In today’s blog, Taylor McQuillin, the outstanding pitcher ranked as the No. 5 rated prospect in the 2015 class, talks about the highs of winning and the lows of losing saying… “they both happen but, in the end, it’s not about winning the battles, it’s about winning the war.”

This year, Taylor has won every battle as her Mission Viejo team is currently undefeated and ranked No. 1 ranked team in the nation (click here to see our latest FAB 50 rankings).

The Southern California standout has committed to the Univ. of Arizona and plays for one of the premier club teams in the nation, the OC Batbusters-Haning.  She is also a standout student with a 4.2 GPA at Mission Viejo (Calif.) High School where she earned 1^st team All-Orange County honors in 2013.

Perhaps Taylor’s greatest accomplishment is she has done all this despite having to overcome birth defects making her completely blind in the left eye and with only partial hearing on the left side.

Be sure to check out Taylor’s previous blogs and those of our other standout bloggers!

 

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Someone once said, “The highs of winning aren’t as intense as the lows of losing.” In my personal opinion, this is a true statement.

Winning is reviving and exciting and such an adrenaline rush, especially in super intense, high-pressure situations.

Losing on the other hand isn’t such a great feeling and people always tend to dwell on what they could’ve done better or how they messed up instead of looking at the optimistic side of things.

There is that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you lose and when it is a high-pressure situation the last thing you want to feel is the suffering after a loss.

However, every athlete has that feeling multiple times in their life because every athlete loses. It makes you a better player in the end and it teaches you that there will always be ups and downs to the game.

Often, it is because the athlete simply “beat themselves” but there are times when you simply just get beat by a team or another opponent–it’s part of the game.

Winning is in every athlete’s blood and each strives to win each and every time they go out to play. Losing always sucks and no one ever plays a game to lose!

The only positive to losing is the learning experience at the end of it all. You learn from the mistakes and work on the things you need to improve to make you better so next time, you will be ready and go out to fight to win.

One of my previous coaches from when I was younger is Amie Stewart. She taught me so much and in the time I played for her one thing she said in particular stuck with me the most.

She said, “Want to play the top team. Want to beat them. Playing them makes you better whether you win or lose. Playing your game and giving your all against them will only make you a better athlete.”

I still think of this and use this to motivate me today because even being on one of the top teams, there are so many top teams out there and I always want to go out and play the game to win.

Athletes live to win. They play to win. Losing does not mean you go and walk around with the black cloud over your head. Yes, you will feel horrible and it sucks and it might “haunt” your mind for a few hours or days or maybe even a lifetime but put it in the back of your mind.

Use the lose to make yourself better; to ignite the fire inside you to go out and fight and win. Losing is losing, winning is winning and they both happen but, in the end, it’s not about winning the battles, it’s about winning the war.

The goal at the end is to be the last team standing with that national champion title at the end of the year.

— Taylor McQuillin