Trying something new for you

When I was a kid, I loved baseball. I played for ten seasons. By my count, that’s about 170 games, almost 200 afternoons of crunching on sunflower seeds, sliding hard into third and cheering at the other team’s final out. I did that for about half my life and loved every minute of it. And then one day around Christmas when I was 15, I changed completely.

You have to first know that when I was a little kid I thought I would be a professional player in the big leagues someday. I couldn’t hit very well, but hey, I’d played 10 seasons already, so I had experience, right? I thought I’d just rack up some awesome stats in high school and college and before I knew it I’d be staring at a San Francisco Giants jersey with my name on the back.

That was before December 15, 2005. That day I went to the team meeting for my high school’s baseball team. Only about 20 people there would make the team and the room was packed. And it wasn’t packed with just anyone, it was filled with players who’d been legends in my Little League years. These were guys who were All-Stars every season and I’d never even gotten it once. With a little sadness, I realized that baseball was over for me.

Well, now what?

I was looking for something to do and I had a great math teacher who noticed I was down. I told my dream was over and he told me that if I wanted to stay in shape, I should run with his cross country team. Everyone who ran would make the team, even if they weren’t all-star level. I decided it was worth at least a try.

For the first few days, I was intimidated. I hung near the back and just focused on getting through the runs, panting all the way. Then, one day, I passed a friend I made on the team and stayed ahead for the whole run. It was then that I knew I was hooked. I found something I could be pretty good at just by enjoying it. I knew this was the sport for me and I’ve stayed with it for four years.

Summer is a great time to get out and move, even if your favorite sport isn’t in season. Just try something new and think about the parts of the new sport that make it fun. Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up finding a sport that you grow to love!