Senior year of high school brings a lot of lasts. Last year of high school, last Homecoming football game as a high school student, and for a majority of high school athletes, the last time they will ever take the field, lace up and get on the court, or even run the track one final time.
The fact of the matter is only a select number of high school athletes get the chance to prove themselves at the collegiate level. That means that following high school graduation, most athletes may never get to participate in the sport they love.
This has been the case for me since graduating high school. I haven't been a part of a track team since I graduated high school. While my season didn't end with winning State, I accomplished so much. That season of track taught me so much about life and myself.
One thing that senior season of track taught me is to never give up. While running the 2 mile (3200 m) at sectionals in Tuscaloosa, about halfway through, my knee (which had been injured years before in football) started hurting. I had two options. I could have either given up, or fought through and finished the race.
I chose to finish that race. It was extremely painful, and by the end, I was nearly in tears, but I finished. I not only finished that race, but I finished with my best time in the 3200 m run for the season, which was good enough for a top 10 finish in the section Southeastern was in at the time in class 2A. Although it wasn't quite good enough to qualify for State (I had the time to qualify, but they only take top 5), I felt so accomplished by fighting through that adversity throughout that run.
Another thing that season taught me is to enjoy every chance you have to compete. Each competition you take part in is one step closer to the end. I learned that once it's over, that's the end of your opportunity to cement a legacy for yourself in the sport you love. Initially, after the end of the 3200 m run, I waited anxiously for the results of the run as I sat in the medical tent (I received an ice pack for my knee, since it was determined I had an inflamed tendon in my knee).
When the results were posted, I must admit that I cried a little in disappointment when I learned that my place of finish wasn't quite good enough for State. It wasn't necessarily the disappointment of not making it to State, because I knew if I had, I would've only had a week to not only rehab my knee, but also prepare and work hard to compete to win State. I cried more out of the disappointment of knowing my athletic career was over.
Neither of the colleges I have been to have had an interscholastic track team unfortunately,so my athletic career officially ended the last weekend of April 2015. During that season, I had enjoyed each opportunity I had to compete, no matter how warm or cold it was (our first track meet of the season in Albertville was cold) or even how sunburned I got.
One final thing that season taught me was to enjoy every practice you have left, because those practices only put you in a better position to be ready to compete and get better. I must admit, at times I wondered if all the practice would be worth it, but in the end, that practice translated for me come time for meets, because with each meet, no matter what long distance race I was running (this is anything from 400 m to 3200 m, when the results were posted, I noticed my times improving significantly each time.
The last practice I had, which was the day before sectionals, we had seriousness but fun. I did not know at that point that practice would be my last of my athletic career, but I practiced like my career depended on it. I let loose a little, but I was all business that practice as well. I feel that without that practice, I probably wouldn't have gotten my best time, even with a hurt knee.
My advice for any high school student nearing the end of their athletic career is to just enjoy every moment. Enjoy the tough practices, the hard fought wins and tough losses. Those are the memories you look back at most and realize that you would go back and do it all again if you had the opportunity.
