how baseball changed my life

When I was young my father taught me the game of baseball. I grew up liking the game, but thanks to a coach in high school, I now love everything about it, from catching a pop up to how the dirt crunches beneath my cleats. My attitude, respect, and overall skill for baseball arose while I was in high school. I am eighteen years old and have been playing baseball all of my life. I always was a starter in recreation league, and middle school. I never felt I needed to try too hard because I honestly did not respect the game of baseball. So coming up through the different leagues, I just played hard enough to enjoy the game. I used to not care if we won or lost, or if I got better or worse. I was only concerned with one thing: me being happy. Soon, I finished eighth grade and went to play high school baseball, a league very different from all the recreation leagues. I made the junior varsity team, which was not hard to do at all. At the junior varsity level I kept to my old habits of not working hard. For two years I played junior varsity with the same talent I had in middle school, not bettering myself in any way. At the beginning of my eleventh grade year, my whole outlook on baseball changed, I felt baseball was now my career. My varsity baseball coach, Bob Polewski, was also my first period physical education teacher. Coach emphasized to me that it was going to be extremely hard to make the baseball team. When I asked him what he meant, he told me that I was not dedicated enough to play the game of baseball. Coach told me that if I wanted a spot on the Varsity team, then I would have to work harder than I ever had before. He told me very bluntly that I was not a second baseman, however second base was the only position I had ever played. I was not comfortable playing any other position. Coach told me that the only open position was third base. In baseball a third baseman is often a power hitter and often leads the team in numbers. I decided to dedicate myself and learn to play third base, because I now wanted to make the team immensely. I was going to make the team. To become stronger, both mentally and physically, I acquired a membership at the gym, working very vigorously. In the off season, I not only ran cross country to stay in shape, but I also joined the swim team. On the weekends, I played baseball for a tournament team, playing only third base. I worked my butt off because I was determined to make the varsity team. At them age of sixteen in the eleventh grade, I realized that Coach Polewski had changed my outlook on baseball drastically. I was no longer a person who had lack of respect for the game and only cared about my enjoyment. I became a person who desired to make the varsity team, helping them to win a championship. Mentally and physically right before baseball season, I was at twice as strong as I was the previous year. As a junior, I became much more confident in my defensive and offensive skills on the baseball diamond. My heart was now focused on the game, my mind was determined that I was going to play, and my body was in the best shape of my life. I was ready for tryouts even though I had already been told that there was no place for me on the varsity baseball team. Finally tryouts rolled around and I was ready for them. I was trying out for the third base position and tryouts lasted for two weeks. After two weeks I found out that I made the team and I was extremely happy. Unfortunately, when the games started, I did not start at third base. Instead, I started as the designated hitter every game. While it was the worst season of my life, it was also the best season of my life. Our team had a record of 22-6 and we advanced to the state playoffs. That year taught me many things that made me a much stronger person. At the end of the year, Coach Polewski said he was proud of me for stepping up and putting all my potential forward, however I would have to work in the off season getting better if I were to start at third base my senior year. During my summer break, I continued to play baseball and strive to achieve my over all goal; playing third base. So I continued my off-season training, going to the gym, and running cross country and swimming. When my senior year for baseball came around, I was once again stronger, better, and ready to play. Tryouts for the team were in February and I made the team again. When the games started, I was the starting third baseman, hitting in the clean-up spot. The first game of the season I hit my first varsity home-run. Soon after that I hit another home-run. After only six games I had hit two home-runs and had a four hundred and forty batting average. I was leading the team in both categories. Unfortunately in the seventh game of my senior year against Greenbrier High School, I broke my ankle. What I had worked so hard to achieve was taken away from me so suddenly, all because of an injury. I was devastated. Everything I did over the past two years was in preparation for that season. Suddenly, it seemed all my work was for nothing, and now meant nothing. However, I soon realized that Coach Polewski taught me to love the game of baseball. I realized that I was not ready to give it up, I wanted to continue playing. Soon afterward, I graduated high school and my ankle finally healed. I had already had my mind set on baseball. So, in my search for a good college, I was also looking for a school with a good baseball program, which is why I chose ABAC.

