B. Haley & S. Shepherd
Falkenberg & Stanley
English & History
Dot Richardson
Dot Richardson is an inspiration to athletes and people of all ages. She shows that hard work pays off both on and off the softball field. Dorothy Gay Richardson, or Dr. Dot as she is best known, lives in Orlando, Florida. She works as an orthopedic surgeon, but is best known for her position as a second basemen on the 1996 US women’s Olympic gold medal softball team. Though this is her biggest accomplishment, it is not her only one. These accomplishments have not come without any injury or sacrifice. She will often go for many days with little more than three or four hours of sleep and many painful injuries. Dot has been through it all, and yet she still plays and works to her best ability (Just the Facts 2).
Dot Richardson has received many great awards and achievements on the softball field. She has received many awards, both nationally and internationally. Dot made great achievements throughout high school and college softball. Dot has also received several Olympic medals. These achievements on the field show that she is, no doubt, one of the most talented female athletes of all times(Just the Facts 1).
Richardson has received both national and international awards for her contributions to some of the best teams in the world. Perhaps, her largest accomplishment on an international level would be her contributions to the 1996 US women’s gold medal softball team. She was also considered being awarded most inspirational player at the 2000 Canada World Cup to be a big event. Her team went to the 1999 Pan American games and walked away with a gold medal. Speaking on a national level, she has also received many great awards. These would include awards such as Most Valuable Player of USA Women’s Major Fast Pitch National Championship Team and having competed in eleven U.S. Olympic Festivals. Though these are already more then most athletes will ever achieve, they are not her only accomplishments on national and international levels (Sports Illustrated 15).
Dot Richardson is best known for her performances in the Olympics. She was probably the most talented softball player in the 1996 Olympic Games. She is usually associated with that team more then any other she was a part of. She made the switch from short stop to second base just before the games. She performed exceptionally well, as if she was born to play second base for that team. Dorothy was also the leading scorer on the team, and she had a final batting average of .324. Those achievements alone show that hard work and dedication really can pay off(Sports Illustrated 15).
Even through high school and college, Dot was recognized for her extraordinary talents for softball, as well as several other sports. While in high school, she achieved the title of all-conference in softball, volleyball, tennis, basketball, and track and field. In college, Dot was the four time collegiate All-American shortstop. Being the NCAA player of the decade in the 1980s was one of her biggest achievements through the beginning years of her career. These are some of Dorothy Gay Richardson’s achievements made at a young age. These achievements prove that young people can do great things(Dot Richardson 2).
Through her life and career, Dorothy Gay Richardson has made many sacrifices. These sacrifices and injuries would make many people question if they were doing the right thing with their life, and Dot is no different. With little time for sleep, she often finds herself wondering if her dreams are really worth all of this trouble, but in the end she knows that she could never give up this game or her career as an orthopedic surgeon. Dot usually leaves for her job on mornings, during the hours when most of us are still fast asleep, only to drive several miles away to begin practice and training for her next softball event. Why would you torture yourself by working out at the gym or taking cuts in a cage when you should be asleep in bed? For Dot this is just routine now. She does this so that every time she steps onto the field, she can perform at her best. If she has it her way she will perform better than she ever has before. (Sports Illustrated 15)
All athletes receive injuries throughout their career, and Dot is no exception. Her most well known injury was her broken arm in the 1990 World Championships. Dot Richardson stuck her arm up to block a high screwball from hitting her in the face. The ball struck her arm, leaving it fractured. For some this would be when you walk into the dugout and head for a doctor, but not Dot. She walked down to first base and eventually went around all of the bases. Only after putting a point on the board for her team, did she allow the team physician to take a look at her arm. She was taken away and her arm was placed in a plaster cast. This angered Dot because she figured that would take her a long enough time to heal anyway, so what would a few more days in the National Championships matter. Now she knows that they did the right thing. She understands that they did it to stop her from injuring herself more then she already had. She, as well as the doctors, knew that if she had not been put into a plaster cast, she would have gone out and played. This would have made her arm worse, and she would have needed a lot more than a cast to heal her arm. Dot has since thanked the doctors and apologized for any inappropriate words that she may have used towards them at first(Sports Illustrated 15).
Dot Richardson has made and received many great achievements and awards off of the field as well as on the field. She has been to and graduated from many colleges. Dorothy has pursued a career as an orthopedic surgeon. She is very hard working and does everything to the best of her ability, and it shows in the awards and accomplishments she already has at under her belt at the young age of 32(Dot Richardson 2).
Dot has been to and graduated from several colleges in her lifetime. She attended Western Illinois University for one year. She has also attended the University of California Los Angeles for four years and received her BS in Kinesiology and Pre-Med. She received her Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology and Health. She received her Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Louisville. She attended the Orthopedic Surgery Residency Program at the University of Southern California. She also went to the Kerian-Jobe Orthopedic Sports Medicine Clinic. The amount of colleges that she has been to proves how hard working and smart Dot truly is(Dot Richardson 2).
"Dot Richardson is an inspiration to all young women, both as an athlete and a person." This is one way Mike McGill, the high school varsity coach at MVHS, would start a speech he would use to inspire and motivate his young softball players to be successful both on and off the softball field. He is correct in that fact, though. She has achieved great heights both academically and athletically. She has played for some of the best softball teams in the world, and she has received awards for her contributions to those teams. She has received awards from high school to today that most great athletes will only dream about. She has showed how hard work in the classroom can lead to big things, as well. After studying at a number of colleges, she finally graduated from University of Southern California as an orthopedic surgeon. Dorothy Gay Richardson is no doubt one of the best softball players of all time, but that is not all that makes her great. She shows that sometimes to dream of excellence is enough, and that to achieve that level of excellence you must want it badly enough and work hard enough. Only then will you achieve excellence, perhaps even more then you had dreamed possible(Just The Facts 2).