A Letter to DSU Softball Vol. 2

Last year we started a tradition where the Seniors write a letter to future DSU Hornet softball players. They left great advice and left a lasting impression on this program. Senior weekend just past and it's time for our 2 seniors to write their letter. They did an excellent job in telling future players what it means to play for this program. This is what they had to say:

Dear Future Hornets,

First, we want to say congratulations on your commitment to play softball at DSU. We remember how relieving and great it felt to know that all our hard work had finally paid off. However, remember that this is still only the beginning. There is still so much more you will learn about this sport and playing at the next level.  We have three core covenants or guiding principles for this team. The three core covenants that we stand for are family, excellence and courageous.

            As a family we encourage each other to achieve academic goals. We hold each other accountable to attend class and also study together. It is important to positively represent DSU softball in the community and on social media with our actions and behavior. We invest time in building relationships with teammates and to love one another. It is important that we are always polite, kind, generous, and thankful. We are consistently encouraging one another in the weight room and pushing each other to give best effort. We work hard together, no one left behind! We respect our coaches and teammates at all times. We support teammates, coaches and program with actions, behavior and words. We trust each other to give our best effort daily. We encourage, push, and pick each other up. We help each other when we are struggling. We work hard in our personal lives to build up our DSU family. Spending quality time together helps us become a family.

            We strive for excellence in the classroom, community, with our nutrition, in our strength and conditioning program, on the softball field and in our personal lives. We attend every class, on time. We stay organized to complete all assignment on time. We do our own work and do not cheat. We aren’t afraid to get tutors or extra help when we are struggling in a class. We complete all assigned study hall hours. We volunteer our time to make an impact in our community. We are 15 minutes early to events. In everything we do we do it with good intentions. We fuel our bodies before and after workouts by making healthy nutritional decisions. We make stretching and rolling out a priority in our recovery process. When it comes to strength and conditioning, we prepare with our best effort and trust in our preparation. We never make excuses or quit. We complete every lift, rep, set, and run that is given to us by our coaches. We constantly push ourselves further. We commit to mastering the fundamentals and executing the details of the game. We communicate with each other during each play. We leave everything on the field and sprint on and off the field. We play with passion, energy, and effort daily. We strive to be the best version of ourselves. We surround ourselves with people who support encourage and challenge us to be the best.

            We are courageous because we properly prepare for class, exams and trust in our preparation. We initiate and build relationships with our professors. We give our best effort when things get tough and we never give up. We go all out and give 100% to strive for a 4.0 GPA. We aren’t afraid to participate in class discussions. We walk tall with our head up, make eye contact, say hello, and shake hands. We don’t lie or cheat and we show integrity at all times. We make good choices about what we consume and know that it will impact our performance. It’s important to be proactive, stay committed to rehab and recovery, never give up and feel sorry for ourselves. We compete with each other and challenge ourselves every day.  We act differently than how we feel. We believe in ourselves and our teammates. We have an unrelenting will to win every pitch and trust in our abilities. It is important to act, walk, talk and play like the player we want to be… a champion. We are relentless in our pursuit of our goals. We strive for success daily even if we have to get out of our comfort zone to achieve this success. We always show passion for the things that interest us.

Don’t forget to remember that this is an opportunity of a lifetime that not many are granted. It’s important to start training your mind and heart to become the competitor you were designed to be! However, at the end of the day always remember to have fun and make the most of these next four years. We are not lying when we say they go by extremely fast. We are sitting here typing this letter to you future hornets trying to figure out how we got here so quickly. We hope this can give you a good idea of what Delaware State University Softball is all about so you guys can come in and continue to build the legacy.

We wish you all the best! 

Tara and Dani (2017 graduating seniors)

Thank you Dani and Tara for this letter. This is exactly what it means to play for this program and everything we stand for.