You win some you lose some, but even those you lose still have an effect on you.

Some years you win every game and then go on to win the state championship, and then some years you go winless and have to swallow a very tough pill. With winning you feel like you're on top of the mountain. However, with losing you feel at your lowest of lows.

In the midst of the winning and the losing there is a lesson to be taught in every game and the lesson is different each time.

For me my first win as a pitcher on a high school softball team meant so much to me. It meant that I all that hard work had amounted to something. However, one season of softball we lost every game. EVERY GAME. That taught me that sometimes in life there are losing seasons.

Losing to me teaches you so much more than a victory. After a loss you have to overcome it. The loss shows people how you as a person handle being knocked down. Are you going to give up or are you going to get off the ground and try again?

A semester ago in college I didn't make a single A in any of my classes. I thought back to the softball season where I didn't win a single softball game. I also thought back to how I overcame that softball season.

I overcame that softball season by working harder on my pitching and everything about my game. So the next semester I put my nose to the ground and studied hard.

Sports are so much more than trophies. They teach you about life. They teach you the real meaning of fall down seven times, get up eight. Softball taught me so much. It taught me how to get along with people.

I know that sounds crazy but when the same 16 girls were around each other everyday for at least four months straight there are going to be issues. Being around each other teaches you how to deal with people you don't like. It teaches you how to handle conflict without being miserable. It also taught me to walk away from something toxic.

My senior year softball was toxic and my life was miserable and that is when I had to make myself walk away from the sport I had loved since I was five years old. That took tons of will power but I knew I had to do what was best for me. In my life the only thing I have had to walk away from were a few toxic friends and even though I thought they were my friends, I had to look back to when I walked away from softball and remember that I had to do what was best for me.

So all in all sports are so much more than a trophy, ring, or medal. They teach you life lessons that are beyond what you may learn if you weren't involved in them.