No I in Team

No I in Team

I am a fairly athletic young lady. Softball has been my specialty for years now. The team I always gets placed on ends up being the number on champ of the season. If my calculations are correct, I would say that these victories come from great team work.

I believe that there is no “I” in team.

When I was in sixth grade, year 2007, our team held pretty much the same players as the year before. Even our sponsor was the same “Ale Newton Insurance”. One of these newbie’s was Dina, a fellow class mate at my school. Another was her sister, Katie, who attended the high school team, but played on ours for extra practice. She played a bit better than us, but it wasn’t like she was a softball goddess. Unfortunately, she thought other wise. During practice Katie would help us and lend a hand when she thought we needed one. It was fine, but after a while her behavior got annoying.

One time during a game, her cockiness took control. I believe she was playing short stop, I was at third, and another girl stood as second basemen. Somewhere in the middle of the game, Katie started to become a one woman softball team, for the left side of the field. Our pitcher did her job and the batter slammed the ball. The play was a pop fly between the pitcher and the confused catcher. As soon as the catcher took hold of the ball, she aimed and fired right at me. Before I knew it, my body fumbled toward the third base bag so Katie could be the star of the play and tag the runner out. As Katie reached for the ball, since it was coming at me, the ball went right past her glove to the left fielder. The runner from second was not only safe to third, but rounded and bolted home. Because of Katie’s carelessness to the team, we lost, our first lost, and since she was lectured, our only loss. That season still wasn’t as pleasing as it should have been, though. All because Katie had to be the number one player, the star of the show, and the only person noticed and complimented.

Now here’s, better ending, story. Last year’s season, in 2008, we had another team. No Katie. We worked better than cheese and broccoli. We were smoother than butter on bread. Our team rocked as number one from the very beginning. All of our games turned out wonderful. Every single one of our opponents hated our guts when we got on the field, with our game face. There was even a team, from a different playing district, who would point out rules they “forgot” to mention every time we made a run, boomed the ball with a powerful hit, or messed with their plays to keep them from scoring. Because of the awesome team work we portrayed, our team won.