I remember going on that field for the first time in my life, at 5 years old. The clean cut grass, the smooth dirt, that yellow homerun fence surrounding the field. While I’m there, I see nothing, nothing else but beauty. The beauty of the game, the beautiful view of this wonderful field. While I’m there for the first time, I hear other people say that it’s just a caged in area. Just another area filled with dirt and grass. But when you take a closer look , that one look, then you will see the beauty. That one look changes everything.

I am now 12 years old and have been playing baseball for about 7 or 8 years now. Unbelievable right. Started off playing t-ball and now playing for a 15 and under travel team. Major jump. I first started off playing for an organization called East Harlem Little League (EHLL). Playing t-ball and instructional was fun but what goes on after that , legendary.

I won 3 championships in my four years playing for EHLL. One with the instructional team, the Dodgers, one with the minor league teams , the tigers, and one in the majors, the cubs. It’s funny right, the teams with the most success, more skill, more hardworking than the other teams were considered “whack” or “scrubs’’, ended up winning championships. Funny right.

Now at the age of 11 and 12 , I realize that, I play, and feel differently about the sport of baseball. As a child I played mostly for fun, for pleasure. Now I still play for fun, but with passion and confidence. As well for the fun of the sport. I know that someday all the hard work will pay off. I play every game and practice with 100%, knowing that every game, every practice, every inning, is one step closer towards my goal of becoming a major league baseball player. Every opportunity I get, I take it. I know that one day my dream will come true. Nothing will stop me.

Now I play for an organization/summer program/afterschool, called Harlem RBI. In my opinion RBI is way better than EHLL. I say this because RBI gives you more academic opportunities for high school and college. Also they are more involved in baseball and help you set goals for your life.
In my first year at RBI, I was on the 6th grade team called the Eagles. During that first year I learned alot about my teammates. Who they really are, how we interact with each other. Especially on how we work together as a team to achieve our goals on and off the field. We ended up forming a brotherhood and have become a family. Our team being so united, helped guide us towards winning a championship.
Being in RBI brings you a lot of opportunities and privileges with good behavior. You get to go on trips, to see baseball games, go to a sleep away camp, and get to go to this weekly baseball camp, called Cal Ripken.
Cal Ripken is an event that occurs every week during the summer. For this event, kids from all over the country, from ages 10-14,to learn to play baseball as well as better their skills. Also this camp helps form friendships, as well as, develop teamwork. Mind you, this camp is in Baltimore, Maryland. That is how big it is.
I was invited to go to this camp, along with 12 other kids from RBI. We all got chosen by the staff as a whole based on our behavior, skill, attendance, and our leadership. Also they feel that we will be able to represent the organization, as well.

It was an honor to be chosen to go to this event. One, because they trust me to go out to Baltimore for a week. Two, because they feel that I will be able to represent the program well. And three, because I get to play baseball every day for a week. That’s good for me especially at my level of play.

The drive out to Baltimore was about 4 hours long. During the drive, Jason, our driver, played music. The only problem with this, was that he only had mixed Spanish songs on his playlist. Which by the way were whack. We had to listen to that for about 2 hours, then, he gave us the opportunity of us being able to give him our phones, had to be an I-phone, so he can play our playlists. This was good for us because we all had the same music on our phones, in which were in all of our interest. Rap, R&B, and hip hop. For the rest of the drive to Baltimore, that is what we were listening to. All the songs we were listening to, were sung along by my friends and I. The trip to the camp was one of the best parts.

After we got off the highway, we entered a small town in Baltimore. After about 30 minutes of driving through the town, we drove through a road with only land surrounding it. Then I saw it. As soon as the van drove into the driveway of the camp, I was already overwhelmed with the amount of things available for me to do.
Basketball courts, volleyball courts, soccer fields, a ropes course, and a big pool with a diving board. Another thing was the cabins. These cabins were nothing ever seen before. There were 8 bunks, air conditioning, a big bathroom, showers, even drawers. The beds were extremely comfortable, it was awesome.

There was even a dining hall. Every meal of the day was scrumptious, like heaven. The organization even gave us equipment. 3 X-Armor shirts with the organizations logo on it, a glove, white baseball pants, black socks, a black belt, a black hot with the organizations logo on it in orange lettering, and even a black and white baseball bag. I considered this to be a second Christmas. I mean all this stuff just for attending the camp. I haven’t even been here for a day and I already knew that this was going to be the best camp ever, and one of the best weeks of my life.

