She took role, pronouncing practically everyone’s names wrong, including mine. The entire second grade class laughed as the substitute teacher turned Marina into Mariana, and Conrad into Ken-rad. I laughed at the substitutes extra letter in my name, but Conrad didn’t laugh at his new name. He gave Mrs. Woodward a sassy response, after being told he would get much farther in life if he respected people. With even more attitude than before, he claimed he didn’t need other people because he is good at sports. Mrs. Woodward’s response was one that I would never forget, “sports can only take you so far.”
I always expected sports to take me one step further than they did. My whole life, soccer has been my excuse. A “B” on a paper was not ideal, but acceptable in my house because it was inevitable that soccer would get me into school. Well, here I am applying to colleges. No, I don’t have to fill out NCAA forms along with my applications. Thanks to a combination of many doctors’ opinions, this season will include my last game as a competitive athlete.
Mrs. Woodward had it right, sports only took me so far. It’s the classic story of an injury leaving dedicated athlete with nothing. As my last season on the field kicks off, I have started to reflect on the dedicated, committed years I have spent playing soccer.
Commitment is huge in competitive sports. Coaches always nag players for missing practice. Some coaches claim to understand some conflicts, but do they really? Sometimes it feels like the only valid excuse for missing a practice is a tragic event, there comes a point where school and homework just don’t cut it.
Many classes require outside preparation, not just an hour of homework here and there. It’s mandatory study hours at school and group projects with inflexible partners. It is a given that athlete’s social life will suffer. My club teammates alone over the past two years have missed close to 23 homecomings and 17 proms. That’s not a problem for many of us, but there are always those few criers and whiners. These are the little sacrifices you give up for your team.
The big question is what do you do when your grades start to turn from “A’s” to “C’s” and it feels like you are drifting away from dreams of being an astronaut or going to Stanford?
The answer is not a simple one. Mostly because one of the hardest things to do in life for any athlete is give up the sport that was once their only dream. For some people it happens gradually, they slowly give up the sport, incorporating other activities to take the place of that once dominant dream. It takes a strong-willed person to stand up and realize that this sport is taking away from the now bigger part of their life.
With my dream of playing soccer at the collegiate level completely shot down, I realize now that I need to put my love for the sport on the back burner. Without the security of being a recruit, my grades and essay are going to decide my future.
