{"id":1109,"date":"2013-11-18T21:35:29","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T03:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carolyncares.wordpress.com\/?p=1109"},"modified":"2013-11-18T21:35:29","modified_gmt":"2013-11-19T03:35:29","slug":"30-days-of-thanksgiving-day-19-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carolyncaresblog.com\/2013\/11\/18\/30-days-of-thanksgiving-day-19-baseball\/","title":{"rendered":"30 Days of Thanksgiving – Day 19: Baseball"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CarolynCares<\/a><\/p>\n

Baseball. America’s pastime. I enjoy watching and listening to sports, but I love when spring training starts, and Twins Baseball is on the air! Even better than listening to them while in the tractor or combine, is seeing them play at Target Field!<\/p>\n

The first time I played softball was in 7th grade. I went out for our Jr High team. I had a fairly decent arm, and could run, so I was an outfielder. I loved learning the game, and practicing. Game days, I was always a bundle of nerves. Since I hadn’t played softball prior to 7th grade, I really didn’t know the “proper” way to throw a ball. I threw it sidearm, which got the ball to the target faster, and more accurately. It also caused a pretty nasty case of tendonitis in my elbow. I didn’t play in high school for our team, but I did play church league softball. Those were fun times! I was able to play outfield with my older sister, which is the only time we have been able to play on a team together. We look a lot alike, and often times we would accidentally dress alike for games. Same socks, same shorts, same hairstyle. Used to drive our coach crazy at times.<\/p>\n

I attended a small Bible college in the Twin Cities for a year. I was a walk-on, and played college softball. Since my arm wasn’t totally healed (how can you expect me to totally rest my dominate arm?), I mostly was a DH or subbed in the outfield. That would have to be my best college experience. We won our division that year, and the girls got to play in the national tournament. They couldn’t take the whole team, so a couple of us volunteered to stay back since we were bench players. I didn’t mind too much. I lettered anyway.<\/p>\n

I am so thankful for the lessons I learned from baseball and softball. I may have had a small part to play in the success of my college team, but as Babe Ruth said in the quote above, “the way a team plays as a whole determines it’s success.” You can be a bench player and have an impact on the success of the team. You can be a starter and have an impact on the success of the team. I think about those lessons when I’m in a meeting with people from varying backgrounds. Some may feel like they don’t have much to contribute, that they are only a bench player, so they keep quiet. Good teammates and coaches work to make everyone feel like they are valuable members of the team. I hope to always be a good teammate.<\/p>\n

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