MY DAD MY DRIVE

[SPORTSMAMMA]

My dad my drive


1 Like
03/23/10 -
I used to hate when my dad picked apart my swing. He would tell me everything I was doing wrong and show me what I needed to do to make it right. He would say: “I can see what you are doing, you can't.” The worst were the infamous “car rides home.” On a bad day I would pray my parents drove separately, knowing I was in for one heck of a ride if it was just me and daddy.

When I was up to bat I could hear my dad’s voice above everyone else’s. It wasn’t that he was loud, I just knew his voice. He would “inconspicuously” yell things like “sit back” when he thought it was a change-up, or “get a pitch” when I was approaching the plate.

I remember like yesterday the conversations we would have after my games. “What pitches did she throw you? What were you thinking about?” Pitch by pitch we would go through my at bats, together. He would get mad at my mistakes, always expecting more of me. I would roll my eyes, not realizing he always wanted me to be my best.

We have a “chapel” in our backyard. Otherwise known as a batting cage. That is where the hard work would be put in, together. Night after night, angry neighbor after angrier neighbor. Tee work, punching bags, front toss, machine work, long talks, tears, and laughs.

He coached my team until my Sophomore year of high school, but the real “coaching” never stopped. He was my worst enemy, and my greatest fan.

It’s weird the transition that occurs between a father/coach and daughter/player. Yes, you are always daddy’s little girl, but you are also his little “project.” Dads always want their daughters to be the best. However, a time exists in every father-daughter relationship when a father “let’s go” in a sense...mine I can remember like it was yesterday.

My senior year of high school I had already signed my letter of intent to UCLA, and was growing up. Preparing to embark on some of the greatest times and challenges of my life, only high school softball season separated me from my diploma; from some sort of adulthood. It was my senior game at Esperanza that my dad showed up with a mini ice chest. I was so surprised. You see, although my dad loves me, he is in no terms a symbol of the word loving. I opened this ice chest and there laid beautiful pink flowers, hand cut and wrapped in foil, my favorite flavored gatorades, and a handwritten note. The first pitch of my first at bat I hit a towering homerun on a change-up. It was for him, they were always for him.

I left for college the fall of 2004. To this day, saying goodbye to by dad was one of the hardest moments of my life. What was I going to do without the daily acts of tough love? Who was going to ground me for my B- in Math? And, who was going to tell me everything that was wrong with my swing until I got it right? As much as I HATED these things, I thrived on them.

Here’s what I learned in college. Dad’s don’t change. Girls don’t change THAT much. And, a daughter will always need her daddy.

Now as I coach for a living I watch father-daughter dynamics and laugh; I reflect back on the days of my aggressive dad, the one who stressed on my 0-fer games, and I smile. As frustrating as it was when I was younger, as I’m sure it is for my students, I understand now, and one day they will too. My dad loves me, he wants the best for me. And, to be completely honest, I miss the criticism, it made me better. When I look at him wearing his UCLA softball shirt so pridefully, it brings a tear to my eye knowing without him I wouldn’t be the softball player or person I am today.

So, thank you dad. Thanks for the tears. Thanks for the frustrations. Thanks for the laughs. Thanks for the coaching. Thanks for the yelling. Thanks for the good days, and thanks for the bad. Thanks for teaching me that hard work pays off. And, thank you making me accountable for my actions. I love you.

[CrushersDad]

wow

[hotwheels]

That's great....My daughter still trying to remember if Alabama is a state!....DAMN!

[etx bd]

Thank you - your Dad must be very proud.

[J stilo]

WOW is right!!!

[Dropn N]

Are you sure your not my daughter? Sounds alot like me! Great story.

[Coffeequeen]

Ok, I'm choked up. I need to print this out and show it to my DD.

[J Fierce]

Make that a triple WOW!!

[Fanboy]

Classic! You have us dads down to a tee (no pun intended)!

[artomatic]

I thought this story sounded like someone I know:

http://rise.espn.go.com/softball/articles/2010/03/Jen-Schroeder-My-Dad-My-Drive.aspx