I Believe

In one of my English classes we were asked to write about a topic or idea that we believed very strongly in. At first I had no idea what I was going to write about and then I thought of one of my biggest values, working hard. I thought it was a great assignment to get you to think about what you really believe in. Here is something that I believe in with all of my heart.

Hard Work

I believe in hard work. I've come to the point in my athletic career where I have many people watching everything I do, how I practice, the way that I train, and the amount of work that I put in. Many people have questioned why I put in so much extra time?  Or ask why do I work so hard, don't I just want to have fun? My answer is always to achieve my dreams. I have the most fun when I am working my hardest to get better, not when I am goofing around. I may have been blessed with an aptitude for sports but I believe natural talent can only take you so far. One of the major things that makes you who you are your habits. Working hard is one of my habits. It comes into play in every area of my life but is most evident during sports.

When most people generally think of hard work, they think of it as a difficult task that they were able to accomplish.  They are happy to complete the task and be done with it. But working hard is not something you just do once, especially if you have dreams and goals as big as mine. I chose to start working hard to get something that I wanted. Over the countless hours of training it has become who I am, what I pride myself on, and who I want to be.

Being from a small town no one had ever done what I wanted to do, or the way that I wanted to get there. Almost every high school coach will tell you that to make it big you have to go and spend thousands of dollars to play on the premier teams that travel all around the country and practice together almost every day. I played on a few of those teams and they were not for me. I disagree with how they are shaping these athletes as people. Instead I played for the Rochester Royals and it changed my life forever.

As a younger athlete I was also told that playing softball at that level was a good dream to have, but not many people become Division 1 athletes. There are only so many schools and there are hundreds of thousands of softball players in the country. So I set out to prove them wrong.

During my freshman year I started working harder than I ever had before. Early morning batting practice, late night workouts, and daily practices added up to hundreds of hours spent at the Rochester Athletic Club and city softball fields.  All of the blisters, aching muscles, and bruises were well worth it the day I was offered my dream. I am going to attend North Dakota State University and have the opportunity to play softball there. So that means that all the hard work is over right? It is actually the exact opposite. I work harder now than I did even when I was trying to get recruited. I have my chance, now I get to show everyone how good I can be. Working hard is what I do now and how I will continue to work for the rest of my life.

I believe if you are willing to work hard and fully immerse yourself in your goals you can achieve anything. I was told I would never be good enough, yet through hard work I am on my way to achieving my dreams. Do not let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do, you are the only one who can determine that.