The Importance of Softball in my Life by Peyton

The Importance of Softball in my Life by Peyton - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

Athletics, specifically playing softball, has made me the person I am today and will allow me to be the person of the future that I aspire to be. I am attending Fairfield University and majoring in Biology. After Fairfield, I want to continue my education in the medical field, so that I can give back to my community by helping young athletes that get hurt, rehabilitate, and get back on the playing field as soon as possible. I had two injuries during high school. I was fortunate enough to have a physical therapist that knew a lot about baseball players and their injuries and wanted to learn about softball injuries as well. He was interested in helping me rehab. He understood that I needed to get ready for my upcoming season and made sure that we did everything that we could so that I could get back to playing as soon as possible. This man inspired me to want to help athletes with injuries rehab safely and quickly. At the end of my senior year, I had another injury. Sadly, I tore my ACL, and my physical therapist, who lives and works in my community and school district, came to the rescue again. He is amazing. His name is Glenn Brown. This injury was devastating because it has a 9-12 month recovery period. I was scared to death when I had to tell my coach at Fairfield. She took the news well and assured me that if I worked hard that my dream would still come true. I am currently still rehabbing and hoping to be able to take the field at Fairfield this spring. Who knows, maybe in the future, I can help make someone's college aspirations to play sports come true, by helping them return from an injury like I did, just like Glenn Brown helped me. Winning the Community Impact Scholarship will help me reach this goal.
I would be a completely different person if it was not for my parents waking up one morning and deciding to sign me up for sports. Softball has taught me many lessons that I will use for the rest of my life. Softball showed me how to be a team player, pushed me to always work my hardest, and taught me to never give up. There are hundreds more life lessons that this sport instilled in me. Softball has helped me achieve my college goal and has helped me decide my future occupation. Every one of these lessons I have learned will forever stick with me, and make me the best version of myself. Softball has helped me grow as an individual through volunteering in my community and has helped me decide my future goal to be a physical therapist.