softball
... the name of Mr. Nelson. He was the softball coach at Mandarin. He had talked to my mom about giving me lessons to work on for my future career in softball. It was funny though because my old coach for tadpole, Mr. Stella told Mr. Nelson that he was just wasting his time. So going against Mr. Stella wishes Mr. Nelson work with me every week. I would come out to their high school practices and watch till they were done and then I would do my work out. As I watch I notice one girl who now is my idol, Kellie Wilkerson. I worked with Mr. Nelson for about 2-3 months then he told me about a 12-under team they were putting together called Team Jacks. Surprisingly at the Team Jacks try outs there was Brittany Stella and her dad. It was great because of the fact that I caught everything, hit everything, and hustled on and off the field. I was ranked number 3 out of 70 kids. That’s not bad for being a waste of time. So I made the team and attended tournaments starting about every weekend. I really didn’t play much. Team Jacks was coach by Mr. Beal, which had a daughter that pitched for the team. I would play every once in a while but I didn’t mind this was the first time on a travel team. After the first year of travel was over, I was now 11. I still worked with Mr. Nelson. Then I started working with Kellie Wilkerson. Then I went back to the travel team for the fall. I played more, especially at catcher, and this season was more fun. When I twelve I remember that Mr. Nelson had a dream about me being a pitcher. I never thought it would take me to this level. So as the months went by and then the years, I worked harder and got better. So then I was at Mandarin Middle, in the 7th grade. I got a call from Mr. Nelson about this offer he got from ACDS, taking the softball coach spot. Mr. Nelson told me a lot about the school and I thought it would be a good move for my future because the future of softball at Mandarin was going down hill. I made a final decision to make to 45 min. drive over to Arlington and chance it. At Arlington the atmosphere was quite different, for one the school was smaller, the teachers were more down to earth on a personal note, and the student body was more approachable. I really enjoyed the school year especially...