Selma High’s softball team is now coming to the end of their season, leaving their all out on the field. Throughout this season Coach Tapia’s main goal was to leave an impact on each player’s character in and out of the sport.
“Our goal is to compete on and off the field with maturity and class everyday!” said Coach Tapia.
With leaving an impact on his player’s Coach Tapia also enjoyed seeing them improve and better themselves. He enjoyed it the most when he saw the bonds and connections that the team had created throughout the season. Creating these bonds also helped see improvement in season as well. The softball team has many strengths that were brought out this season such as their team morale and the amount of experiences coaches have had.
“I have been coaching for over 20 years and have had a ton of experiences that I have learned from,” explained Coach Tapia.
The amount of experience from all coaches is a big asset to their strengths and helping individual players improve as well. By first seeing the mistake, this allows all coaches to help the player by using their knowledge from the game and their selection of drills. Coach Tapia has many core values that he believes every player on his team should represent in one way or another. Some of his core values include being committed, honest, and disciplined. Coach Tapia has set high standards for behavior when coming out onto his field and with this he believes in honesty.
“Choose words & actions that are sincere, not misleading,” explained Coach Tapia.
Coach Tapia believes that players being honest with each other is the best way to help each other improve. With staying disciplined, Coach Tapia likes to see when his players stay dedicated and self controlled, even in a tough situation.
“Including everyone makes the overall team better, we always love to have fun together,” explained sophomore Cloe Carrillo.
Cloe has been playing softball since she was four years old. From a player’s perspective, Cloe has seen that the team’s connection with each other has made their season so much more enjoyable.
“I’d say the hardest thing about playing softball is getting out of your head, it’s called the game of failure for a reason,” explained sophomore Cloe Carrillo.
Cloe has been playing softball since she was four years old and one of the most difficult things she has learned from the sport is how mistakes will happen, but you can’t let it affect your mindset. This is also one of the biggest improvements she has seen so far in herself, realizing that more than half of the time softball is a mental game for her.
“It’s a good way to stay strong and get in the right head,” explained Cloe.
One of the things Coach Tapia reflected about the most from this year’s season was how he saw his team stay resilient through it. From the beginning of this season Coach Tapia didn’t care what the end of the season would look for them as in title, but wanted to see his team stay positive with each other and to never have their heads down.
“We learned from our mistakes and losses, and seized the opportunity to improve,” said Coach Tapia.