If you know me, you know that I am very athletic. I love sports of all kinds. Growing up, I was taught to try new things at every opportunity given, and to try them with my greatest possible effort, because I can never know what God’s plan is for me. So that led me to do every sport possible. I learned to do what I love and love what I do, because once I’m committed, I’m in it until the end.

The sports I’m currently doing include school and travel softball, basketball, tennis, and cheerleading. I love each of those sports with everything I have, but it’s not the actual sport that I have that love for. It’s the feeling I get when I play and the bonds formed with each of the teams that I am a part of. They’re like my family away from my other families and there is absolutely nothing like spending time with them.

If you have never played a team sport and experienced that feeling of having a whole other family to get close to, you’re definitely missing out. You’re missing out on amazing people who share the same passions as you, people who want you and the rest of the team to succeed as much as themselves, other experiences that bring you closer to great people, and much, much more. The friendships I have made through sports, specifically the sport of softball, are some of the most amazing friendships I’ve ever had.

Like I said, the sport of softball has brought me amazing experiences, as well as amazing friends. My 2016 travel ball team has to be the closest team I’ve ever been part of. I spend 3-5 nights out of the week playing the sport I love with the people I love more than myself, and I’m sure the rest of my team has the same outlook. I love my team more than anything.

My high school cheerleading squad is probably my next closest team. The bond we formed in as little as the first practice is unbelievably strong. We get together and we just have that click that it takes to be a good team. We love eachother so much, and I couldn’t be any prouder to be part of it. We all share that same love for our school and we’re not afraid to show it. I wouldn’t trade my cheer squad for the world.

The newest sport I’ve started playing is tennis. Honestly, the only reason I tried out in the first place was to have more sports on my letterman jacket. I never knew that by trying out, I would grow so close to 7 other girls, 8 boys, and the most amazing tennis coach in the world, Cobbie. Practicing with my coach and the boys on our co-ed team only made me better and the bond stronger. Playing doubles in tennis was one of the greatest things to happen to me, because it brought me close to my now cheer-sister, Hope. We finished out the season undefeated as partners and I couldn’t have and wouldn’t have wanted to have done it with anyone else.

The sport that easily stole my heart over all the other sports is basketball. There’s just something about being on the court with my favorite ladies in school with a 28.5 inch leather ball in hand that makes my heart beat. There’s nothing like getting a good steal in a game, shooting a three-pointer, crossing someone up, or patting someone’s ball when they go up for a shot. Putting it all together along with four other outstanding girls makes for the greatest sport in the world, basketball.

If it weren’t for team sports and the bonds created throug them, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I pray that God’s plan for my future has to do with the sports I was raised in, and include the friends I made (and are continuing to make) along the way. I wouldn’t want it any other way.