How Baseball Helped Me Be Successful in School by Michael

How Baseball Helped Me Be Successful in School by Michael - June 2024 Scholarship Essay

From the time I was 3 ½ years old, I started playing baseball but my true love of the game began when I was 1 year old, when I got my first bat, ball and batting tee. By the time I turned 9, I started playing club/travel baseball so that I could develop my skills to be the best I could be at playing the game. My dad has always been there to help me in any way he could to reach my goals of playing baseball. When I was younger, he built me a pitching mound in our backyard where I would pitch to him every day. He also bought me an indoor hitting machine where I would swing and hit balls every day. Then, my folks signed me up for private baseball lessons at a local training academy. By the time I was 14, they got me a professional size batting cage and pitching machine for our yard. I am now a senior in high school and have been accepted at a college in Kentucky where I get to continue playing baseball. Playing baseball all of my life has taught me to be resilient, responsibility and being held accountable for my own academic success during my high school years.

My name is Michael J. Macon IV (aka Jr.) and I am a senior in high school, in a small town in Northern California. When I graduate, I plan to move to Kentucky to attend a four-year college, Georgetown College of Kentucky, so that I can earn a Bachelor’s degree in business management as I want to secure a position with a respectable company to develop my knowledge, skills, talents, and to make a difference.

During my high school years, playing baseball has taught me a great deal. I had to learn to be responsible for not only fulfilling my academic responsibilities, but also my commitment to my sport. Baseball taught me how to prioritize my time effectively so I could get my school work done and still be able to commit to playing baseball. This sport also taught me a great deal about teamwork and cooperating well with others, even if some of the folks are not someone that might not have the same values as me.

Like baseball, academically I may have had some failures on some test scores, but I pushed through to persevere to being successful through hard work (like training in baseball). The skills of being persistent, to finding patience, and practice academically is something I’ve learned by playing baseball. If I don’t succeed on a test, or paper, I practice what I need to improve on and I work on having patience with myself so that I do not get too down. It is just like when you work out in baseball whether it is on the field for fielding practice, or batting. You repeat the things until you have improved in the area needed which in turn makes you successful.

To say that baseball truly helped me academically would be an understatement. What I learned playing this sport actually did not just help me academically, but it helps me in so many facets of my life. It has even prepared me to go to college to be a successful student, and also still get to play the sport I love. I will always be grateful to this sport and what it has brought to me in my life.