I thought I hated the sports team I was a part of and all the volunteer positions I had throughout my high school career. I always immediately assumed that I was doing it just for the sake of having something else, something more, to put on my prestigious resume, in order to “stand out”. It wasn’t a part of me or a part of how I defined myself, or so I thought.

Very early on, I got into the routine of sports. It was part of my family and something that I was highly encouraged to participate in. Although I did it quite voluntarily, I thought for sure that I would stop as soon as college commenced. And I did stop for an entire year. I worked out in the gym here and there but it didn’t compare to being on the track and cross country team since middle school, practicing for two hours or more every day after school.

Not only was the intensity high because of our competitiveness and highly ranked team, but we were all in it together. We went through blazing, hot practices with the Floridian sun relentlessly beaming down on us. We took ice baths together, numbing our sore legs in ice cold water. We sacrificed our weekends for each other.

My teammates became my family and thus we created an unbreakable bond. Not only was my after-school time constantly filled, during the competitive season, every Saturday included a meet in some out-of-town school, often times arriving home quite late and then having to wake up early for church the following Sunday morning. I never had a free weekend to simply relax but I thrived during that overwhelmingly busy schedule.

In addition to my extensive sports commitment, I volunteered with several organizations on a weekly basis. I would often go straight from practice to volunteer in order to complete as many hours as possible. This was another important aspect of my life that I thought I completely despised because I always thought of it as a chore, thinking that I could very well be spending that precious time studying.

But little did I know that I would continue in the footsteps of my formative high school years. Not only did I miss the time commitment and the pressure it put on my time management, I missed the community that I built through the two most important activities I engaged in. There is something that being part of a sports team can never compare to. Because of this, not only have I decided to join the crew team this semester and plan to continue being part of the team until I graduate, I have also joined a volunteer group that helps kids with Down Syndrome read.

Overall, even though what we do in high school may seem trivial and we might even be sure that we will never be doing that certain activity ever again, I think it’s important to realize that we kept up with those activities for a reason.

Even when it seemed like we had no time, or didn’t have any more effort to give we persevered because ultimately what we do becomes dear to our hearts and it becomes a part of us.