Ella Smith is a freshman who plays for the Varsity Softball team and she has worked so hard to get here. She started playing softball at the age of 5 because her mom wanted her to try it and she fell in love with the sport. She has been playing ever since and has had a lot of different issues she had to work through to get to the level she is now.  

“It definitely restricted me from being able to hang out with my friends. I just  always felt like it was restricting me sometimes, but I loved it, so I was able to make my own adjustments,” Smith said. 

Instead of having a sleepover, she has softball. Instead of going to the mall, she had softball. Instead of going to birthday parties, she had softball. She was working so hard on top of homework and chores. 

“Yes, it was definitely hard. I definitely felt a little bit secluded from my life. I felt like I was living two separate lives, but now I think that I’ve got it all under control,” Smith said. 

It wasn’t just her that was affected by her schedule but her friends were also affected by it. Ella has not only struggled with friendships but also with the pressure of having to be perfect. She struggles with putting too much work on herself as most people do. 

“I definitely think myself. I put a lot of pressure on myself sometimes. I pressure myself too much to be perfect,” Smith said

With all the pressure put on her, Ella has to tell herself some things to keep going. As we all do, she says things herself to that encourage her when having a rough time. 

“I tell myself to keep going. If I’m tired, I always just think to keep going because I want to make my family proud and I want to make myself proud,” Smith said. 

But everything pays off. She has worked for a long time trying to meet her goal. She has missed out on things, stayed up late, and had to get good grades to continue her sport. Hard work pays off and has rewards.

“I have made tons of friends and got to hang out with them, it’s something that I’ll never forget. I’ve made so many memories with all the different players and different teams that I’ve been on,” Smith said. 

She has had so many memories and fun trips on tournaments. She has worked so hard to get to her goal. Making the varsity team and she accomplished her goal. 

“I could take a deep breath because that’s definitely something that I’ve wanted my entire life, to be able to make varsity, especially as a freshman. So, it was definitely a really cool opportunity,” Smith said.