Losing your spark isn't easy; something I lost my spark in was baseball. When a sport you once loved and thought you would pursue becomes stale, it can feel like losing a part of yourself, even when baseball meant I could talk to my friends, wake up early, play all day, and do something I love. So when I quit it was an unexpected pain. I realized it wasn’t just a game to me; it was part of my identity. Quitting baseball had such an impact on me that my grades even began to slip. Back then, I didn't have to think about my grades or what I was going to be because everything seemed so far away. But now I see in my future that baseball doesn't belong. Thinking of my future, I thought of how baseball would fit into my life, and it was blank. That hole that it left in my mind let things flood in. New things that I never thought I would do. I tried many things to find something that would be the same as baseball, but nothing stuck until soccer.

I used to play soccer, but in America, it gets overshadowed by sports like baseball and football. I rediscovered soccer and changed my outlook on things. Instead of trying to be better than others, I focused on being better than myself. Trying to be more talented or skilled than others is something way more complicated than it might seem. Knowing how to be better starts with a change in yourself. Change is something you accept. Change might be easy for some people, but not for me. Changing my life from being centered around one thing in a few months is such a sudden change. It's hard to accept that something so close to your heart can be torn away in an instant. But baseball just wasn't the same, and I doubt that it ever will be.

Just like losing an important piece to a recipe, you can't take something out without a substitute. Soccer was the substitute. Soccer being in my life again filled the hole and emptiness that leaving baseball left me. Soccer has held me together through loss, death, and self-doubt. The people in my life because of soccer helped me and mean more than the sport itself. One person who helped me was my coach. My coach helped me not just by making me better, but she also gave me a purpose in a team full of kind people who were always willing to help.

© Collin. All rights reserved. If you are interested in quoting this story, contact the national team and we can put you in touch with the author’s teacher.