Tanner Lebo
Miss Wiederrich
English 2
13 April 2018
My Struggles on the Diamond
Everyone deals with adversity sometime in their life. The first time I dealt with
it and overcame it was in my first season of high school baseball. I elected not to play baseball in the spring but instead run track. So, when the summer approached, I was excited and ready to get into the legion season and play baseball. This is where my adversity occurred. I have always had trouble presenting myself and showing confidence to the team and coaches who have never seen me before. This season demonstrated this struggle prominently through my inability to make a name for myself and make sure the coaches knew who I was.
My first year of high school baseball was the first time I did not have a set role on the team. Because I was a freshman, I was out on the field with dozens of other kids, with new coaches that had not learned my name. I needed to prove why i deserved to play, and catch the eye of the coaches. I needed to put myself out there, but that was the thing I struggled to accomplish.
I was placed on the Junior Legion team. That was expected, because I was
only being a freshman. I knew I was set to play for that team, so that wasn’t a issue at all. The first tournament we played, I learned how to sit on the bench. I watched my teammates run out onto the field and make error after error. I thought to myself, I can do better than that, why can’t I play?
After the first tournament, I finally was placed in the lineup to play a little
bit, but only in the outfield and pitching. I wasn’t a guaranteed starter and rarely played a whole game. My leadership was lacking, and I was quiet on the field, not saying much. I was disappointed in my season, and questioned how good I even was at baseball. On top of that, I could not hit the ball to save my life. I rarely could hit the ball successfully and barely even reached 1st base. I was struggling to find enjoyment in baseball. Since I never worried about playing time or a role, this season was hard for me to adjust to not playing much.
Around this time I noticed our 3rd base situation. Brighton used to
play there, but moved to first. So, there was an opening there. Our coach tried many people there, but they couldn’t be inconsistent and would always make errors. I thought back to my middle school days, where I played 3rd almost every game. I knew I must assert myself and ask to be moved to 3rd. I asked the coach about this, and although I was nervous, I immediately saw the relief he showed. He told me the next game I was starting there. He explained the need for a leader on the team, and he hoped I would take the role.
I decided to accept the role as a leader, as, I started at 3rd against the
Hickman legion team. I fielded every ground ball my way and was responsible for at least 7 outs. Coach saw how comfortable I was there and complimented me on my efforts. I ended up starting at 3rd for the rest of the year, when I wasn’t pitching. As I found my role in the field, I started to hit the ball better and became the 2 hitter. I felt more comfortable in the batter’s box and became a major part of the team.
This is how I overcame my adversity. I took initiative and asserted myself into
a role on the team. Before I was just there as a player to throw in the lineup occasionally. I became a leader, through my words and actions. I do not think I ever sat on the bench after that. I was either playing at 3rd base or pitching. I started hitting and reaching base consistently. I started to contribute more to the team, especially when it came to districts. My adversity wasn’t like others, because it was temporary and did not affect my whole life. But, it was still hard to deal with when I wasn’t playing the sport I loved. I decided to stick with it and not think negative, giving me an opportunity to overcome and show the coaches why I should be on the field. Through conquering the adversity, I discovered my place on the team, and how to play in that spot to not just better myself, but to better my team.
I learned a lot from this adversity I faced. What you can learn from my
situation is that the only way to conquer adversity is to attack it head on, not being timid, but being confident in in order to overcome it. If you sit back and do nothing, you will never overcome it. You must be assertive and get out of your comfort zone. Also, you must maintain a positive mindset and not be negative. This will enable you to gain the grit needed to conquer the adversity and never give up. I learned this through my lack of playing time. I continued to be positive and asserted myself. Because I asserted myself, I found my place on the team and conquered the adversity. If you are confident and positive, those traits will enable you to conquer the adversity. I’ve learned that I need to be more confident and show this confidence to everyone around me, not being timid. I’ve learned to trust in God through tough situations like the one I was in, because he may present you ways to conquer it. He presented a way to me through the 3rd base situation, and allowed me to overcome the adversity. Trusting in God will keep you positive so you will not be pessimistic, but instead be optimistic so you will stay with it. Through God, You will be able to overcome the adversity.

Author’s Note
I think the writing process went really well for me. It was pretty easy for me to write out my ideas on paper. I think the piece is pretty decent. I think the strengths are the story and description as well as the relation to adversity. The weaknesses I would say is the lack of varying sentence structure and I might’ve been able to use better word choice. I would like the teacher to look at my syntax to see if it was good enough and if it isn’t choppy.. I also want to know if I used commas correctly. Finally, I would like to know if I talked about adversity enough and if I related it to my piece well.

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