My Week

This past week has been a pretty good week for me. Starting on Sunday I did not have to work so I went down to Valdosta and spent the day with my girlfriend. Monday I went to all my classes for the first time in a while. I found out that I can only miss one more day in my badminton class but my weightlifting coach said that I only have two absences when I know for sure I have missed over five days. At five 0' clock on Monday we had a bowling match because me and my buddies are in a league. We were in fifth place playing the first place team. The team we were playing had two great bowlers who bowled a 254 and a 264 last week. My high score was a 213 so I thought that team might kill us. However we one two out of the three games we bowled against them and went six and two against them. The team that was tied with them in first place went zero and eight losing all of their games. So I was pretty excited about that whole thing. We played poker Monday night but I lost pretty early anyhow that was o.k because it was pretty fun. Then Tuesday was just a normal day it was pretty good but nothing special. On Wednesday my classes went by good my computer teacher let me turn in some of my work late. At five o' clock we went bowling again and we played against a sorry team but their handicap was so high they one two of the games so we split with them going four for four. Which was not exactly to bad. Thursday we had a scrimmage softball game against a team with a lot of the guys we play poker with. We only got to play for an hour and we lost but it was good for me because my hitting an fielding both came around and I did good in the game. I had to work at six and that was not bad at all because we was not busy at all. After work we played poker at work and I won ten dollars. Saturday night I rode out to my buddies house who was having a party me and my roomate shot pool all night and watched everybody else get drunk. Friday rolled around and I slept in missing all my classes. When I woke up me and my roomate went to my buddies house and played pool and threw darts. I went to work around five it was kind of a long night because we were so busy but it was not to bad because I kept telling myself that this would be my last friday at work. We made seven dollars in tips which was pretty good for our normal earnings. I went home ate and played some poker with my roomates. Now I just Woke up on Saturday it is a little after three and I am going to work at five it will be my last day.

Poker

When I came down to school at ABAC I was always bored and had nothing to do. Then a couple of my buddies called me up one day and asked me if I wanted to play some poker, I love playing cards so I said sure, why not? I went to the guys house expecting to play some five card draw or something but they told me we were going to be playing some Texas Hold 'Em. I had only heard of the game on telivision and stuff so was kind of unsure as to what to expect. When I figured out how the game went I was ready to play. It only took me a couple of hands to figure out exactly how to play. I already knew how to play poker just not Texas Hold 'Em. So I knew how to bet and all that good stuff. Any how when we started they told me that it was going to cost ten dollars to buy in and there was twenty-one people. So needless to say I was a little intimidated by my competition. Well after we began to play I caught on to other peoples style pretty quick and after about an hour I was chip leader at my table, we had three tables. After a couple people went out we combined and made two tables we played like this for a long time until there was only ten people left. When it came down to the final ten we all combined into one table. Coming into the final table there was about seven people ahead of me who had a bigger chip count. However after about five hands I tripled my stack and put somebody else out. I was pretty excited by now. After about another hour we were down to only four people and I was in the final four. I was in second place with my chip stack but I quickly put somebody else out to move into first. Not long after that I put another dude out to make it one on one with only me and another guy left. We only played for about another ten minutes and I won my first real college poker game. I left the guys house with a hundred and thirty dollars, when I walked in with only ten. Now alot of times when I dont have nothing to do we round up some friends and play a poker game. We still play the big game every Monday night but through the week we play little games. Every Wednesday night we play a twenty dollar game at my work with about seven people. I have won alot of money playing poker and I have lost alot of money playing poker but I enjoy it. As long as I continue to enjoy the game I am going to continue playing because it is something to do at ABAC when there is nothing else to do.

