Dear High School Baseball Coach

Dear High School Baseball Coach,

Remember when you tossed me out of “your” field? Remember when you said I wouldn’t amount to anything? Remember, when you said I didn’t have the heart and drive to be successful? Remember? Well I do, those words to this day are still in my head. At that time, I was just a 16 year old dreamer, but also a realistic individual. I knew that playing ball was not going to get me anywhere and so did you. I was not lazy as you said I was, but now I know, you just wanted to push me out of my comfort zone. I was not a pleaser, and you actually like that about me.  I didn't attend your  morning practice sessions because instead I was studying my ass off and you never questioned me. You secretly knew but pretended not to know that after practice I had to wait an  hour to take a bus back home or had to wait for my father to pick me up. You knew we were going to lose against teams like Palos Verdes but wanted to open up our eyes and see outside of our little hood called Bell Gardens.

 I wasn’t great, I could even say that  I sucked but one thing I can say is I  always gave it my all. Those guys who worked their hardest, were the bench players, never complained, kept their head up and worked the same way a starter would. Have you ever thought how that championship freshman team fared out in the real world? In the real world those bench players are now your all stars. Now I know you knew that all along from Day 1. 

I wish that one day I have the opportunity to coach a team the way you did. I wouldn’t care how we did (but I would pretend I would). I would like to open eyes to the future just the way you did, through their passion for the sport I would want them to learn perseverance and mental toughness.

 To those bench players, the ones sitting in the sidelines, you are the most important part of the team, never ever give up and don’t be afraid to speak up. To those all-stars, never ever bring down your other teammates for not being as gifted, instead use that gift to teach and listen.

To my high school baseball coach, I don’t have any grudges nor dislike you. In fact, now that I am 23 years old  I want to thank you for saying all those things because it serve as motivation! To this date, when I work out or have a difficult task ahead of me , I think about the negative things  Coach Perez would  be yelling at me and I get to inspired to try my hardest.