To this day, I still remember the first time I stepped on the field with no idea what I was doing. I was just a little girl trying something new, never realizing how my future would change from this sport and how it would guide me through the roughest moments of my life. The experience of softball and flag football make me a "YOU GOT IT GIRL" because those sports have taught me how to overcome struggle, put others before myself, and made me a better person in general. I believe this TGIG Scholarship will help me achieve my goals because I want girls to know that sports do not define you. Failure does not define you. You are more than a sport. A sport is something you play, not who you are. I have participated in cheer, softball, and flag football. When I was about 7, I tried cheer. I didn't like it at all. Even though I didn't follow through with it, it taught me to finish what I start and to keep looking for something I love. Right before I turned 8, softball came around I knew that was what I wanted to do. It was fun, it made me happy, it was my sport. It still is. At 17, I tried flag football, it was fun, but it wasn't me. During my senior year of high school, I was All Area Honorable Mention and I have received a leadership award, both for softball. A time where I faced a challenge was my senior year. As a senior you are a leader. You lead the team whether things are going good or bad. The challenge was having to put others before myself. It's so hard to not be selfish during your senior year, because it's the last time you will ever get to play for others. It's hard to not be selfish when it's your senior year. There have been games where I'm playing the best softball of my career, while I have my teammates at rock bottom. Instead of being happy for myself, I decided to be there for other people. I didn't do it just to say I did it, I did it because I loved my teammates. I'd give away my success if it meant they got it. I'd want someone to do the same for me. In that moment I learned that love is the root of all things. If you don't have love, you don't have anything. With being a senior, that moment taught me how to lead and left a lasting impression on underclassmen. A girl I got the chance to play softball and flag football with is someone I admire. She played softball and realized it wasn't her sport. Flag football was the sport for her. Instead of giving up on softball, she stayed for the sake of the team. She showed up everyday ready to work for a sport she knew she wasn't going to play. She had every reason to quit and she didn't. This scholarship would benefit me by helping with school. I'd have extra money saved up. It would also help me with buying more gear and starting my own platform for softball. Thank you!

Social media is meant to be a place where people can interact with each other safely and respectfully. Over the years, social media has become a toxic place for the world. It is a place where we should spread love and not hate. As an individual who has been on social media since around 9 years old, I have seen the change throughout social media. My first ever social media was Musical.ly (which is now Tiktok). I remember being so carefree of what people thought of me. I was happy to have friends that I knew. I was happy to gain followers. I was happy to be myself. It was a place where anyone could be themselves and no one would judge. As I started growing up, I became in more platforms like Instagram and Snapchat alongside Musical.ly/Tiktok. I became self-conscious, I started comparing myself, and I started overthinking. I would ask myself "Why am I so ugly?", "Is this good enough to post?", and "How does she have so many more followers than me?" I became consumed in what people thought of me and how I looked. It ate me alive. Instead of being happy with what I have, I worried about what I didn't. I was so caught up in what was "wrong" with me that I forgot to be myself. It took me a while to get over it. About halfway through my junior year of high school, I realized that I didn't care what other people thought of me. As long as I was happy, that was all that mattered. If I was okay with myself, that was good enough. Honestly, to this day, I get tired of looking at my phone all the time. It's a stupid thing to put your time into. To address these problems faced within social media, I feel that the age requirement for social media should be taken more seriously. I shouldn't have had any form of social media as a child. I should've been playing with my friends outside and not caught up in a stupid screen. Children these days especially are growing up way to fast. At 8 years old, they're starting to have all kinds of social media and skin care routines. They're being exposed to a false narrative of social media. They're not even going through the awkward phase of childhood! As a teen, the only way to change the impacts of social media is to be kind. Everyone is so mean nowadays and decide to drag people down instead of lifting them up. Social media is a toxic place because of the people involved. We are the way of the world. We are the change.

For me, softball is more than a game. It forced me to grow mentally, physically, and spiritually. There's more to hitting and catching a bright yellow ball. I wasn't a Varsity Starter until my Junior year of high school. In 8th grade a couple of my friends got pulled up and I was on JV. Instead of sulking and feeling sorry for myself, I did what I was expected to with the role I was given. Growing up, my mom was never the type to complain about playing time. She would just tell me that I had to put in the work to be able to get to where I wanted to go. She never pitied me or put a false narrative in my head. She told me exactly what I need to hear. I was the kid that was always talking and cheering on my teammates, even when I wasn't playing whether it was travel or school ball. Softball has taught me how to be happy for others even when things are not going your way. My senior year of school ball was when I really started to figure myself out, outside of the physical aspect. I learned how to be a leader, I learned character, and most importantly, I learned that softball is not who I am. It’s what I do. During my senior year, we would have these book studies (seniors only) with our assistant coach, Miranda Griggs. We read “The Twin Thieves.” It was a book about leadership and being a team. In a way, the book was similar to our program: the football team in the book would make it through playoffs and come up short in the semifinals. They had the talent, but just couldn't do it when it mattered. Similar to us: we had the talent, but we were just missing something. We were lacking leadership. We had to learn how to trust each other, face struggles, and really be a team. I became confident and dominant. I became myself. I know for a fact that I was not the best of the team. 2 of my friends are going to SEC schools. But I knew that I was a leader and I knew I could help others grow, whether I was failing or successful. There were still hard days. There were days when I know I should've done better in a game or when I knew I had the opportunity to do something and I didn't. There were times when I failed. And all I could do was cheer for my teammates and rely on them. We were taught to pick each other up. There's never time to be sorry for yourself. So when the days got hard for me, I cheered for others' success. A biblical way I like to think about this is Day 41. When Noah built his ark, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. On day 41, God restored the Earth for new life. In this, I realized that days are going to be hard and feel impossible to get through. But day 41 is coming. My success is coming. Until then all you can do it be happy for others. I always knew that softball was going to end at some point of my life. That time is getting close. My future plans are to stay involved in sports and hopefully teach others that you find joy in the journey and not there outcome. To me, softball is love. There is love all around. Spread love and enjoy the little things.