As I enter my senior year of high school, feelings of excitement, happiness, sadness and anxiety flood my mind. As I prepare for my last season of field hockey during my high school years, feelings of nostalgia are already beginning to drown me.

Nostalgia is a funny thing. Sometimes, it can make you radiate happiness because you remember times that once meant the world to you. Other times, it can overwhelm you with sadness as you find yourself longing to travel back in time. Occasionally, though, it can be both of these things. A mixture of joy and heartache, a reason to reminisce and rejoice but also a source of dread as you think about the future.

Field hockey is not just a hobby for me. It is not simply a sport to play so I don’t have to go home after school or to make my college applications look better. Field hockey is part of my heart and soul, and it has molded me into the person I am today. My teammates and coaches have changed me for the better, and I am eternally grateful for them.

Through blood, sweat, tears, laughs, inside jokes and preseason, there are so many things that I have learned about myself and about the game that I wouldn't have been taught without it.

My team taught me the beauty in trusting others. They taught me how to stop being so hard on myself and to learn from my mistakes. They taught me the importance of having good sportsmanship even when the other team was playing dirty. Most importantly, they taught me that it is OK to depend on others because you cannot do everything by yourself. These girls taught me more about life and family than I ever could have imagined.

I learned to appreciate and respect my teammates and the importance of teamwork. Not everyone on a team is going to get along outside of the sport, and that is OK. No one says you have to like everyone all the time.

However, the second you step onto that field, that is your teammate, and you cannot play that game without them. On a field hockey field, you have the goalie, the defenders, the midfield and the offensive players, and as a team, one group of those players could not function without the others. Teamwork is such a key aspect of life and after being an athlete, you value the sense of teamwork and how important everyone is to the success of the team. In any job, teamwork is going to be important, and you need everyone.

I learned to be persistent and reach my goals and to not give up so easily. My coaches have created such strong-willed athletes, and now I know nothing is impossible (the word even says 'I'm possible!'); if I set my mind to it, I can do anything.

The push to run that extra lap, push out that extra rep, hang in there for another set, sprint a little harder or take one more shot when you wanted to give up and thought it wasn't possible... They have taught me it is indeed possible.

A little motivation will go along way. Coaches have no doubt in you and will push you to your highest potential. Without my coaches, I would not be who or where I am today. They have been there to give me that extra little nudge to go out and seek a little more of the “I'm possible.”

There are plenty of times where I didn’t perform at my best, but seeing my teammates succeed validates why I am here. Being part of a team is a whole other kind of relationship. Everyone supports each other. Some might show it differently, but I don't care what people say; a team is a team. We stick together.

Whether we are yelling at each other for not having our sticks down or guarding our player. It sounds like it is coming from a negative place because it is more critical than informational. Either way, we are expressing our feelings because we care. That's the thing: it's much bigger than a sport. Once you get past all the silly stuff, you find the perfect medium. Teammates stick up for each other on and off the field. We may not always get along all the time, but all families fight and disagree. We do not share the same blood, but we are definitely a family.

If you don't play sports, the reason why I highly encourage you to join a team is because it never hurts to try something new. If you don't like it, you can at least say you tried. Being a part of something bigger than yourself is unbelievably rewarding.

Field hockey has been the glue that has been holding everything together.