What I’ve learned from baseball
I started playing baseball when I was 5 years old. Can you imagine that?
The first time I went to a baseball practice, one of the experienced guys, who was like 7 years old, throw a ball at me and I couldn’t catch it which made me really feel bad.
Immediately I started crying but even that didn’t stop me from keeping going to practice until I got invited to join a team.
I was 6 years old when I started playing baseball as a shortstop, then I was a pitcher until I started playing my beloved catcher position.
Being a catcher was so amazing to me, because I was playing a leadership role for the first time in my life; leading a team, giving instructions to pitchers to where to throw the ball, what type of pitch he/she would be going to throw, and guiding players at where they should be placed to increase their probability to catch the ball, based on what I knew about the hitter in turn.
Today, It’s quite amazing to see how being a catcher has helped me to become a coach, to love and be passionate about working with people and helping others and myself grow.
Baseball to me, is one of the greatest examples of teamwork. It requires a lot of training, preparation, and it involves helping each other. People need motivation and a specific attitude to be part of these machines of winning or losing games, called Baseball teams.
Playing Baseball implies competition and good communication skills in order to be able to express your needs and understand others.
You must be also physically and mentally prepared to absorb what comes with the game, and perform accordingly to meet everyones expectations.
In my case, I wasn’t playing for a team that was just playing to have fun. I was playing because we wanted to win and we were good at it; good enough to have gotten tickets to join Venezuelan’s national games at least 3 times in a row. Even though we didn’t win, it was an amazing experience.
What was the feeling?
That feeling of excitement every single Saturday or Sunday, when me and my brother went to a Baseball game to meet my teammates, my friends, no matter what time it was, I was so happy that when I think about it, it still feels warm inside.
I was so happy about getting together to play, that I was able to achieve anything; I was convinced that everything was possible, and it was an incredible feeling.
Do you know what was driving me to work hard, play hard and compete to win?
It was authenticity and the freedom that comes with the brotherhood that was created through the game and everything around it.
What about it?
It’s the flame that’s living inside of me, where my passion came from. But what is awesome is that today I’m able to do what the coaches at the time (our parents at that time) did for me, basically giving without expecting anything in return.
Why?
Because they believed in us, in our potential and they cherished the satisfaction that comes with seeing others’ growth.
It’s just now that I understand what was motivating parents to spend hours and hours teaching us how to throw the baseball, and making us practice and practice, how to hit and bag homeruns.
Their purpose was bigger than just having us learn how to play baseball; they wanted us to be challenged by the game, exposed to others, learn by practicing how to adapt and become agile by failing after trying hard, but most importantly, by having fun while doing it.
I hope you can find that passion inside you, that will put your heart into flames and will make you fly.
I’ve found it in baseball and the freedom that allows me to be the most creative and inspiring person in the world, I won’t let that go.
I’m trying my very best to keep that alive, for me and all those incredible people around me.
Thank you for being there for me, but please share with me the things that put flames in your heart.
What motivates you?
What’s your story?
Jesus
