Masterpiece Essay #1

     There are so many career paths to choose from and as of right now I am choosing to pursue my dream of playing baseball in college and beyond. Most people will say it's a long shot, but it is a risk I am willing to take. I have chosen to take this path because I have played for twelve consecutive years, I have the ability to compete at the next level, and most of all I enjoy playing.

     At age six I started playing baseball competitively and to just quit now would leave me with feeling empty. Over the twelve years I have played I have experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. The highs are what I keep chasing and the lows are something that I have learned to cope with. Baseball is a game of failure and you can't spend to much time dwelling on the negative aspect or it will effect your performance. I will continue to chase the highs of baseball because I have already invested so much time into the game that it would wasteful to give up now.

     Because I have played for so long, I have developed the skills necessary to compete against almost everybody. During the past few Summers, there were times where I pitched against college players. Some of the time I was successful when pitching against them and other times they got the better of me. The fact that I was occasionally successful against them means that I do have what it takes to compete at that level, I just have to refine my skills. My coaches always taught me that it is better play against tougher players and sometimes lose the battle then to play against mediocre players and always win the battle. They said this because if you always win you will think there is no room to improve, but if you lose you will try and get better so that you will succeed more often. For that reason I love to play against top notch competitors.

     Lastly, baseball is the path I have chosen because it's what I enjoy doing and I can see myself doing it in the future. I have heard plenty of stories about people that hate there job and wake up every morning dreading driving to work. Personally I want nothing to do with a job like that and I will do everything I can to avoid ending up in that position. As I look ahead to the future I can see myself climbing out of bed and heading over to a baseball diamond to play some ball and that is why I ignore the people who doubt me and just focus on improving my game.

     Overall I think my reasons for choosing this path are now clear. Life without goals is a dangerous thing and my goal of playing baseball in college and beyond keeps me in check. It keeps me motivated to keep up my grades and continue working hard. We all have something in life that defines us and baseball is what defines me.