Personal Statement
People don’t understand why I give up my summers for softball. But it’s something I love to do and that all thanks to Coach Scott. Without Coach Scott, I wouldn’t be the same person. I wouldn’t have the same edge. I wouldn’t have the same confidence. I wouldn’t have my college paid off. I wouldn’t have the desire to be the best at each and everything I do. My relationship with the game hasn’t always been “hearts and flowers.” The passion I now feel has been a long time coming.
Coach Scott was never easy on us and he always expected our best effort, no matter if it was the last ground ball of a four hour midsummer Sunday afternoon practice or thirty degree winter night game. He knew how good we were and he wouldn’t accept anything other than greatness. Coach Scott always talked about the bull’s-eye us girls carried on our backs. We were that team that everyone wanted to defeat. The target on our backs didn’t just magically show up. Winning six state championships, a national title, and dominating any team that stepped on the field spoke for itself. Nothing came easy with Coach Scott, you mess up you do it again and again until you got it right. He would never let us give up. He drove us to be remarkable softball players and even more outstanding people. He showed us that if we wanted something bad enough to work for it, nothing was out of our reach.
Anytime I had a doubt or a thought of giving up I would think back to Coach Scott and all the things he said to me. Last summer I went through what I thought was the worst three months of my softball career. Finding the strike-zone was like finding a needle in a haystack, nearly impossible. Shutting out teams with total domination is a challenge I face every time I toe the rubber. That challenge got the best of me when normally it was like taking candy from a baby. That girl who other teams despised to face was still inside of me but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t find her. Memories of Coach Scott playing tic-tac-toe to settle me down, fist pumping after a big strike out, and even kicking a bucket or two lead my way to her. Thanks to Coach Scott, I am back to taking candy from a baby.
I knew the only way to pay back Coach Scott for everything he did was to make it to the next level, just like he dreamed each one of us would someday accomplish. College scholarships are far and few between especially athletic ones. Defying the odds, I made Coach Scott’s dream a reality. Northwestern, a division one softball team offered me my chance and I took it. My career as a softball player feels like it is just beginning. I’ll go through my slumps, I’ll be unhittable. Softball is a sport of ups and downs; I just have to stay within myself and keep it simple. As Coach Scott would say just go out there and “Git-R-Done.”
