By COLE MACKINTOSH
Sheridan High School Student
The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
Ever since I was a little kid, I knew I loved baseball. But I definitely didn’t start out as the best player.
When I was in rookie league, I struck out every time I went up to bat. I remember crying and doing what little kids did. But one day I got mad, so mad that I wanted to change the fact that I knew I was an automatic out. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen until I was in middle school because I went to get some help.
I got this help from a guy named Carlos from Rountrippers. This is where my journey started with baseball. I learned how to actually swing a bat to hit a ball. It wasn’t the prettiest at first, but the more I worked on it, the better I got. When baseball season came around, I went from not ever hitting the ball to hitting it at least once a game. I remember being so happy that it was all I thought about.
I also used to be a terrible fielder. I couldn’t stop a ball to save my life, so I usually played in the outfield. I remember looking up YouTube videos and asking people what they did as much as I could. I started to get better, but I was never really satisfied because I still would have errors.
By this time, I was in eighth grade, and I loved baseball more than anything, but I knew I was nowhere good enough to ever even make it on a high school baseball team.
This is where I put my head down, my dad put his money where his mouth was, and I grinded for a full winter season.
I didn’t play basketball that year and I had three hitting sessions a week; at this point I was really good at fielding but needed to get my arm strength up. I was working out five times a week, with about three to four hitting sessions per week.
Slowly I started seeing changes in my body physically and how hard I was hitting the ball. I would record myself and take keys on what I could do better next time, and I kept getting better and better.
Everything I’ve done to get to this point was worth it. I know I’m not done, and I still continue my hitting/fielding sessions weekly and workout six times a week. I definitely am not satisfied with my baseball journey, and I’m not sure if I ever will be.
I do know that baseball is what I want to do in the future, and I know if I ever get a chance, I better do everything I can.