(This is the latest in a series of entries by guest bloggers throughout the high school spring sports season. Sammi Nemchek is entering her fourth-year as a starter on Trinity Catholic’s softball team. Her father, Mike, coached many of the city’s top players in youth leagues, including his daughter. Sammi and Mike will explore the topical nature of the parent-athlete dynamic.)
By Sammi Nemchek
In last week’s city game against Westhill, I experienced a really off game. Although it hurt the team, it was most important that I maintained a positive attitude.
My teammates never blamed me or pointed fingers, but I knew the result of my actions.
A battle against yourself is by far the hardest to overcome. I was so upset: in a big game you never want to be the one to mess up the fundamental plays. However, it happened and I let it occur more than once. I couldn’t get it out of my own head, even though during warmups and between innings I seemed to throw just fine.
My teammates’ support was really nice to have, but my coach helped me a lot as well. He had confidence in my abilities and encouraged me to keep trying.
Although some may have wished at the time for balls to stop coming my way, I was glad I wasn’t pulled and in the future given the chance to recover.
Mr. Kriz, our coach, told me “I need to start believing in myself,” and that hit me.
Another positive was coming home and talking to my father about the game and not being scrutinized. It was nice to hear a “shake it off” instead of him acknowledging my faults. Words of encouragement were nice to hear as well, and knowing that everybody trusted me in the next game was comforting.
I learned that bad days happen to everyone, but you can’t let it get you down. Always keep your head up.
Dave,
It occured to me with the tremendous success over the years of our high school baseball and softball teams, why the city doesn’t open our fields at night so that we, the fans, can enjoy watching our teams play. We have Cubeta Stadium and Troy field available, what is the sense of having these fields if none of the high schools are allowed to play on them. Is the recreation department in charge of these facilities or a private group. I’m sure once May comes around some of the high schools, Trinity-Stamford-Westhill-King would welscome the opportunity to play at night. What is the problem.