Monica+M’s+OpEd+Article

Letting go was the hardest decision of my life. For nine years I dedicated every second, every minute, and every hour of my life to this sport and I had nothing but absolute passion for the game. I worked too hard to simply throw it all away but every time I stepped onto the Buena softball fields, my love for the game was darkened with anger. I am constantly rewinding my memory to the day I hit the send button and put forth the text that explained that I was quitting, months later I am still wondering if I made the right decision. When it was my time to step into the unknown world of high school softball, I was floating on cloud nine. I was given a blue and black jersey along with six other freshmen and we all couldn’t have be more ecstatic that we were going to spend the next six months playing for the highly praised Buena program. Out of the nine fielders, I was privileged enough to be one out of the two freshmen starters, and although I was grateful beyond explaining, talented players watched from the bench while the people who filled with their positions were nowhere as capable as them, they just outranked them with their ability to kiss up. Sophomore year was no different and it infuriated me how the coaches ran their “elite” program. I was fooled into believing that high school ball was going to be different than the teams I experienced when I was younger; I thought that since we were moving on from “daddy ball,” extreme favoritism was going to be eliminated as well. I am disgusted with how wrong I was, my experience with Buena’s softball program was probably the lowest point of softball I have ever gone through. Their assistant coaches are useless since they all bow down to the head coach and don’t have the guts to say anything that might contradict her ideas. The whole program is corrupt, raw talent is simply ignored and the coaches don’t see you as skillful assets to the team, you are simply money bags and they treat you based on how well you suck up to them. Despite the thousands of dollars they have under their belt, the better you do with fundraisers leads to better treatment and the coaches are noticeably more lenient with you since they don’t want to upset their biggest money maker. I fully understand favoritism occurs everywhere but as young, amateur players in regular league, we were always fed with constant stories of how amazing high school softball was and it gave us a hopeful dream for our future that we sadly had to learn wasn’t reality. For those who do get their noses brown and for that one lower skilled player who brings tamales for the head coach and gets a spot on the field in return, softball at Buena is Heaven but for those who get pushed aside and watch as they get replaced just because they don’t care for fundraisers, the program is their worst nightmare. It’s difficult to wrap my head around the fact that coaches fall into the kissing up game and turn their heads while real talent gets pushed to the curb. I miss the smell of the dirt and the feeling of slipping on my cleats before a big game. I miss putting on my black jersey that had BUENA across the chest and leaving class early due to an away game but it wasn’t worth going back to a place that I hated. I hope this isn’t interpreted as cockiness but I am fully aware of what I am capable of and I know I had a future with softball; I felt a huge piece of me die when I hung up the glove but for me and many of my friends, Buena ruined their view of the game and that is something I will never forget. I know I will pick up bat soon and join a new team but for now, I am still swimming in my anger caused by Buena’s program.