“If you’re gonna play allstars you have to be dedicated.” That’s what my dad said to me after I found out I made the State College National All-Stars baseball team.

I didn’t really know what he meant, but I replied, “Yes, Dad,” to appease him.

Making the team was a big thing for me.

I come from a baseball family. I’ve always been pretty good at baseball, but I never really loved it — until that summer.

When the first practice came, I still didn’t really know what my dad meant when he said I had to be dedicated. I found out the hard way.

I was not nearly as good as I thought I was. I struck out and made errors. It was a fiasco.

What my dad meant was that I had to practice to be good. I had to work hard, and be a student of the game. It wouldn’t be easy; but it was up to me.

At first I wanted my dad to help me, but he was too sick with lung cancer. So, I enlisted my brothers’ help, and progressively I got better.

By the time the first game rolled around, I went 2 for 3 hitting, and made no errors in the field. Throughout the season I continued to work.

Although the team wasn’t very good, I was improving.

But by the end of the summer, my dad was doing worse. He died Nov. 26, 2009.

I felt lost, but I could still hear his voice in the back of my mind, telling me to be dedicated.

I stuck with baseball, because I felt he would have wanted me to. It was the thing we had in common. I learned to love baseball more than ever before. I still do now. I play, I practice, and I fight — for him.

As I mature and as my life changes, my dad’s words take on new meanings. I see that he was battling cancer just as I was battling a pitcher.

I stayed dedicated to the game. He stayed dedicated to my family. And although he ultimately lost, he kept with his fight against cancer until the very end. Now I realize instead of being dedicated to baseball, he meant I had to be dedicated to life.

I work hard in everything I do, because that’s what my dad would have wanted.

I still play baseball, but now I try as hard as I can in school too. I stay up late doing my homework, and studying for the big test. But I still have to find time to live. Instead of just being dedicated to my passions and classwork, I have to be dedicated to my family, my friends, and my life.

The words my father told me that summer live on in me.

That’s why I believe in allstar teams, in dedication, in hard work, and in the 10 little words my dad left behind.

Danny Adams lives in Boalsburg. His essay aired Sept. 20 on WPSU.