When we got to the camp, the first thing they did, was assign us to groups. These groups were numbered from one through eight and were either a green group or a blue group. I was in green eight. This will be the group that I will be playing with and doing activities with for the next week.

After we would eat breakfast, we would meet up with our groups, and get ready to go on the buses, so we can drive to the field. The buses were numbered one through five. I was on bus five.

The ride to the fields were extremely long, about an hour and a half. During the rides, kids would either be sleeping, talking with their friends, or listening to music. As soon as we reached the fields I knew that it was time. Time has arrived for me to finally see the fields that I will be playing in for the next week.

When we got to the fields, there would be over 100 army soldiers standing at the entrance to the fields. All the kids would walk through the entrance in a line giving high fives and fist bumps to the soldiers. Once I got there, I saw the sign in big black and orange letters, spelling out, Cal’s Yard. The entrance was inviting me in, telling me to enter. I follow its orders as if in a trance.

I walk in, and all I see is one field, the main one through the town, We drove through a road with only land surrounding us .Then I saw it. As soon as the van drove into the driveway of the camp, I was already overwhelmed with the amount of things provided for us to do . Basketball courts , Volleyball courts, Soccer Fields, a rope course, and a big pool with a diving board . Another thing was the cabins. These cabins were nothing ever seen before. 8 bunks, air conditioning, a big bathroom, showers , even drawers. The beds were extremely comfortable, it was awesome.
There was even a dinning hall. Every meal of the day for each day was overwhelming. Each day a different meal every was scrumptious, like heaven.
The organization even gave us equipment. 3 armor shirts with the organization logo on it ,a glove, white baseball pants, black socks, black belt, a black hat with the organization logo in orange lettering , and even a white and black baseball bag. I considered this to be a second Christmas. I mean all this stuff just for attending the camp, I haven’t even been there for a day and I already knew that this was going to be the best camp ever and one of the best week’s of my life.

After we got our gifts, they assigned us to either a green group or a blue group numbered one through eight. I was in green eight. All the kids in my group were all from Wisconsin and one girl was from RBI. This will be my group/team that I will be playing with on the field for the rest of the week. After we would eat breakfast, we would meet up with our groups and get on the buses to go to the field. The buses were numbered from one through five. Each group was assigned to a bus. Our group was in bus five.

The ride to the fields were rally long, about 45 minutes. During the ride, kids either went to sleep, listened to music, or talked to their friends.

When we would get to the field, their would be over 100 army soldiers waiting at the entrance to give us high-fives. As soon as I walked into the entrance of the stadium, I knew that it was time. Time has arrived for me to finally see the fields, in which I will be playing in, for the next week. Once I got there, I saw the sign, in big, black and orange letters spelling out, Cal Ripken’s Yard. Even the entrance was inviting me in, telling me to enter, I do so as if in a trance. I walk in, and all I see, is one field, the main one. Major league dugouts, a major league sized field, a backstop with a net. All of it was eye opening.

On that one field is where all the groups met up, and did there daily warm-ups for the day. Each group would be sent to a different station. The green groups were on the left field side of the outfield and the blue groups were on the right field side of the outfield. The stations consists of hurdles, ladders, and cones. Each station ran for about 5 minutes and then a horn would blow and it would be time for us to go to a different station. In the hurdles station, we did things like high knees, side ways high knees, and jumping over the hurdles. In the cones station, we did things like running, backpedals, shuffles, and bear crawls. And in the ladders station, we did high knees, shuffles, and short jumps. All of the stations went in a quick rotation.

After all the warm-ups were done, all the groups were called in to meet at second base, so the head coach could tell us which skills station we will be going to. The different stations were infield, outfield, hitting, base running, and throwing. Our group had outfield, hitting, infield, throwing, and base running.

In the outfield station we practiced catching fly balls in the outfield, fielding groundballs in the outfield, and catching bloopers that are hit right over the infields head and about goes about 10 feet into the outfield. At first I thought that outfield was boring, but once I tried it out I made some real nice plays and some amazing throws and I got onto it. After doing that station outfield seemed really fun. Our next station was hitting.

