As becoming a grown-up, I have encountered many difficult situations in my daily life. Sometimes I easily give up because it seems not to be rewarded after all. But I guess it’s time to remember my old coach’s words once again, which I had forgotten for a long time as having been pressed with routine business.
I was a member of a softball club and played it for three years in junior high school. I was a third base player and a pitcher. We practiced really hard in order to win games. Thinking about the practice we did, it sounded extremely hard exercise for young girls, but we managed it and won the games most of the time. The harder we practice, the stronger we became as a team. We thought we would never lose the game. But as a matter of fact, not all teams can keep getting a victory. Actually, we were not the one. When we lost our final game, I kind of felt that all the effort we had made came to nothing. I couldn’t face the fact of losing the game.
But the words our coach told us after the game made me realize something. “Someone wins, and someone loses. That is a reality. I know you made extra effort all the time. I am proud of you all, and I want you to remember that the most important thing is not to win the games, but how you have developed and improve your skills and mind through the process. You did a great job, and all those efforts and experiences will go rewarded someday in the future. You might not aware of it, but nothing goes in vain. Just keep moving on.”
The experience I had back then is still valuable. I learnt many precious things from it and it keeps me awake to move on, even though I don’t know what the result would be.
