Looking at the schedule there is a game Monday, meet Tuesday, game Wednesday, workout Thursday, Friday another game, and Saturday a Invitational. This is one of the most challenging weeks of dual athlete that competes in cross-country and soccer. I know this challenge of physical stress, mental pressure, responsibility, and motivation. Being dedicated to two sports challenges one to push barriers and extend belief, in which it creates this harmonious feeling of love for this experience. Living this life for three years now makes myself certain that I am living my dream.
Both sports start on the same day in fiery August, both being two hours and totaling four hours of training. This extremely demanding time makes me feel like a professional athlete who dedicates their lives to training in hope of success .The push looking forward into the next practice but also being in the moment of a very different sport. Pouring out sweat all day long like a spring shower makes the duty very demanding to be responsible for oneself in hydration and recovery. I find this period to be one of the funnest time of the season as you grow with your teammates and it has so much freedom before your have to hunker down for games and meets.
As school comes around this limits practices to once a day but this also keeps the schedule full as homework demands most left over time. I find this the most stressful part as it also starts games and meets with classes. The breaking point occurs here to in which I find if I’m prepared for the physical demanding athleticism of two sports. The butterfly’s and the general nervousness is another challenge,approaching each race or game. It takes time to get in the rhythm and flow of competition. I love the blow of the whistle or the shot of the gun as it starts both off and the challenge is on. Competing for what I have trained all summer for with vitality, endurance, creativity, and determination.
The tipping point occurs when the season is mostly passed and the hard weeks starting hitting with the six hard days in a row of three soccer game, two meets and a workout. Honestly it unrealistic as an athlete to do this because it doesn’t give enough time for an athlete to recover but it feels amazing lost in the drive to compete. From this point on though you hit the critical period in which every chance for a ball is danger for a hurt ankle or every header could lead to a concussion. That every game is going to use your energy that could be saved for a cross country race and how much time is there to recover. This plants fear in myself that the chance of messing up is so great like walking on a tightrope, that you could fall off with too much weight on either side. Also the last cross country races are the most important compared to the rest of the season of races if you want to continue the season.The soccer games also become more important to, as every game becomes your last game if you do not succeed.
Strength is tested physically and mentally as the drive to work hard has never been so demanding. The chance of ending so far from any goal I have and left with complete loss. Running on thin ice on a pond is what it is like in which the first steps seem strong enough and that you didn’t have to worry but then there are cracks forming. You run as the ice below you cracks and each step if not quick enough could plunge you into the freezing pond. The best part of this point in the season though is the all or nothing attitude I go to, in which with every competition it might be your last race so I willing to risk everything.
At this point strength changes to hope, that any chance of weakness will be impossible to touch you. A season therefore brings change to a person and as we see with spring, winter, fall, and summer so does the environment. With the fall season we get stronger, ready for the cold of winter but still fighting for warmth we knew in summer. That is true with the sports that by the end you are stronger mentally and physically. We become what we have worked for now matter how difficult the challenge.
