It's not all about winning

  During my time as a two-sports athlete I have learned skills for both ice hockey and baseball but also for life.  A message that was almost always said to me was "It's not all about winning."  I almost never got this through my brain without thinking "Why do I play sports then if it's not about winning."  Looking back on this I realize that at ages 6-9 playing recreational soccer with my friends I  shouldn't have been worried about winning at all.  In physical education class, I used to get mad at what I thought were "bad calls."  About midway through sixth grade, I started loosening up in P.E. and, to my surprise, started having a lot more fun.

(I had to blur the logo)

       In 5th grade, I got average grades and I was happy with them.  I don't know why but when I transitioned to Middle School and 6th grade I used the competitive nature I learned from sports and started doing well in school getting better scores on assignments and tests.  I also started having better time management because I had to balance year-round baseball, hockey, and the seemingly never-ending pile of homework from 6th grade (which is almost nothing compared to 7th grade).  When I transitioned to 7th grade I had to be even better at managing my time because of the increased homework load.

       One of the main things that I have learned is to always know that someone is better than me.  Whether it is in school or sports.  When I came into this baseball season I thought that my throwing motion was really good and that I threw hard.  I started an arm care/velocity program and saw some of the other kids on my team that threw 5 miles per hour harder than me.  When I got a 98% on a math test last year I thought that I had the best score but someone got a 103% (they got handicap points) the reality hit me that someone is always better than myself.