December 28, 2006
Story of the Year #4: perspective
Rhiannon Kliesing
Special to StudentSportsSoftball.com
First published Dec. 6, 2006 as "Rhiannon's most
important lesson learned."
Hi everyone! My name is Rhiannon Kliesing. I'm a pitcher from Pearland, TX,
and I just signed with Texas A&M University. I'm the starting pitcher for
the Pearland High School varsity team and also my summer team, the Texas Aces
Gold.
I was asked to post a blog on this website, so I thought I would
start with something I just recently completed: my college application essay.
The prompt of the essay was to describe a significant challenge or
opportunity and the impact it had on my life. I decided to write about when I
went to Gold Nationals in 2005. I had just started sending out college letters
in June and two months later I went to nationals as a pick-up player with Texas
Impact Gold.
Here's what I wrote...
In the summer after my sophomore year, I was presented with both a challenge and
an opportunity when I was asked to go to Gold Nationals with Texas Impact Gold.
Gold Nationals is the most prestigious softball tournament of the year where the
top teams from across the country compete against each other for the
championship. Only a select number of teams from each state are granted a berth
to the tournament, so a team has to be exceptional to get in.
My team,
The Texas Aces Gold, was only one game away in a qualifying tournament from
obtaining a berth, but we fell short. Since my team did not qualify, the players
were eligible to be "picked up" by other teams who did qualify and go with them
to nationals.
Impact Gold is one of the most well-known and
well-respected teams in Texas, so I was honored when they asked me if I would
like to go to Nationals with them.
I was ecstatic and extremely nervous
at the same time. They had placed third at nationals the previous year, so they
were expected to do well again this time. I had a big decision to make: should I
accept the offer or not?
Although the answer seems obvious now, it
wasn't at the time. I had just finished my sophomore year as the starting
varsity pitcher, but I was still young and still had some maturing to do.
I hadn't played in front of very many scouts yet and going to Gold
Nationals would be like jumping into a giant pool of college coaches—I could
either sink or swim.
So many thoughts ran through my head: Am I ready
for this? What if I don't play well? Will they mark me off their list for good
if I make a mistake?
These negative thoughts discouraged me from
accepting the offer, but then I had a talk with one of my good friends. She told
me I was good, that I could do it and that I just needed to have confidence in
myself. She is the kind of person who tells it how it is, so I knew she was
being honest and I took her advice and accepted the offer later that
night.
I was able to practice with the team a few times before the big
tournament so I could get to know them and feel a little more comfortable with
the situation.
Still, I was beyond nervous.
Some of the girls on
the team had already played a year in college and there I was... not even a
junior in high school yet!
I was not nearly as strong or as experienced
as them. They could hit balls farther than I had ever seen. I thought I was way
out of my league, but there was no turning back. I had already made a
commitment, and they were counting on me.
The tournament was held in
California that year and I had never been there before, so I figured that even
if I played horrible, I was at least getting something out of it.
When
we arrived at the ball fields the first day, I couldn't believe my eyes. There
were college coaches everywhere from all over the country. I had expected it be
like that, but to actually see it and experience it was a whole different story.
It was overwhelming.
My stress level rose immediately and my confidence
level dropped in the same manner. I guess one of the girls on the team noticed
the tension in my face because she came up to me and told me something that
changed my entire attitude.
She said, "The college coaches don't care
about the mistakes you make, they care about how you react to those mistakes. If
you get down on yourself or get an attitude, the errors will just keep adding up
and that's when they mark you off their list, but if you keep your composure and
make up for the error in the next play, they'll take note of that. It's all
about your reaction."
I ended up pitching only one entire game and a few
innings here and there in other games, but I never forgot what my teammate said.
If I got a hit off of me, I didn't back down or give up; I worked even harder to
strike the next batter out.
The one whole game that I pitched was the
game that determined the fourth and fifth place teams and only the top four
teams received an automatic berth for the next year. We were playing one of the
top California teams and I knew it would not be an easy game.
I ended
the game with seventeen ground ball outs, three pop-ups, and one strike out, and
I helped Impact Gold get their berth.
We didn't advance after that, but
that one game was all I needed. I proved to everyone that I was ready for the
next level, but more importantly, I proved to myself that I could play and
compete with the top players in the country.
Going into that tournament,
I had more doubt than anyone else, but coming out of it, I had more confidence
than anyone on the first place team could imagine. That confidence has stuck
with me, and it has led me to Texas A&M and I intend to play softball at
this incredible school for the next four years of my life.
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