It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
Call it a cliché. It is. I can’t argue with that. These old adages have been drilled into the minds of young athletes for decades. We get it coach. Now let’s play ball. Yet the thing about these phrases is that they don’t seem to become relevant until something happens that alters our foreseen path to success. Let’s face it, things don’t always go as planned. That would be too easy.
Baseball is, of course, the greatest game in the history of mankind. There’s something about it that keeps you coming back for more. If you get one hit in every three at-bats, you will forever live in the annals of baseball lore. If you throw the hardest, most perfectly placed fastball you have ever thrown in your life, it still may end up over the fence. The greatest players to ever play the game experience failure on a continual basis. You just don’t see that in any other sport, which is what makes baseball so unique. Responding well to failure is essential in the game of baseball, as in the game of life. Cliché, I know.
The great thing about the college baseball season is that you have a fast turnaround. Win or lose you have to forget what happened last weekend because you have another team coming in before you know it. Over the course of the year, you have the chance to play teams from all over the country. Teams come and go, but the most challenging part of is competing against the game itself. If you can do the little things, the game becomes fluid.
Slowly but surely, my arm is getting stronger. I’ve been cleared to start doing regular lifts without restriction. I still have a ways to go in the rehab process, but the support I get from everyone around me brings me through each day. I can’t wait for the day when I get to join my teammates in battle. It can’t come soon enough.
Omaha.
Until we meet again,
Josh Fredendall
