Thread by @samfischer52

For those of you that know me you know I spend 98% of the time happy and laughing and goofing off and swinging at pitches out of the strike zone.

The other 2% of the time I am fired up as all heck about the following topic:

PLAYING SOFTBALL IN COLLEGE

A thread.

What constitutes the “best” school? In the softball world the answer most likely is going to the World Series or playing on a huge platform.

Why are these the defining factors for the “best” school???

Why can’t it be the “best school for each person”?

Not everyone’s goal is to go to a World Series.

Some players are better than other players and decide to choose those schools. But does that means only the best players end up at big-time, WCWS bound schools?

Obviously there’s a connection between those athletes that reach the highest level of athleticism and a desire to win. There’s no doubt about that.

But there’s more that goes into deciding on a college than just playing in the postseason.

I have a hard time hearing consistently that I have achieved what I have “in spite” of going to LMU.

I’ve achieved everything “because” I went to LMU.

I picked my dream school.

I was 16 years old when I committed and I felt like I was on top of the world. I’m pretty sure I wore an LMU sweatshirt to school everyday for the next few weeks (until Deb told me to wash it🙄)

Among other things I remember one of the weirdest things someone said about me choosing LMU was “you’ll never learn how to be independent because you’re going to be so close to home”

Excuse me, what?????????

I had a checklist when deciding on a college, and one of the very main ones was being close enough that my family could come watch me play.

The others were:
- small class sizes
- have a shot at starting as a freshman
- good business school

Here’s how that turned out:
- My dad came to 208 out of 214 games I played in an LMU uniform and my mom came to over half✔️
- No more than 25 people in each class ✔️
- 4 year starter ✔️
- Top 20 business school in the U.S. ✔️

IF YOU CONTINUE YOUR SOFTBALL CAREER INTO COLLEGE YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING AMAZING.

If for one second you feel like you’re not good enough because you’re not playing on TV, I am here to tell you that picking the school best for you, THAT is the “best” college.

Create goals that are personal to you, align your choices with your goals, and never look back.

You are going to accomplish WAY more in this sport and in this life by trusting your gut and doing what makes you HAPPY.

Just your friendly neighborhood Samu here to remind you to just do you and don’t let people make you feel bad about what makes you feel good.

It makes you feel good for a reason. Trust it.

Also eat as many french fries as you can.

ok bye