"YES I CAN" by Desiree Castillo
- Embrace Doubt
- Feb 5, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: May 11, 2024
Desiree Castillo
Sports Played: Volleyball and Softball
School District: Brownsville ISD
High School: Lopez High School
Grade Level: 12th
Athletic Achievements and Awards: 2022 Softball All District Selection Honorable Mention
I am from Brownsville, Texas, a city in the very south of Texas that borders Mexico. Throughout my childhood, sports were never a huge part of my life. When I became a teenager my parents divorced. That’s when I started discovering my love for sports and they became an everyday concept in my life. I used to watch volleyball, soccer, and softball games in my free time to help clear my mind of what was going on in my personal life. I continue this habit until this day.
My role model in life is my older brother, Tye. He’s always been the person I look up to. He’s shown me how to be humble on and off the court. As I grew up with him, he’s helped me through my struggles while battling his own. That’s the type of person I aspire to be. Someone who will be there for others.
There are millions of words I want to say to younger athletes. Ranging from how to be a great teammate, mentality, and having love for the game. But one important piece of advice I would give to younger athletes who are looking forward to playing volleyball, is something I wish someone would have said to me when I was coming in. “Take every opportunity you receive and never stop giving your 110 percent!”. I would give this advice because I regret not taking opportunities to become a better athlete and player. Never turn down an opportunity that can take you from being good to being great. Alongside
that I would also add, “Be the type of teammate you would want to play with”. Being a great player means nothing when no one wants your attitude around.
There’s been multiple times where I’ve felt like life would just be easier without playing a sport. But being a student athlete comes with many responsibilities between classes, homework, practices, games and studying, it’s not easy. I would have restless nights juggling school work, studying film, trying to prepare for big games. Through all those thoughts I always reminded myself the gift that has came with this sport and the amount of love I have for it. I would tell any athlete thinking about quitting their sport the same. Just think about all the great times you had on the court and field and how hard you’ve worked to be in the position you are today.
I’ve learned that self-doubts are all a part of the journey. Throughout my
senior season I’ve had more doubt in myself than any of my other years playing. I had a huge amount of pressure on me from being the senior captain, I knew many younger girls looked up to me and I didn’t want to let them down. I also expected a lot from myself which caused me to shut down at times. I would have talks with my coach over how “I can’t do it” or “I’m not confident in myself” and she always looked at me and said, “Yes you can”. This experience helped me push through my self-doubt then and now. When I doubt myself, I still repeat to myself “Yes I can”
I’ve never experienced an injury that has set me back in my athletic career but I’ve had minor sprains and pulls that have affected my mindset. Coming in my sophomore year I had little to no playing time at the varsity level, I always had to fight for my spot on the team and it wasn’t easy. I had a big opportunity to play my outside hitter position at a 3 day long tournament and 2 days before we had the tournament I sprained my ankle at practice. It really set me back mentally knowing it was an opportunity I missed out on.
The biggest piece of advice I’ve ever gotten from a teacher has been from my Human Body Systems teacher Mr. Hector Gomez. He once told me that “What’s the worst that can happen if you fail this test? it won’t matter in the long run”. It might sound like nothing to most, but what he meant by this was, don’t be afraid of failure, don’t let that fear stress you out because the future has so much in store for you. I live by this quote off the court and eventually applied it on the court when I felt like I was
incapable of my athletic abilities.
The words Embrace Doubt are words I think to myself at least once a day. Embrace Doubt has been a quote I’ve recently started using in 2023 to help me realize that I shouldn’t be ashamed of uncertainty but embrace it. Being an undersized volleyball player people always doubt my capabilities so using this quote from time to time to bring myself back into my zone has been amazing.
In 5 years, I see myself accomplishing my goals of graduating with my bachelors degree in Exercise Science. Hopefully working with athletes while still going to school to complete my following degree. I plan to get my master’s degree so I can become a Physical Therapist specialized in athletes to help them recover from an injury. -Desiree Castillo
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