When you give a girl a softball bat, you give her more than new equipment. You are giving her a lifestyle full of new friends and new challenges. You are giving her more than a sport. You are giving her a piece of her life full of unforgettable memories and games.

When you give a girl a softball bat, you are giving her more than a team. You gain a sisterhood full of girls who share a love for softball. A group of girls who will help build you become not only a better player on the field, but a better person off the field. You are giving a girl a better opportunity to become not only a team player, but a leader. You are making her a much better person.

When you give a girl a softball bat, you are giving her a love for the game. You are giving a girl more than a reason to go outside and play. You are giving her a reason to have fun. You are giving a girl the opportunity to showcase her talents on the field with her insane throwing and powerful batting. You are giving her the ability to become an athlete.

When you give a girl a softball bat, you are giving her a coach who is going to be more than a coach. This coach may become a mentor or the biggest jerk she will ever meet. This coach will work her hard for hours on end. This coach will teach her the skills she will need to become the best player possible. The coach will be encouraging and sometimes discouraging. This coach will give her a shoulder to cry when she is upset or in pain. She will watch how her coach treats her and her teammates. This coach will give her more than strategy to win the game, but how to win the game we call life. The bat will come with more than a coach, but a mentor and a role model.

When you give a girl a softball bat, you are giving her the ability to practice and perfect her skills as a player. You are giving her the chance to prove herself worthy of playing in games and tournaments. You are helping her develop better discipline as a player. She is a key contributor to her team, no matter how big or small her contributions may be. You are teaching her how to balance her time between school, practice, games, her social life, maybe a job, and being with her family. Practice contains conditioning and a lot of basic skill practicing. With practice comes with spending more time with her teammates. With practice she will get opportunities to better herself not only as a player, but as a person.

When you give a girl a softball bat, you are giving her game days. Game days full of intense competition and the chance to prove you are part of the better team. You are giving her bus rides to new places and warm-up playlists that will pump her and her team up. You are giving her bags of sunflower seeds to snack on. She and her team will have matching ribbons and eye black markings. She will have a fierce game-face and game winning mindsets. You are giving her the chance to cheer from the dugout and scream chants to each individual teammate. You are giving her a competitiveness that can only come out on the field. You are giving her good sportsmanship no matter what the end result may be. She will strike out and struggle or hit home runs and succeed. She will have the chance to steal a base and even win the game or just come up short by one pitch. You are giving her high fives with opponents and most importantly another day to get better. Game days will be her best days ever,

When you give a girl a softball bat, you are giving her chances to get even stronger, not only physically, but mentally. She may get hurt and have to sit out a practice or even a game or two. She may have mental blocks and make mistakes every now and again. Mistakes and injuries will only make her human. She will have the teammates, coaches, and trainers by her side and will help her get not only healthier, but stronger. She will get stronger.

When you give her a softball bat, you are giving her a challenge. She is going to grow as an athlete and learn that softball is more than a sport. She will put her heart and soul into playing the sport she loves and dedicate a lot of time into playing. There will be days where she wants to stop playing because of how intense the sport is. But when she steps into that batters box, she is going to raise her bat, take a deep breath, and know that all the practice, all the hours put into getting better, will pay off with one swing.

Her bat is more than a bat. She will swing to victory or to a sad loss. She will leave the field a better player no matter the outcome. She will have sand in her cleats, farmers tans that will last into the winter months, several pounds of empty water bottles and empty sunflower seed bags. Her glove will be worn out, her face will have an awkward tan line from her sunglasses. She will make memories with her teammates that will last a lifetime. She will laugh or cry, be tired or hyper, injured or healthy. Her bat will be swung with not only a softball, but with a lifetime full of lessons and wisdom that she will carry with her.

She is going to have forever friends and sisters. She is going to have a role model from her coach and support from friends and family. If you are a girl with a softball bat of her own, take a good look at that bat. Soak in all those precious seconds. You will miss those long practices and 3-day tournaments. You will miss soaking in the hot sun everyday. You will miss stepping into the batters box. Go ahead, get yourself a bat, take a chance, go out for something you truly believe in. At the end of the day, you may strike out every now and again, but you will walk away from the field knowing you have accomplished something in life. Your softball bat will become your forever best friend.

Every pitch, every throw, and every swing matter.

Sincerely,

A Former Softball Player Who Loved The Game