Give everything for the love of sport

“Find something you love, and go after it, with all your heart,” Jim Abbott stated on his website. A baseball pitcher turned motivational speaker, Abbott was born without his right hand.

He was before my time in baseball, but after watching videos of his playing, I can tell you he loved the game and was thankful for every opportunity he had in baseball. I respect him for having that kind of attitude.

One of my biggest pet peeves is playing sports with people or watching other athletes who act like they don’t want to be playing, and the intensity of that pet peeve was magnified after my summer.

The week of my 15-year-old brother Jarred’s first baseball game he was involved in a table saw accident at school. He ended up losing one of his three cut fingers and the other two needed, and still need, intense physical therapy to get them back in working condition.

My brother Jarred loves baseball more than I think he loves me most of the time, so the fact that his sport was taken away from him in a matter of seconds really made it clear to me that sports are a special gift granted to a select few who get to play them, and because they are a gift, you should treasure them and respect them enough to play your heart out every time you get the chance.

My senior year of high school, my softball coach printed off a paragraph my injured teammate found, and it stuck with me since the first time I read it. It reads, “Don’t take the sport you play for granted. Every time you play, you better be damn thankful that you get to do something you love. Don’t show up to practice complaining about not wanting to be there; you’re there hopefully because you love it. Work hard every moment. If you’re not working hard, you don’t deserve to play. Play every practice or game like it’s your last because it very well could be. When you finally reach the day that you can’t play, and you can only watch, then you will know how much you love something that you once took for granted.”

This really hit home for me while I was watching Jarred sitting in the dugout all summer. Sports define my brother in many ways, and he wanted more than anything to play ball this summer and he couldn’t.

Sadly, that was not the worst part of the summer. The worst part was when my best friend’s 21-year-old brother, Derek, died in a car accident at no fault of his own. He was a guy who lived his life by that paragraph quote. Derek lived everyday like it was his last and made sure everyone around him was cared for and loved. Derek was a volunteer wrestling coach at high school, and he helped coach my brother from his very first match. Derek loved what he did and you could see it in the way he carried himself on the mat. Knowing that he could be done coaching after any match, Derek poured his heart and soul into every second and that made him fun to watch. When someone’s passion is like that, it’s contagious and makes you more interested. What you learn in sports can be applied to real life situations, Derek made that clear to me.

With the new sports season beginning soon, I just ask that athletes think about why they are actually playing sports. They should be fun. Athletes should love what they do. And whether you are at the collegiate level, intramural level, or even just playing for fun with your friends, remember you are blessed with the ability to play because not everyone is, and remember, nothing lasts forever.

So play every throw, every pass, every kick, every score, every point, every touchdown, every home run like it’s your last because it very well could be. Don’t take the game you play for granted.