Since I was a girl, I liked to play sports. In the place where I lived, there was a court and a sports club, where one day a basketball teacher arrived to teach the children and young people of the community and to form the teams that would participate in local and then regional competitions. They had a lot of enthusiasm, they were young and also players of this sport.
My sisters and I were among the first to sign up to learn to play basketball, I was already 15 years old. I was on the team for two years until I entered college and had to move to another city. But the sport and the experience of participating in competitions was fabulous. I was short and skinny and even though I had a good shot with the basket, I was not a main player, and I was almost always put in the second half. In those days, basketball games lasted two halves. But I still enjoyed the sport a lot.
When I entered the university I wanted to continue playing basketball, but there were no women's team, but there was a softball team and even though I had never played, I really liked this sport and my favorite team in the national league of beisball was coincidentally the Tigers of Aragua, of the state where I had gone to study. So without thinking too much I signed up for this sport, besides my best friends did too.
My favorite baseball player was Concepción, who besides playing for the Tigers of Aragua, played for a Major League team in the U.S. He was very fast and an excellent hitter and shortstop, the position he played. I admired him a lot and he was so good that he was called King David.
On one occasion I met my star player coming out of a restaurant, and I was paralyzed watching him, I wanted to say something to him. My friends supported me by telling me to go and ask him for an autograph, and they pushed me to get closer to him. At that time I was very shy, I was embarrassed to talk to him, I didn't know how to start, but I got my strength and I told myself I will not miss this opportunity. I approached him and quickly told him that I was a fan of the Tigers of Aragua and that I would not miss a game where he was playing. He looked at me and smiled. He told me that he thanked me very much for being his fan. I gave him my notebook so he could give me his autograph. And he invited me to the next game in Maracay, which of course I attended. I still keep that notebook with his signature and dedication "For Morela with love to my No 1 fan".
I must confess that although I liked to play, softball, I was not very good and when I went to bat, the The coatch tied my right arm to the bat, so that I would not let go, because he told me that this was a bad habit, that I had to keep both hands holding the bat well to bat hard and never take my eyes off the ball. I suffered a lot because of that. Also, since I was playing center field, I was afraid to catch the ball with my glove and I would close my eyes and of course... I would almost always drop the ball. Ah, but I did run the bases very fast, I had to have some skill.
On one occasion we were invited to play in Margarita Island, we played against the champion team. That team had excellent pitchers, and we could not win any game, we were defeated. But we enjoyed the natural beauty of the island, its beautiful beaches and its friendly people. That made it worth the long trip we took on a bus for hours.
The people of this island were very friendly. The doors of the houses were always open during the day and once when we finished playing, we went for a walk through the streets of the town. We were very thirsty and hot with our uniforms on. We approached a lady sitting on the sidewalk in front of her house to ask for water and she invited us in, invited us to go to the bathroom and then gave us a refreshing glass of water. We were a total of 11 players. We stayed there for a while, under the pleasant coolness of her house.