In the hitting station we practiced things such as following through with our swing, bunting, a level swing, and learning to always keep your head on the ball while swinging. The coach there had us split into groups of four in each cage. First he would have us take 10 swings each on a tee, hitting the baseball into the net. Next he set up kick balls on a tee and had us take 5 swings. He had us do that so we can practice following through with our swing. After this we would each get five tosses from a coach and we would have to practice bunting. He taught us how to successfully bunt down the first base line and down the third base line. He taught us how to hold the bat correctly, and how to determine if a pitch is good enough to lay down a bunt. After we practiced bunting he would have his assistant coaches help pitch to us so we can do live hitting. Live hitting is when the coach pitches to you and you take 5 or 10 swings and then you switch. I hit the ball so hard, that when I made contact you can hear the sound throughout the camp. The next station was infield.

In the infield station we did many drills on fielding ground balls and making hard accurate throws to first. I made some amazing throws and some diving plays,(infield is my best area if skill). We practiced double plays and learning how to keep the glove on the ground while fielding the ball and staying in front of the ball. After this station was done we went to our next station which was throwing.

In the throwing station we practiced making hard accurate throws to the target and holding the ball with a 4-seam grip. We would have a partner and practice throwing for about 10 minutes. After we throw, we would play a game were we had to try to hit a softball off a tee while pitching a baseball or softball. Each team would get 13 balls. After all the teams used up all the balls, the game stops, and the coach counts up all the points your team has. The way you get points is if you hit the ball directly off the tee, then that is two points. If you hit the tee and the ball gets knocked off then that is one point. The team at the end, with the most points, wins the game. We would pay about three or four times. Our next station was base running.

In the base running station we practice speed coming out of home plate after hitting the ball we also learn the write way to run the bases ,like the banana loop around first base that lines your body up to go to second and third base .Then we learn how to take a lead off the base ,so that we can steal the bases correctly, without getting hurt.

After we do all the stations, we all eat lunch outside and then go to the fields so we can play a scrimmage game against another group. This is really exciting. To be able to attend this camp, and finally be able to play my first game , it filled me with such excitement. The intensity of the game, that rush you get when the ball is coming towards you, oohh, it just gives me goose bumps. All the practice, all the hard work, will pay off. This game is the time to show my skills, to show what I can do.
Then I see, the other kids who fool around, no grit , no care to the game what so ever. So profoundly responsive, a chord struck me. Nobody there, no other kid, could’ve figured out how important baseball was to me. Now I will finally get a chance to show off.
In the game, the coach pitches to us, while the other team takes the field. Our team batted first. I batted fifth in the line-up. The first two batters got singles, and the next two flied out. Now there were runners on second and third, with two outs. I knew that a big hit could score both runs, and help our team towards the lead. When I went up to bat the whole team was cheering for me.

The first pitch was high, so I let it fly. The second pitch was low, so I let it go. The third pitch was right up my ally, low and inside. Once I made contact, I knew the ball would fly. I hit the ball right on the barrel of the bat. DING!!! The sound was loud. The ball flew deep into center field, over the outfielders head. Speeding down the bases, rounding first, rounding second, rounding third, I ran with all my might. I ended up hitting an inside the park homerun, scoring both runs, as well as myself.

The whole team crowded around me chanting my name. I felt like I just hit the game winning shot to win the world series.

The next batter grounded out, and it was time to go on the field. I was playing third base. The first batter hit a shot to me, a short hopper. It bounced into my stomach, dropped to the floor, and I picked it up quickly ,and fired it to first, and got the runner out for the first out of the inning. The second batter hit a pop fly to center field, which was caught for the second out. The third batter hit another shot down the third base line. I dove and felt the ball hit the webbing of my glove. As soon as I caught it, I got up from the ground, and fired the ball again to first to get the third out, but it was a close play. After making those two plays I realized how much I improved my game. The game went on for 6 innings with a lot of good hits and plays. All this done with teamwork and effort.

I know realized that I can really go somewhere with baseball, only with hard work. I have to maintain the perseverance and grit through high school and college and maybe I will be able to get scouted into the majors.

After going to this camp, this has benefit me as a baseball player, because they taught me different strategies and skills, that can help me pursue my dream. This camp also helped me learn to respect the game, and have the mental aspect as well. Practicing these skills helped me improve as a baseball player. Every station helped me perform learn a little bit more, about that skill in baseball.

After this camp I really realized the importance of baseball. To have fun, to be able to let your self free. To express yourself. That is just a few ways that I define the importance of base ball, but there are many other interpretations. You just have to learn it’s purpose and it’s importance. Baseball is a wonderful game in which requires a lot of skill to play. I am going to achieve my dream one way or another, no matter what it takes. Nothing will stop me. The next time you see a field, it’s not just a sandlot or a caged area. It’s a baseball field. Take that one look, and you will see. You will all see.