Compassion Moves by Darby

Compassion Moves by Darby - January 2026 Scholarship Essay

My entire life, I’ve been an athlete. For as long as I can remember, I’ve spent weekends at tournaments or practices striving for perfection. But as I grew as an athlete, I developed a perfectionist mindset which threw me into a cycle of self-doubt and constantly being hard on myself. It hurts me when I see my teammates go through the same cycle, because I know how difficult it can be to break free from that negativity. During one practice, I saw a teammate break down after a few consistent mistakes. I quickly went over to her and explained how valuable of a player she is and how great failure can be for growth. I had explained to her my experiences with perfectionism, and I watched as her face turned from frustration to comfort knowing that she wasn’t alone in this pattern. It was then that I realized that one of my strengths was compassion. I felt deeply for my teammate as I knew how she was struggling, and in turn I used that to encourage her and help provide some relief from her self-doubt. This newfound strength fueled my goals as an incoming senior in our high school softball program. Compassion leads to kindness, and kindness moves teams.
I’ve single-handedly felt the power of compassion, and it helped me through some of my hardest cycles of self-doubt. During my freshman year season, I went through a hitting slump that stole all the confidence I worked so hard in practice for. I’ve never experienced a mental slump quite like that and it was defeating. But without a doubt, after every practice, a senior teammate would text me a paragraph of encouragement letting me know I’m not defined by the strikeouts or errors I had made that day. She would walk me through similar experiences she went through, and it made me feel so seen. Though my mindset made me see everything so negatively, her words and compassion were little sparks of light in my day. Without this senior, I wouldn’t have made it through my freshman season, and she taught how important compassion is.
After I learned that I too could show compassion and truly help teammates, I vowed to always be a teammate full of support. This has helped me transform as a person and teammate. I want to be the first person my teammates look for for support in times of need or even just for comfort after a mistake. But along with becoming a better teammate, I grew within myself, viewing compassion as not only a tool for others, but for myself too. I began to change my thinking. After a mistake, I could feel the wave of negativity begin to fill my mind. But after recognizing compassion can help me too, I realized that I’ve already felt the power of negativity, so why not try to experience the power of grace? By being compassionate to myself, I began to break my cycle of self-doubt by offering myself grace just as I had done for my teammates. Through this mindset shift, I was able to fall back in love with my sport and in turn be a better person for my team.
Being compassionate is such an important strength because it allows room for growth. By having an understanding of what my teammates are experiencing, I am able to help them in ways that are truly beneficial. Being seen and understood is so comforting, and I always want to be that teammate because I have experienced having a teammate be there for me. It is through my teammates that I’ve found one of my strengths, and now challenge myself to lead with compassion in everything I do.