The journey baseball players take on from the beginning of their careers to the end are full of success and strife. Baseball is a game of failure, but the failure is what fuels our desire for success. I’ve been playing baseball since I was eight years old and has pretty much been the main focus of my life. As I grew up, the game has taught me many life lessons that go beyond the baseball diamond. After high school, I received a scholarship to play for Kankakee Community College near my home of town of Chicago, Illinois. The picture was takin last year by one of my teammates shows me preparing to play in a Regional Championship with the winner advancing to the College World Series. The photo represents various different aspects of my playing career and how the journey has helped me become a better man.
Throughout my baseball career I have faced a lot of adversity. I started my career at age eight playing for Jackie Robinson West Little League in inner city Chicago. My father also played in the league when it first was established. He also played college baseball, so he mentored and taught me the foundations of the game. After my little league career I began playing for a travel team. Traveling around the country, I was able to meet players from around the country and learn their stories. I enjoyed hearing them because it was cool to talk to someone with the same goals as you.
As I entered my high school years, I entered a very intense part of my career which was finding a college. Baseball is extremely competitive and getting a scholarship was one of the most challenging things I ever experienced in my career. I was offered the scholarship at Kankakee CC and to be honest, I was disappointed. I thought had better talent than junior college and I had worked so hard my career. I wasn’t put into situations to succeed in front of premier colleges. This disappointment was fuel to my fire. I worked very hard at the junior college, and even there I was not given the opportunity until the postseason, the most important part of the

season. In that photo I was preparing to play in one of the biggest games I’ve ever played in. I was nervous, but confident, I prepared the whole year for this and I was determined to do well. I ended up playing a great game, but we lost. I was upset after but things like that happen in life and is baseball.
My short career in Kankakee ended when I was given the opportunity to play Division 1 baseball at North Carolina Central, which is where I find myself now. It was great news when I found out that I was coming to NCCU because I felt as if all my hard work paid off. I was extremely excited to have a chance to play with and against the best talent in the country. But I was also felt fear which is normal in some ways. I was not scared of the baseball element, I was scared to be away from home. In Kankakee I was only an hour away so if I wanted to I could always go home. North Carolina is thirteen hours away in a car so going home really is not an option for me. I’ve been out here since the first of August and I have been coping with the home sickness fairly well. Although its been a month, I’m learning how to live more independently. My whole life my parents have taught me how to live morally and to always do what’s right. Baseball has taught me mental toughness and teamwork. These elements have helped shape and mold me to the man I am today.