One or the Other

When one gets a little older, people tend to look back and ask themselves, “Where would my life be if I chose another path?” As a young child, my parents let me partake in all types of sports which enabled me to pick the sport I loved the most. I played everything from golf to being associated with mixed martial arts, but the last two sports that I played with endless enjoyment were baseball and tennis. If I would have chosen baseball over tennis, I could see my life being completely different, and surprisingly, somewhat similar.

When I was young, I played tennis, baseball, basketball, wrestling, swimming, mixed martial arts, gymnastics, golf, football, and soccer. As I aged, I reached a point where I only played two sports. These sports were baseball and tennis. I loved to play baseball as much as anybody. I was a pitcher, a first baseman, and a catcher. Not to mention, it was fun leading my team to the state finals in Little League. Saying this, I loved to play tennis as well. There is nothing better than the feeling of winning after a three and a half hour long battle. Playing these sports demanded a lot of time in regard to practice hours, and often, the times that games were played conflicted with both sports. This meant I had to make a choice. I ultimately chose tennis because I felt I was a better tennis player at the time, and it is more of an individuals’ sport, instead of having to rely on a team in a team sport. I loved the challenge of having to defeat someone by myself instead of letting my team dig me out of my own mistakes, as a pitcher. But, where would my life be now if I chose to play baseball?

When I chose to play tennis I thought of all the “upsides” that this decision would bring me. When I was in middle school, everyone told me how I would be the star on my high school team since tennis does not have a huge population of good players in my area. As I kept getting older, eighth grade year came, and my parents entertained the idea of enrolling me at an academy to train for tennis. I said, “Yes” because I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to become successful. But, I am not sure if the result would have been the same if I had chosen to play baseball. Thinking back, logically, I could have continued to play on my travel team called the “Bears.” Since I would have been on a team, I do not think I would have moved to train and play at the academy. With my dedication to baseball at that time, I would have continued to play for that team for years, meaning I would have stayed in my hometown of Munster, Indiana for all four years of high school.

Now, this is where my life could have taken a couple of different paths. Obviously, I still talk with my friends from back home even though I live in Florida now, and they told me that the “Bears” stopped playing as a team. The players got older, some of them quit, and others went to different private schools around the area. If I were to have stayed at home to play baseball when this happened, a number of options could have occurred. My parents and I could have decided for me to play on a different team in the area, to play for the high school team, to accept recruitments from private high schools, or to move to Bradenton, Florida to train with the baseball academy. All of these different paths would make my life different because of the unique people I would have been surrounded with and how I would have to carry out my baseball training each and every day.

Changing teams, like changing tennis coaches and programs, is always a risky process. One never knows completely the people who one is going to be associated when playing for them. When a team wants a player to play for them, they will do or say anything to make it seem like their team is the best team to play on, but that is not always the reality. Once a coach convinces a player to play for their team and the player is in an agreement to play with them, things can be great or they could also go downhill. It is possible that the team is nothing like one thought it would be. For example, if I were to join a team that recruited me, I would think nothing but positives going into my first day of practice. The ambiance could change quickly, though. The coach could be unbearably mean by yelling at every mistake and making me feel like I was not allowed to make an error. With this type of atmosphere, the coach could make it seemingly impossible to make improvements. Then, there is the possibility that team members do not give one-hundred percent every day, like I do. As a result, when we would go to tournaments, we could find ourselves losing prematurely or even, in the first round. By continuing to lose, this could make the coach madder and the players less motivated to make an effort since they think they are not enjoying and making progress in tournaments. That could be a negative side of joining a different team, but it could have been totally the opposite as well. The coach could have been very reasonable, motivating, and knowing how hard to push his players without burning them out. Also, the teammates could have been very hardworking, easy to get along with, and willing to go the extra mile to win games. With that attitude as a team and a positive approach of the coach, our team could do well in tournaments and as a team all the players could progress.

I could have chosen to play on the high school baseball team in our town. This would have been a good choice, but I would not have progressed as much as if I would have gone to the academy. This is because baseball is a seasonal sport in Indiana, where I live, because of the cold weather. Also, I would not be able to practice as much because the work load in school is very different. The hours in school are more extreme than at the academy, and by talking to my friends, it seems like they give a lot more extraneous work, as well. This probably would have been the route I would have taken in baseball if I had only wanted to play it for fun, and possibly college. If I had excelled, I would not have taken major time out of my day to train to play for college because school would have been my main priority.

Another direction that I could have turned was to go to a private school that specialized in sports in the area. This is somewhat similar to the academy, but it has its differences. From what I have heard, the schools that could have recruited me if I would have shown interest are very good. They rank among the top ten, sports wise, in the state of Illinois. One of them is St. Rita. The difference between going there and training for baseball is the weather. At St. Rita, there is a baseball season in the spring when it starts to get warm in the north again. That is the main difference, but there are others, too. How the school works in comparison to the academy is different because from what I have heard from a couple of my friends who attend this school, the teachers are not very kind when it comes to making up work when I would be gone for tournaments. This could have caused a lot of havoc to my college plans, considering the number of high level classes I would be taking.

The last couple of scenarios would have made my life completely different than what it is today. My last option that I could have chosen while playing baseball would have been to train at the academy, and this would have made my life almost exactly the way it is today. I would have played the sport I loved for half of the day, every day of the school year. Then, during the other half, I would have been enrolled in the same high school that I have attended very comfortably for the last couple of years. There would be some differences though, considering I would be playing with a team, instead of playing as an individual. I would have many different friends, and some would probably be the same. I would have also had to learn how to deal with the unique dynamics of being a member of a competitive high level baseball team, with all of its members having major aspirations. Lastly, I would have a vastly different tournament schedule, which would put me on the road even more than it is with tennis.

Some enormous differences between playing my sport in Florida versus Indiana are family, culture, ideas, independence, and school. If I chose to continue to play baseball in Indiana, I would have lived with my whole family for all four years of high school. With me living there, I feel that I would not have become as independent, because in Florida, I only live with my dad. This forces me to have to do more for myself. Also, the campus life enables me to become more independent. Since most people live on their own in dormitories, it mandates that I get into the flow of doing things for myself. Being surrounded by all these people is an opportunity that allows me to witness and learn about many different cultures. In Indiana, there are many cultures as well, but they tend to homogenize and live the same life style. Mainly, the people who live there live the American lifestyle, but at the academy there is the potential to experience friendships from every type of nationality and culture that I can imagine. Learning from these cultures has made a huge impact on my life that I would not have experienced living in Indiana. I learned that there is more than one acceptable and beneficial way to accomplish something, and in some ways, their culture’s method is better. The last significant thing that is different is the school that I would have attended. In Indiana, the class size would have quadrupled that of the population at the academy from having a class size of four hundred plus students compared to less than one hundred. It would have been a completely different atmosphere with pros and cons to both. A small class in Indiana public schools is 30 to 40 students with some classes requiring an auditorium. In this environment it is easy for schools to accept minimum standards and for underachievers to get lost in the shuffle. The class culture at Pendleton is much more flexible, personalized, and individualized for each student’s needs. The teachers here actually care if each student learns. My school's environment has definitely had a positive impact on my learning and success as a high school student.


If I would have chosen baseball to fill my life with instead of tennis, my life could have been completely different from only focusing on school to being relatively the same by training with the baseball academy at the academy. A lot of things could have changed in my life if I were to have chosen baseball. I am not sure if I would have been more, or less, successful if I would have chosen to play it. But, as of right now I am very happy with the choice to play tennis at the academy because my life, tennis, and education are all on a rising progressive path, which will enable me to be happy and successful, now and in the future.