Toughest job on earth? Parenthood

My daughter has been playing basketball for about 7 years and has only really enjoyed it for about 2.  Those 2 came right at the beginning when she was in 1st and 2nd grade.  She happens to be very naturally gifted athletically so everyone just expected her to keep playing because she is so good at it.  Being a sweet girl who likes to please everyone she just kept on playing even though it was getting increasingly hard to hide how miserable she was.  Unfortunately, she takes after her mother in the "I hate any form of confrontation" department.  Girls basketball in middle school and high school is packed with confrontation.  There are coaches, teammates, opponents, parents and refs yelling at you as well as players saying mean things and taking cheap shots at you.  It's highly competitive and very stressful.  I, of course, never stepped foot on a basketball court even though I am over 5'11" tall.  Yet, in all my wisdom, I have been forcing her to play for the past couple of years because I have always believed that all of my children should be involved in something worthwhile while they are growing up to teach them disciple, teamwork and responsibility and because I thought she was just afraid and that should never stop someone from doing what they want to do.  I thought I was helping her to overcome her fear and grow up.  I thought I was being a good parent.  Well, because of her skill level she was invited to be on the high school varsity team as a new freshman.  I'm such a great parent that her throwing up at the first practice didn't get through to me as a sign that maybe this isn't for her, I just thought she was a little nervous and out of shape.  Aftering warring with myself for a few weeks now, I finally really looked at her face and body language before her first fall league game and decided to actually BE a good parent and told her that if she really didn't want to play basketball I wouldn't make her.  She broke down and cried and hugged me and thanked me and taught me a very important lesson.  It's not her fault that she is very talented at athletics.  It shouldn't be a punishment.  If she doesn't like playing sports and enjoys writing stories instead then she should be able to write stories.  Life is too short to be miserable over dumb things.  My intentions were good but we need to know our children and there are plenty of other ways to learn responsibility and committment and lots of other good lessons than by playing varsity basketball.  I always hated watching the girls play anyway.