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Feb 4, 2015
641
28
Massachusetts
A lot of similarities to my younger DD’s story!

Stepping away for a summer was the best thing we ever did. It was the summer between her junior and senior year. She is now a college freshman playing softball and I don’t think he could be happier.

Congrats to your daughter, it is so cool to see these young ladies find their path.
Thanks. Congrats to your daughter as well! I never thought DD would want to go back to a competitive level. And then to get calls from her during tryouts last fall, hearing the excitement in her voice. A great feeling for all.
 
Jun 11, 2012
741
63
I’m so happy for her. Hard work pays off.
Hopefully they get to have some sort of a season. Talk here is conference play but no playoffs but who knows.
 
Nov 17, 2017
73
18
UPDATE! It's been almost exactly two years since the original post. (warning, this is a shameless parent brag)

To save you from the long story, in fall of her junior year DD was burnt out. But she thought walking away from softball meant personal failure. With some encouragement that it was ok, she made the very hard decision and notified her coach, as well as college coaches that were looking at her.

She spent the first summer (since 9yo) just hanging out with friends, going to the beach, and doing fun teen stuff. She had a great summer. Senior year comes and she's really looking forward to her final season, being a captain, and all those cherished HS memories.

Then BANG! COVID. Season cancelled. Senior events cancelled. No final memories, no ending to the softball story.

It's early spring and she comes to me and says, "Dad, I don't think I'm ready to be done." I told her we're here to help, but this is your journey if you want to make it happen.

DD calls her college coach who tells her she's already made her Freshman offers, but DD is free to come to walk-on try outs. Coach tells her she needs to get back on a showcase team and start seeing some competition again. And she sends her the team summer work-out plan.
DD calls her Showcase Coach, who happens to be looking for a middle infielder, and she gets back on a team. The love of the game comes back.

Fall 2020, DD shows up to tryouts. 10 walk-ons, plus 7 recruits. The team gives out a weekly award for the player that most embodies the team culture and spirit. DD receives the first award of the fall. Weekly cuts, but she makes it through. In the end, she's the only walk-on to make the team.

Two years after being tired, down, and walking away, DD is now getting ready to play in her first college season. We're beyond proud parents and happy she did it on her own terms. Plus, now I get to watch more softball!! WIN-WIN!



Whoa..... I almost left after the 1st post..... I would have said congrats that's a great journey and sounds like an amazing girl!!!!

I think I cried twice..... LMAO
 
Feb 4, 2015
641
28
Massachusetts
I’m so happy for her. Hard work pays off.
Hopefully they get to have some sort of a season. Talk here is conference play but no playoffs but who knows.

She's got her regular season schedule, they're not sure about play-offs yet. It doesn't look like our DD's will see each other in out-of-conference games, that would've been cool.
 
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
My dd chose academics over softball. Found herself missing the game her
Freshman year.

Her school had a club softball team she played that and was happy to play and was able to fit it into her schedule. I was surprised to see just how goo club softball was. So, maybe your dd could go the same route.

Edit to ad- just saw the rest of the story. Good for her, glad it worked out.
 
Oct 10, 2018
305
63
Love this story (and happy that ultimately she came back to SB). Everyone acts like college is the goal. My DD wants her college application to show how softball shaped her as a person and taught her many life lessons that made her a better person but really has no interest in pursuing or playing in college. Like your DD she wants to focus on her academics. We can only hope that her dedication as an athlete is enough to make her shine as TB leaves very little (no) time for other volunteer activities that admission officers are looking for when trying to determine what kind of person the applicant is. All the applicants will have good grades, it's what you do outside of school that shows them who you are.
 

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