04/26/2023
HAPPY TEARS
10u Claws became tournament Champions over the weekend. Here’s a Coach’s reflection:
After our win to get into the Championship, I walked into a dugout full of crying athletes and parents. We had finally done it!!! In the moment, I joked, “ya’ll are a bunch of crybabies”. One parent replied, "these are happy tears”. My mind was preoccupied with having ALMOST LOST the game because I mismanaged my player rotations, not to mention I never anticipated my team having to learn, on the fly, how to hit a ball that was “falling” into the strike zone. However, I snapped a couple of photos of the moment and shifted my focus to a mountain of other things.
Now that everything is calm and I am looking at this photo, I go back to July of 2022 when a handful of players and their parents agreed to embark on a very tough journey to become Softball Champions. Not a single player had ever played at a travel level, but each of them had the only ingredient needed to pursue such a quest – determination. Workouts 4 days per week for 2 – 3 hours per workout focusing on strength, conditioning, agility, skills work, and softball IQ. Workouts caused injuries to every single player at some point or another, but they toughed it out, and kept coming back.
Parents gave 100% effort in all they had to endure to keep up with an ever-changing schedule, nursing injuries, planning fun days, while most have other siblings to also care for, all while getting in extra reps with your athlete, at home, often sustaining injuries themselves. Your sacrifice does not go unnoticed.
Each tournament ended in getting closer and closer to our goal. We went from losing by 20+ runs to losing by 1 run. We were 0 – 18… UNTIL this weekend!
Anyone who has ever attempted anything that, in the beginning, seemed like such an unsurmountable task, yet still pursued those dreams, in the face of tremendous obstacles, and heart ache with blood, sweat and tears, working over and over and over again to perfect the skills which were needed to succeed, and then FINALLY succeeding in that effort, can FEEL this photo. Happy Tears! Everyone should experience them, if even only once.
These athletes earned a whole lot more than a gold ring. The confidence that will exude from them will beam bright. They will know they are Champions, and they have proven to themselves that ANYTHING is possible with hard work. (The parallels of how sports and life exist.) For the parents, they received no greater gift than to see the excitement of their children overflowing.
“In the moment it may seem like nothing is changing, but it is. Whatever you are working on, just keep going – you will see results” - Melanie LeDay Albarado
Every single business owner that is represented below, supported our athletes long before they were Champions. Please tell them thank you, from the Claws.
DIAMOND Level
Jones, Osteen & Jones Legal Services
GOLD Level
McDonald's of Hinesville, GA
Haley’s Southern Peach Photography
SILVER Level
Green Lotus Dreams
Liberty Shipping Solutions & More
JJ's Bar and Grill
Legendary Phoenix Games
A Taste Of Philly
Zum Rosenhof German Restaurant and SpeiseKammer German Gourmet Foods
& Edith Dawson of ERA
P.S. - The best part about this photo is: after having completely lost composure, these ladies were able to dry their eyes, get refocused, and with the help of 3 talented players, who had been there before and knew how to lead the way, the Claws proceeded to finish the job! Ending the day with 5 wins and no losses!
