When I was 12, I was awarded the “Most Determined†trophy on my little league baseball team. It was my last year in little league, and my first year in upper division.
I had spent 4 years playing gender politics with all the dads and coaches who didn’t understand why a girl wanted to play baseball and all season proving to my coach that I deserved a chance at being taken off the right-field-bench he cornered me in. He recruited me because I could hit, it took him all season to realize I could play the rest of the game just as well.
I was a good hitter. Not afraid to swing. Consistently able to connect and follow through. I had this thing though… almost every time I came up to bat, I’d be two strikes down before getting the hit. It was like I had to make the stakes as high as possible before hitting the ball into fair play. I hadn’t even realized it until my coach called me out on it with a trophy. He remarked how suspenseful it would be, watching me at the plate, the count going higher, wondering if that third strike would come. But it wouldn’t. I was always more determined to get the hit.
I don’t think he knew just how provident it was, ending my time in little league baseball by giving me the most determined award.
……
As it happens, I was able to figure out why it would always take me three swings to hit the ball. My swing was too fast. When I missed, it was because I was ahead of the pitch. It took those two strikes to slow me down. It’s all in the timing…
Just keep swinging.
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