Dear Athletes,

So you just graduated high school and you are embarking onto the next chapter of your life. However for most, you will not get to continue your dream in the sport you love. I am here to tell you that at the start it is hard. For all the fall athletes, you are watching everyone kind of get prepared for the season with two a days, or long runs or maybe even scrimmages. As you see everyone get ready, you kind of look back on the huge games you played in, the big moments you got to be apart of, and for some, maybe the championships you got to bring home.

Being a high school athlete is everything at the time. You put everything into the game you love and you might of dedicated your whole life to and it just did not work out in your favor to move forward. You think of all the hard work, the long practices, the sacrifices that come with loving a sport and giving up absolutely everything for it. Sometimes while in college you think, what if I would of done something different, what if I would of dedicated my life to a different sport or not a sport at all.

Then you get to college and you start to kind of find your friend group and you realize that everyone at one point in time played a sport and here they are just another student like you. They might of been the star quarterback, the best runner in their conference, the setter that never could be quit good enough but was pretty good. And you will sit there and listen to everyones stories just as you were remembering yours not too long ago.

So you have these friends that at one point were all athletes just like you so now you guys go out and play basketball, maybe throw the football and baseball. You find yourself thinking, maybe I could do club sport. But if you are not sure you are ready to dedicate that much time to it then you will stick with IM.

Sports are great, it gives you the friends who might still be with you till the day you leave high school and the day you leave college. It teaches you dedication, motivation, determination and gives you a work hard mentality. It gives you all the memories good and bad.

So I guess I am saying if you are still disappointed that you are not continuing your dream of playing at the next level do not let it bring you down. You still have a way of playing the sport you love, it just might not be the say competitive style you are use to. But as long as you remember your passion for the game and the dedication, you will never lose the sport you love. Who knows, maybe one day you will find yourself coaching the game and giving someone else the chance to go live their dream.

Sincerely,

A Former High School Athlete