Outside the Comfort Zone

Day 5 Prompt: Write about a time in sports when you were pushed beyond your comfort zone. How did you cope, and what growth came from that experience?

“Kundert, you’re going up to Varsity.”

I still remember hearing those words halfway through my sophomore year of high school baseball.

I was a complete mix of emotions. I was excited, nervous, scared and elated all at once. I was having an incredible year on JV. My buddy, Matt, and I would have doubles competitions. We’d try and see who would get more doubles in a game. It was a pretty even battle but between the two of us, that year, we were good for about four doubles per game.

My sophomore year on JV was the best I had ever hit in my life. I found my swing, found my groove and was really confident at the plate. I was playing solid defense at third base too and got thrown on the mound sometimes (not my favorite thing in the world). I’m sure I’ll write an article at some point about how I became a pitcher but it just wasn’t for me. I did it, had some success but I’d much rather play the hot corner.

I can still feel the cold ice and water that hit me after my last game on JV with the team I played with for five years. It was a cool feeling but I knew I was going to miss being with those guys. I knew I didn’t have solid relationships with the guys on varsity and I didn’t really know what my role would be. Would I be a role player who came off the bench? Would I be the starting third basemen? Would I be playing other positions? I had no idea. All I know is that I did not want to pitch on varsity! I could throw it really hard from third but get me on a mound and you might as well have taken 30 mph off of my throw. I mean look at my form below. Does that look like a dude who should be on the mound?!?

When I made it up to varsity, I was told I was going to be the regular Designated Hitter (DH) and would occasionally play the field and pitch. I STRUGGLED with that. It was still pretty cold here in Wisconsin during baseball season and I never truly felt I was warmed up enough to effectively hit. I didn’t really feel like I was part of the game. When I played the field, I was always yelling and encouraging our pitchers and hitters but this was different.

The next issue I came across was SPEED. I was used to JV pitching and this was drastically different on varsity. The ball comes flying in faster and the pitches had more movement. I struck out more times in that half a season than I even want to admit. I struggled mightily.

But, I kept coming back day after day to try and get better. I knew I had two more years of improvement. I had big goals and dreams in baseball. Baseball wasn’t my favorite sport but I felt like that was the sport that I had the most talent in. I remember talking to my JV coach about the possibility of playing in college. That was a goal of mine but my baseball career plateaued early in high school. I was a solid baseball player but never made a name for myself like I had dreamed of.

Now back to this season and the root of this topic - Outside the Comfort Zone. The biggest change that happened when I moved up to varsity wasn’t the fastball and curveballs. It was the relationships, or lack thereof, with the juniors and seniors that held me back. I was used to playing with kids my own age. I had played a few games growing up with kids two years older than me, so I had some existing relationships, but they weren’t deeply rooted with this team. I had played football with some of them, wrestled with others but none of the relationships were like I had with some of the players on JV.

Reflecting back on that, I surely could have put myself out there more. Built upon the relationships I already had but something held me back. Something kept me from truly integrating into the team. I honestly think I had a very small case of imposter syndrome when I came up to varsity once I began to struggle at the plate. All I knew that year was success on JV so I took it really hard when I couldn’t replicate that on varsity.

Anyway, the biggest lesson I learned from this is to put yourself out there, introduce yourself to people you don’t know well, find commonality with them and build that relationship. Relationship building is a big part of what I do now as CEO of Kundert Construction . I think back to my high school days and wonder where my life would have taken me had I been more open and really tried harder to build upon those relationships.

Now back to pitching.

It was the first round of the playoffs and we were up 6-5 in the top of the seventh inning. We got into a jam and we needed to make a pitching change.

My coach looks and me and tells me to warm up. In my head, and probably my face, I’m shocked! I’m like the fifth or sixth pitcher on the roster. I pitched some that year but it’s the first round of the playoffs and we are winning by one.

“Coach, you do know this is a save situation, right?!?”

I think this was a test. A risky one but one that I look back on in a different light. He knew I was going to be a key player moving forward the next few years so he wanted to test out how I would react in a high stress, impactful situation.

Thankfully, I got out of it, though we had a REAL close call. Top of the seventh with two outs, what looked like a 40 year old man walked into the batters box. I was intimidated but went after him with all that my 70 mph fastball could handle.

He drove a DEEP flyball to right-centerfield and our centerfielder camped under it to end the game.

Phew, a close one but what a great situation for me to be put in. One that truly stretched my comfort zone but made a lasting impact on me. The image below is right after that pop fly was caught and we won the game. I’m the kid sweating bullets and full of relief!