My Second Family by Sydney

My Second Family by Sydney - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

I grew up following my three older siblings to sporting events daily, and I knew it was inevitable that I too would discover the sport for me. That day arrived the first time I picked up a small, pink softball and never looked back. Discovering that softball was the sport I fell in love with was not much of a surprise seeing that my older sister played for the program my mother basically built from the ground up.
At the age of seven my parents signed me up to play for my first softball team, the youngest team of the program my sister played for, named the Lady Broncos. Growing up, my team was with me throughout every transition, whether that be running to get drink tickets after our machine pitch game to experiencing every difficult part of becoming a strong young woman. The game of softball is extremely difficult in itself, but playing with various other girls creates several additional hardships. Some of those difficulties included having to witness some of my best friends move to different teams or stop playing all together. However, I ultimately built incredible lifelong relationships and the game built me stronger than ever imagined possible.
Sadly, a substantial portion of players don’t get a wonderful experience playing and that can ultimately force girls to leave the game they are so passionate about. Fortunately, I have been blessed with the best team I could ever hope to have. Therefore, I am now eighteen years old and entering my final season to wear Lady Broncos across my jersey. Due to the incredible impact this sport and my teammates have had on me, I have decided to pursue softball at the collegiate level at Southern Nazarene University, in the fall of 2020. Without the Lady Broncos I wouldn’t have the opportunity to further my love for softball nor would I have the relationships I acquired due to this remarkable sport. Finally, I owe a great portion of the woman I am today to the program who took me in as a young girl, and helped me prosper and grow throughout every season in the past eleven years. Saying goodbye to this team will be one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, however, the memories will stay with me for a lifetime.