Paying my Dues by Daniel

Daniel's entry into Varsity Tutor's April 2022 scholarship contest

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Paying my Dues by Daniel - April 2022 Scholarship Essay

I started playing baseball at the age of 3. I honed my skills at my local Recreational Park: Athens Park. I played at this park for 5 more years until my age exceeded that of what was allowed for this parks’ baseball team's age range. Though I was forced to play higher level baseball at a different park, I still felt strong devotion towards this park. It was the place where I had my first baseball memories, and is where I first began to have love for the sport. I ended my baseball career at the age of 12, but the connection I had to this park was not something lost by time.
It was not uncommon for me to come back to the park in order to watch baseball games of the incoming younger generation who were first learning how to play the sport. Seeing these children ages 3-8 throw baseballs in a rainbow style and needing multiple attempts before succeeding in hitting a baseball, I remembered my younger self in this position. I knew that as a kid with no prior experience, I was very unsuccessful in my beginning years of baseball. It took consistent years and multiple days a week of practice in order to reach the level I played just before I stopped playing. I saw the kids beginning to develop skills that I had developed years prior, and I realized how in depth I was to the park. I wouldn’t have been at this level had it not been for the guidance that the coaches and managers who taught me the basics,
Amidst considering different methods on how to give back to the park, I realized volunteering was the best option. Though I was not old enough to have finances that would allow me to donate monetarily to the park, I was mature enough to do things that other people were not doing much of. I spoke to the Recreational Services Supervisor in order to find how I would be able to assist in helping the park. The Supervisor was more than glad to have a middle schooler such as myself help clean, and allowed me to volunteer immediately.
My volunteering tasks consisted of routine clean up services. I would pick up cans & bottles, pick up trash, rake & sweep leaves, and drag fields (i.e. I would flatten the dirt on fields so that it was not very patchy, as patchy dirt is not preferable for baseball players). I mainly volunteered during the summer, the time where baseball was most prevalent at the park. The trash seemed to pile up at a very fast rate, but I did my very best to mediate the effects of people who didn’t care about the health of the park.
Over time, my volunteering proved to be a success. I began to witness less and less trash, as I was becoming more consistent with my volunteering. I continued this same routine even after the pandemic, where I returned to continue volunteering even as a high schooler in order to aid in cleaning the park.
At the age of 17, going back to the park after over a decade after starting my baseball career, I continue to witness the continual support that players have as they start their own baseball careers. The passion brought forth through the parents and coaches is an emotion that never leaves the park. The amount of effort put into the sport does not go unnoticed, and I am glad that my cleaning of the park over the years has possibly helped parents not turn away from allowing their children to play baseball.

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