Okay, I’ve posted this picture before, but this is my softball coach from probably 6th grade until 9th. His name is Brian, and he is really amazing. He was such an inspiration to me as a coach and as a person.
Every day at the beginning of softball practice, he had a quote of the day that we all read aloud. Sometimes it was a bible verse, sometimes it was just an inspirational quote to inspire us to do well, whether it be in softball, or in life. We usually prayed before each game, too.
When we made a mistake, he said, no problem. We’ll learn from it. When we apologized for our oops, he’d say, “No, don’t say you’re sorry. Say ‘I’ll do better next time.”
My final year of softball with him, we went to state playoffs. We won our first game, then the next, and the next. We didn’t lose one game, and won ourselves the state title, and moved on to nationals. We didn’t win anything at nationals, though, even though we played our hearts out on the field.
After the last game, our team was talking about everything that had just transpired. A lot of the girls were bummed out and some were even crying because of the scores. I was trying to lift up their spirits by telling them how far we had come and everything that we had accomplished. One of the mothers had the balls to yell at me for that, and (I’m not lying about this) she said that she was going to talk to my parents about my bad attitude. WHAT?!? So, this sent my 14 or 15 year old hormones a-raging, and I ran and hid in the stadium and bawled my eyes out.
Anyway, Brian was the first person to come and tell me that it was okay, and the parent was completely out of line, and all that nice stuff.
Being on his team absolutely meant the world to me. When I joined my high school team, I had a different coach who only cared about last names, pitchers, and catchers on the team. I was miserable, and quit after one season. I hated it.
Anyway, Brian messaged me on facebook tonight and asked me a favor. That was to coach Aleigha’s softball team when she is old enough, and to coach her team based on respect and teamwork, not on winning.
I ALMOST STARTED CRYING. We talked a little more and then he said this:
“Well, take care, sleep well,love you and Aliegha. By the way, I’m only going to say this once. You girls in the day, saved me from myself. No details…”
I just feel so honored. I want to cry. I’m happy, but rather sad, too.
Somebody who could help us and inspire us to be the best people we could be was going through stuff that we had no idea about. I mean, everybody has their trials and tribulations, but a lot of people don’t show them. That’s why you have to treat them with the very respect that you know that they deserve.
