Her inked skin will forever retain the famous phrase from “The Lion King”, hakuna matata, because either way, for junior Samantha Mendez, playing softball again will mean “no worries.” 

Since the day that her brother passed away Mendez promised herself that she would never play another game and the only way that she would was if somehow or someway he would come back. 

After many unanswered prayers she realized he would never walk back through the door.

  “That day I got home from softball practice, I washed my cleats, I washed my socks, I washed my shirt, and my pants,” Mendez said. “I stuck it all in my softball bag and put it high in my closet.” 

That was definitely the last time that anyone would see her on the field for the remainder of the season. 

However, that mirror that reflects the tattoo on the back of her neck is her daily reminder that, though her brother is gone, her dreams remain in front of her waiting to be realized.

Mendez soon had a change of heart. 

“I knew that it would hurt my mom to see that her daughter was staying away from her dreams,” Mendez said. 

It was the first time in 10 months that she faced reality and picked up the softball that she had hid from herself for so long. 

“He would have wanted me to continue.”

Like Mendez, senior Frankie May relies on his dreams to push him further in football. 

Even though his grandmother isn’t so keen on him playing, she is there for him in the stands when she can be and tattooed on his skin – “truly blessed” – when she can’t. 

Since infancy, May’s grandmother has been his support and inspiration to do well in school. 

“She took care of me most of my life. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be at this school today,” he said.

His grandmother has strived to put a roof over his head and food in his stomach. 

With that, May believes that “she’s the best grandmother that anyone can have.” Because of her he offers something new to the team and gives his opponents a reason to believe that “if you didn’t make me, you can’t break me,” exactly what the tattoos on his arms display. 

With the death of his grandfather and his uncle getting “locked” up, junior Albert Rubio unlike May struggled to find the significance of the phrase “family is forever.” 

“I didn’t want to do any school work. I didn’t even want to go to school,” Rubio said. 

Football no longer seemed to appeal to him because someone would be missing.

His grandfather had always been his inspiration because he “always used to see (him) there in the stands.” 

But still, even though he has passed on, the letters that Rubio receives from his uncle still push him to do well in school and play football even better.

No matter where his uncle or grandfather may be, he knows that “thinking of them pushes (him) harder.”

Just like Mendez and May, Rubio isn’t going to see his uncle or grandfather in the stands every time he looks up when the football team scores a touchdown or wins the game. 

However, the missing pieces of his family remain “tatted” on his chest and “close to his heart.”

He has finally realized the importance of the phrase. 

One way or another his family is always going to be there whenever he needs them. No matter where they are to Rubio, that’s family and they are “forever.”

Each tattoo has a separate meaning and a different story left to be told. 

For these three athletes their tattoos keep them on the field and continue to push them to chase their dreams. 

The black ink is permanently imprinted on their skin and all their worries fade away because no matter what, their loved ones are “always going to be by (their) side.”

“I’m never going to let them go,” Rubio said.