I am one week into my 3 month stay in Melbourne, Australia and as each day passes, I'm seeing more new and exciting things. I've stood with kangaroos, fished beside a rocky ocean bluff, surfed the kelp infested waters of the Indian ocean, and watched a cricket test match. All of which are very different than anything I've ever see in America!
One of the most important days of my life. so far, has finally come and past. This past Saturday I faced live hitters for the first time since July 2nd.
As I woke up on that Saturday morning, I had a very weird feeling inside of me. I wasn't afraid of facing hitters again but was reluctant to see how I would handle it once I was on the mound again. I've been told time and time again that I am never going to really know what it's going to feel like until I get back on the mound, peer into the glove, and see a hitter standing in the box.
I have good news.
I can inform you that facing hitters is no different than it was before.
Actually, as soon as I stepped onto the bullpen mound before I was set to throw live...that July 2nd moment never crossed my mind. My first outing facing live batters proved to be a bit rusty but after raking up 4 strikeouts and just one hit in two innings...I am well on my way back.
This injury has taught me so much about life. Fear is only as strong as you make it. Being afraid is natural, there is no doubt about that. The true definition of yourself is how you go about handling your fears. In my case, July 2nd will always be rooted in my soul but instead of being afraid of going back out and having it happen again, I look at the other 500,000 pitches I threw before that.
What happened happened and there is no other way to go about bettering myself than to throw myself back into action again. As I stepped on the mound the other day, that unspeakable feeling of being a pitcher was back.
God Bless.
*Update* - Here is an article written on feelgoodsportsstories.com about my experiences through my injury. The article can be found here.
