The lights turned out along with the joy in my heart and
dream for a successful season. What was supposed to be an enjoyable night ended
in typical dismal fashion: a sounding defeat at the hands of a punishing
opponent. It had already been a tough start to the spring season and now it was
only getting worse. Alas, it was time to start the journey back to our high
school. The bus engine started with a clunking and we sputtered away from the
field and headed towards home.
At first the decibel level on the bus was at the point where
you could hear a pin drop. The coaches sat in the front of the bus, muttering
phrases back and forth to each other. No one could ever hear what they said
after games because of the loud noises coming from the rattling bus and the fact
that players sat multiple rows behind the coaches. I always tried to sit as
close to the coaches as I could, to gain the advantage of hearing their
comments and making decisions based off what they expected of the perfect
player. I thought of my approach as an advantage, while the other players
concluded that I was boring and too focused.
However, this time on the bus I did not even care what the
coaches were saying. Based off the angry mannerisms and short, firm statements
in the post-game huddle, I knew that we had not performed on the diamond to the
extent our coaches desired. The ball seemed to be flying around the park all
night, and now we were the ones headed home with our heads focused downward.
After a few short moments of silence, the bus soon began to
be raging with laughter, yelling, and dumb jokes.
“Did you see that kid fall today? What a klutz!” said one
player.
Then from another section of the bus came noise of a
childish rap battle occurring between two teammates about cheese. This confirmed
to me that to the rest of the players this was just another game, and the fact
that it had ended horribly meant nothing to them. This is where there was a
difference in mindset between other players and me. They resorted to their
nonchalant attitude after a few short moments on the road, yet my mind was
consumed with the realization that we had not been playing games to our full
potential.
I stared out the front windshield of the bus for the full
thirty-minute ride back to the high school. When we got to the intersection to
turn left towards the high school, we instead continued traveling straight down
the road. Silence gripped the inside of the bus, as if a snap of the fingers
hypnotized everyone into confusion. The bus chugged on with no understanding from
the players as to where we were going. I had no explanation either as I had not
paid any attention to what the coaches were saying on the way back to our high
school. I was as confused as everyone else. All I knew was that whatever was
about to happen, the outcome would likely be unpleasant.
Finally, after finding our way through a neighborhood, we
pulled over to the roadside next to a huge hill and a wooded area. In my mind I
wondered, what we could possibly be doing in a forest at 8 o’clock at night? All
I wanted to do was go home, get away from my uncaring teammates, and forget
about this depressing night.
That was not going to be the case this night however, as
Coach John stood up and yelled, “Everyone off the bus!”
One of the players behind me asked, “Do we need anything?”
Coach responded harshly, “No, just get off the bus!”
At this point terror was plastered on the faces of every
player. What were we going to do? Was our coach going to make us run home as a
consequence for losing our game? To our surprise the coaches stepped down off
the bus as well. They told us to swiftly walk up the hill and make our way to
the nearby middle school softball field.
It had been awhile since I had stepped foot on that softball
diamond. I had forgotten how enormous the open space was. I recalled there
being a removable fence positioned on the field making the surrounding area
much smaller than it seemed. Unfortunately, to our team’s disappointment, the
fence had been removed, resulting in a massive plot of land similar in size to
an extended football gridiron. The team morale seemed to drop to deadly levels
at the sight of the open acreage. At this point it was obvious what the
intended purpose was for being at the field; we were going to run!
This was a new occurrence for me and probably the majority
of the team also, to run after playing a full seven-inning game. Soon the
coaches arrived.
“What the heck was that?” said Coach John.
There was no response.
“You looked like a bunch of pansies!”
Yet again, no response from any of my teammates.
Then he started the rant of a lifetime,—a conversation that
involved a lot of choice words, yelling, and playful descriptions of our
atrocious performances from earlier in the afternoon. At last his rant,
mocking, and yelling concluded with a question knocking the team’s spirits even
lower than before.
Coach John, while making eye contact with each one of the
players inquired, “Why is Pride written across the front of your jerseys?”
Again, no one responded in fear that we would say something
wrong and Coach would lash out at us. I figured I had nothing to lose and I did
not want to be there all night, so I decided to speak up.
In a somewhat mumbling voice I found myself saying, “Because
we have pride.”
Coach fired back, “What did you say?”
In a clearer voice I responded, “Because we have pride.” I
knew he could hear me this time, but instead he stated otherwise.
With eyes deadlocked to his, and steam flowing from my nose,
I yelled at the top of my lungs, “BECAUSE WE HAVE PRIDE!” I thought for sure
this was the answer that he was looking for and that he would in return say,
“All right, return to the bus.” Much to my surprise, I was wrong.
Instead Coach John yelled back at me, “WRONG!”
He then continued to explain in greater detail what I had
summarized in my four-word answer. I felt humiliated. At this point I was
relinquished of all confidence I might have previously had and wondered what
the future events of the night would entail.
It was soon announced from our impassioned leader that since
we did not know how to run the bases, we would be running the softball bases
until he felt satisfied. He further instructed that if we messed up running the
bases, as judged by him, then we were to continue running and make a lap around
the entire open field. This was not a task anyone wanted to endure after being
exhausted from the afternoon’s game. Nevertheless, the merry-go-round began as
we all started sprinting around the bases. The journey never seemed to end. I
quickly became acquainted with each grain of dirt in the base paths with the
countless rounds that I made around the bases. Never before had I run this
much, let alone on the heels of a competitive and physically draining sporting
contest.
At last, after what seemed like hours of running, our coach
decided we had run enough. He barked at us to get back on the bus. We in turn
stumbled like zombies back to the bus and boarded, taking our previous seats.
No words were muttered on our return to the high school or upon arriving at the
high school, while exiting the bus.
After our ascension up the hill to the high school parking
lot to meet our waiting parents, we immediately noticed the concern that seemed
to grace the faces of each and every parent. Their worry was understandable, as
it was over two hours passed our estimated time of arrival. They were overjoyed
to see us, yet started interrogating us with questions about where we had been
and what we had been doing. We explained the displeasure of the unexpected stop
and endless running at the middle school softball filed. In turn we learned
that one of the parents was on the verge of calling the police as to our
whereabouts.
A few days later we were back on the road with a chance at
redemption from the previous lackluster outing. We were in line to play another
conference opponent and what seemed to be the most important question to be
answered was how the team would perform. Would we play to our full potential?
With the exhaustive running experience still fresh in our minds, we were all
hungry to compete and attain victory. The time had arrived to elevate our game
and thankfully we looked the part.
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