POSSIBLE • adj. able to be done; within the power or capacity of someone.
When you believe anything is possible, you are usually right.
When you set your mind to something and work hard at it, your possibilities with what you can do are absolutely endless. It’s so important to believe this at a young age and instill this in players. They have to have someone who believes in them, and they have to believe in themselves if they want to have success on the field.
Our aspirations are our possibilities.
The picture above is from yesterday’s advent calendar for bellalete, as we continue the countdown to Christmas. My friend, and co-founder, Savana, made this and used my picture in it. I was surprised and it gave me goosebumps when I saw it posted. And it made me think…
Passion enables possibility to grow. When you are passionate about something, your work ethic increases because you love what you are doing and you can’t get enough of it. Therefore, with an increased work load, the possibilities of where you can go in your sport grow, too. I am living proof of this. Softball is my passion, along with many of you out there – as parents, as players and as coaches.
What a lot of people don’t know about me, is that when I was young and first started pitching, there were people who told me that I shouldn’t pitch anymore because I wasn’t good enough. I was not always the best pitcher on the team, by any means. I may not have had the best stats or the best fastball, but what I had was a burning passion inside of me and parents who believed in me and believed in my passion. What if I would have stopped? Where would I be? I certainly wouldn’t be here now…I look at the picture above and I am so happy that no one took my possibilities away from me at a young age. When I look at that picture I see more than just pitching mechanics; I see someone who believes in endless possibilities. And if you know me, you know I truly believe that anything is possible for those who believe.
Players will go through ups and downs. It’s inevitable. The same thing happened to me, it happens to EVERY player. Some downs may be longer than others, and some players will have to work much harder than others to achieve their goals. There is no set formula or math problem to give an exact answer of when it will happen.
I get asked the question from parents, “Do you think my daughter should continue to pitch anymore? or “Is my daughter where she is supposed to be for her age?” My answer ALWAYS reverts back to questioning the passion for that player, as I answer, “Does she love to do it?” You can’t teach passion, but you can teach mechanics.
If a player has passion, then who am I to say that she should not pitch anymore? With that being said, the actions must match up with the words. If someone is saying they are passionate, does their work ethic reflect that? Because with passion comes countless possibilities; even for those who right now in this moment may look like they are “struggling” to the naked eye. When you are passionate, you look over the struggles you are going through and you keep on persisting because you truly believe in your head that the possibilities are endless.
Realize everybody comes around in their own time. Don’t rush it just because you as a parent aren’t happy with the results going on in the moment – to me, that is selfish. Don’t take away the passion from someone by being too results-oriented. Question the passion, not the results.
Passion is either in you for softball (or anything in life) or it’s not; eventually you can’t fake it anymore if it’s not in you. That passion on the inside is going to help a player grow as a person in the long term much more than someone who is results-oriented with wins and losses. Winning a game is great, but helping young players win at life is even better. If a player is passionate and not getting the results that they want, why take something they care about so much away from them? That’s not teaching them a good lesson.
Passion creates work ethic. Work ethic creates possibilities. Possibilities creates happiness.
What are your passions? How important do you think passion is when it comes to creating possibilities? Players, parents, coaches — I’d love to hear from you and learn!
It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
I just had this conversation with my 14 yr old daughter this morning. Her phone has been her focus and priority lately. I MADE her go hit last night and when I woke up this morning I found her $300 bat laying outside along with all her other equipment she left outside because she forgot about it when her phone went ring! So I questioned her passion for the sport of softball. First off I as the parent shouldn’t be making you go out and hit to get better if you have a true passion for this game that she says she loves. She told me she has a true passion for softball and that the phone has been taking her time and focus off of her true passion. So we shall see over the coming weeks, months and years as to how true her passion for the game is! Keep up the great work Amanda, your passion shines through in everything you do!
Thank you, Troy! I greatly appreciate that! I could write an entire blog to the younger crowd of when it is and is not appropriate to use your phone! 🙂 Phone guidelines with softball 101! Keep me posted on what happens!