If I knew everything that I know now about life and what I am still learning from my parents, sister, coaches, new and old friends. The world is always going to evolve and will not stop for anyone. You will always learn something new every single day even though that phrase is usually overlooked. It is a very helpful one to have in your head. Even if you have been proficiently participating in baking or bike-riding, mainly anything that is skill-based, for five or even ten years, there will always be someone who knows more than you. You should always listen to the other people around you even if it is unconventional.
In sports, your coaches might have ideas that you didn’t think of and vice versa. A specific example is a certain play for where you and your teammates will be going, whether it is reversing the play or having a different setup than from the usual. For example when my coaches tell me not to steal second base off the first pitch they know that I need to because I feel the need to throw off the pitcher and be unconventional. They always got mad when I did so but I feel like it was for a positive advantage to get into scoring position.
If I knew that I felt like I was growing up too quickly, I would have enjoyed more nights, not been part of as many fights and enjoyed my life doing the most fun possible events. I have a specific moment in which I regret. July 24, 2013 I was sitting on the bench as a knee high lad with a baseball team full of 8 and 9 year old boys, and my sister. One of the kids had to exit during the middle of the game because he had an appendix issue and needed medical attention. I was the only other kid that could have played out in the field so my dad offered me the chance to play because I was ejected from my game two hours earlier. As I always did, I denied the opportunity because I was scared to fail. In recent times my Dad has pointed out that one moment in my life where I was confident with my age group but I put the expectation on myself that I couldn’t fail with older kids made him very dissapointed but he understood my uncomfortness. I wish that I would have enjoyed it more and taken the risks but also work harder to achieve my goal to play a sport professionally because it felt like I was turning 12 just yesterday but it has been 25 months, 775 days, 18,589 hours since I turned 12 and now I am 14 and entering high school. All the times of going to new schools or going to baseball tryouts, it was a good thing to have some nerves because I felt like I was going to mess up but everything ended well.
I would consider my high school journey of the past 18 months harder than it should have been. I did not need to be as worried about it as I was because this Daniel Murphy Scholarship has set me up for success in highschool and I believe that I will always have help and support from Daniel Murphy staff and my peers in and out of school.
Oisín Curry
De La Salle Institute – DMSF Class of 2026
Picture from Adobe Stock