Due to the well-known COVID-19 pandemic, players are missing seasons, fans are longing for entertainment, and life seems to be on hold. Not only have college or professional softball seasons been canceled, highschool seasons, like mine, are gone. I´m Rachel Zona, and in the previous months before the coronavirus grew to be the pandemic we are currently living in, I was writing an article about how I saw softball, especially with my ¨upcoming season¨. I´ve decided to write this article, about what softball means to me. 

If I was being very honest, softball means absolutely everything to me. It has taught me many valuable lessons that will stick with me decades after I last step on the dirt. I´ve learned to be my own motivator, that all things are possible if you work hard enough, and how to be part of a team. Besides high school softball, I participate on a travel team and getting to know all of the wonderful players and coaches I’ve met through both have been amazing. 

Before I get into the lessons I have been taught, I will try my best to describe my feeling towards the sport. The easiest way to say it is by explaining why on June 13 every year, World Softball Day, I thank my sport. I do this because it gives me unexplainable happiness and freedom, and it has helped me get through difficult times in my life. The field is a place to take out all frustration, sadness, or even to express joy. Softball has taught me to be not only physically, but mentally tough, which helps me with other experiences in life. Finally, it has given me a team full of girls I see as nothing less than family. People who will always be there for me, and that I can trust. With these girls, I have experienced a bond like no other, especially the time spent getting to know each one of them. 

I will forever value the lessons I´ve been taught, but what are those lessons? I have learned how to work well with other people, even when we don’t all get along. I have learned how to balance my time, and become dedicated to working to be better, for myself and those working around me. It is a sport where I can showcase my own talent, while also using it with every other player in order to achieve success. 

Another point to make is that in today’s society, there are certain standards of beauty or skill, that can negatively impact girls. Though in the softball environment, you don’t have to look or act a  certain way to be accepted. For eight years, I have met shy or quiet girls, those who love humor, extremely outgoing, tall, short, etc. who are able to come together and share one main goal. 

Through everything, especially with the chaos around the world currently, coronavirus has taught me to value each and every moment I get to practice, train, sprint, hit, throw, pitch, or game, because things can change(especially for long periods of time) before you get to experience it again.