Lessons from adversity

I am continuously amazed at the young men and women that compete locally on their respective high school athletic teams.

Many times I find myself shaking my head as someone makes a play that seems far beyond their athletic years and maturity. At those times it’s not hard for me to see the athlete competing at the next level.

Former Crestview baseball player Blake Dean, who is etching his name in the record books at Louisiana State, was that kind of high school athlete. Laurel Hill’s Brad Reese performed the same kind of magic for the Hoboes, and is now doing his thing at Texas Tech.

Cameron Domangue was that type of football player for Baker and is now doing his thing on the gridiron at Birmingham Southern.

But sometimes kids surprise me in other ways.

On March 4, I covered the game between the Gators and Paxton. It was a game that was tied 3-3 heading into the seventh inning when Baker coach Gary Taylor decided to pull starting pitcher Christian Mainor and bring Anthony Heath on in relief.

Heath struggled against the Bobcats walking the only three batters he faced and opening the door for what turned out to be a big inning for Paxton before being pulled from the game.

Heath’s struggles were part of the story in the Gator loss, and when the time came to write my story, it was my job to report the three walks.

Some kids are sensitive about things like that, but Heath used it as motivation and proved the old adage true that those things that don’t destroy us only make us stronger.

As I visited in the Gator dugout before their game with Pensacola Christian, Heath approached me and told me he used the story as motivation to do better.

And that’s just what he did. Heath was on the mound again against Paxton a week after his minor meltdown.

To say he responded to the challenge might be an understatement. All he did was throw a complete game walking just one Bobcat and striking out seven as Baker avenged the earlier loss with a 7-3.

A winner takes the bad and finds the good. A champion takes defeat and uses it as motivation for victory.

I don’t know if Anthony Heath and his Baker teammates will win a district championship or go to the state tournament. But I can assure you that Heath’s attitude has already prepared him for the bigger challenges that he will face in the real game of life.

Really high school sports should be more about winning and losing, although those things are important. High school sports should always first and foremost be about teaching young men and women how to handle success and failure with equal grace.

Often we learn our most important lessons with the bounces don’t go our way.

It is after we have walked three people, fumbled the football in the open field or missed an easy layup that we learn what we are really made of.

And when those miscues occur, I hope these athletes have learned how to take the lemons and make some lemonade.