If anybody knows me, or has heard of me, the number one thing they know about me is that I play softball. It is a pretty prominent aspect of my life. Winter practices and workouts have just started for my competitive team so my main focus has swayed from Christmas lists to softball practices. To be honest, I am counting it a small victory that I have been able to write about so many other things besides softball for my columns until now.

I have a picture of me running around my house when I was two with my sister’s softball visor and a softball glove on my hand. I have another picture of when I was five in my front yard trying to hit a ball on a tee that is taller than me with a bat that is most likely heavier than me. My first pair of cleats were Dragon Tales themed.

   I did tee ball the first year I was old enough to participate and have been playing every summer of my life since then. I started playing “competitively” when I was 11 and have been on the same team since then. Considering this is my senior year, this upcoming summer will be the last summer of my life playing in the same uniform that I have played in since sixth grade. In these seven seasons, I have had the pleasure of playing with phenomenal athletes, meeting my best friends and having coaches who tested my limits to the extreme. Anyone who is an athlete can relate when I say that this sport has had the biggest impact on making me the person I am today.

   A main theme for me as a senior is recognizing the closing of a chapter. My last first day of school, my last Homecoming and eventually my last day of high school. While this all is an inevitable truth, sometimes as a senior I fail to remember that this time in my life also indicates a new beginning, and new opportunities for some “firsts”. Luckily, I have at least another four years of playing left in me. Softball is providing me a ticket to get a college education. One day I will experience my first college class, my first college practice and eventually my first college softball game. If you ask me, that is going to be a pretty significant difference from hitting a ball off a tee for the first time .