only pushes me to work harder and prove myself right. It has deepened my belief in myself.
At the end of my life, I want to look back with no regrets. I don’t want to say I wish I worked harder or I wish I did something different. We all ultimately only have one life on this earth, but yet many waste time that cannot be replaced. I make sure that no matter what, I make the most of my time and everything I do brings me closer to my goals and to who I want to become. I make sure everything I do is beneficial to my future plans. An example being a day in my life where I wake up at 4am and have a pre workout snack, hit the gym for a couple hours, go to school, baseball afterschool for 3-5 hours and some days would include private lessons late at night, along with any homework I would need to do. If this doesn’t show you enough of my commitment I have sent over 600 emails of baseball videos of myself showing interest to over 130 colleges. I have also sent out 5 different emails including video and showing interest to 4 to 5 different coaches from each school at 130 different schools. Not only did I reach out through email, but I also called 3 different coaches from every single college. Everything I do is shaping me to become the best I can be, the world is practically my library in the sense I get to choose what to apply into my life and it helps me to become the best at my craft. I know what I am looking for so I don’t bother wasting my time on things that won’t get me to where I want to be.
A motto I like is “outwork everyone” because if you truly outwork your own potential and others, then only good will come out of it. There are people out in the world who are chasing my same dream and are trying to work harder than me but I won’t let that happen and neither should you.