Too Fast

At the beginning of last month my girlfriend got sick and I had to take her to Tift Regional. She had to stay there for three days and got released on a Saturday at two o'clock. When she was released I called my parents and they told me we should come home and visit my cousin. My cousin was in town from Japan so I wanted to see her, however I did not want to drive for four hours and have to leave the following day. My parents talked me into coming home so we packed our dirty cloths and me and my girlfrioend headed to the house around three thirty. My girlfriend was still sick so I had to drive the whole way, which is something that I hate doing. For the first couple of hours during the trip it was daylight and there were vehicles on the road. However after I went through Dublin it got dark and I was on a back road with no vehicles around, so I decided I was going to speed up and get home a little faster. So we were in Johnson County and I was cruizing about ninety miles per hour in my girlfriends little Neon. I was good until I went over a hill and started going down it, when I reached the bottom of the hill and started to go up the next one I seen him sitting on the side of the road. A Johnson County officer was sitting on the side of the road and quickly flipped his lights on. When I pulled over the young officer walked to the window and told me he clocked me in at ninety-four. I quickly asked him if he was going to gine me a ticket and of course the man said yes. Then I asked him if he was going to say that I was going ninety-four in a fifty-five and of course he said yes. I appologized repeatedly and asked him if he could please reduce it but he still told me no. Then he said I was lucky he was not taking my license and taking me to jail. Then he told me he was going back to the car to write my ticket, he was taking forever and I could not figure out what he was doing. Then after over twenty minutes he came back to the window and asked me if I could walk back to his car with him. When I got back there he showed me that he was giving me three tickets. He was giving me a speeding ticket, a reckless driving ticket, and a too fast for conditions ticket. He told me to sign all three and my court date was January tenth 2007. So I took the tickets and was on my way home again. When I got the chance I called the courthouse and got a continuance until February fourteenth 2007. Then I asked how much the tickets were going to cost and they told me 800 for the speeding ticket, 300 for the reckless driving ticket and 173 for the too fast for conditions ticket. Now I work at Tokyo five days a week as a bus boy trying to raise up 1400 dollars to pay off my tickets, all because I was going TOO FAST.

Baseball

I started playing baseball in 1994 for the Musketeers. I was born in 1988, so I have been playing for thirteen years, and since I was six years old. I must say that playing baseball is the thing I have enjoyed most in my life. I came down to ABAC to play baseball for the stallions, but unfortuinately things didnt go so well. In my senior year of high school, I broke my ankle and could not play for the rest of the season. My senior year was the best season I had in high school. Unfortunately I only played six games and in the seventh game against one of our rivals, Greenbrier, I broke my ankle going back on a pop-fly at third base. In the first six games of that season I batted for a four-hundred batting average. I had two home-runs, doubling my amount in previous years. I was so excited about what the future had in store for me and potentially getting a scholarship to a junior college. Then against Greenbrier I went down in the blink of an eye. I felt like all my hopes and dreams had been shattered, and after tryouts at ABAC I still feel like I may never play baseball again. This is the one thing that scares me the most in life. I know that I should not let something like this get me down in life but I have always dreamed of playing college ball. When I came down to ABAC I thought that I would make the baseball team because I know my talent level and I knew how well the Stallions baseball team was. Unfortunately I did not make the baseball team, however after tryouts were over I knew my name was not going to be on the list of players that made the baseball team. I was not physically ready to play college baseball. I did not go through physical therapy after breaking my ankle. It had only been two and a half months since the doctor said I could walk freely on my ankle again. I felt that I would be just as good in baseball as I was before I got hurt. Boy was I wrong, don't get me wrong I did try to prepare myself for the upcoming college season but I had no idea what was in store for me. I have a couple of years hopefully to spend at ABAC and maybe I can make the team in that time. I personally believe that I have the talent to make the team I just hope that coach sees what I see in myself next season when I try out for the ABAC Stallions baseball team. If I don't make the team next year I will continue trying until I finish school or until I make the team, which ever comes first. Baseball is my lifetime dream and I hope that I will become a college baseball player and it is everything that I had always hoped it would be.