As a high school senior, you’ll be faced with a lot of “lasts.” Your last first day of school, your last homecoming game, your last round of midterms. As graduation approaches, your “lasts” will get even more specific. You’ll start to think things like “This is the last time I’ll be in the cafeteria on a Wednesday,” or “This is the last time I’ll take notes in this classroom.” But, there’s nothing quite like your last season as a high school athlete.
In some cases, you’ll be continuing your sport in college, so you only have to say goodbye to your current team and coaches. But in other cases, like mine, not only will you be walking away from your friends and high school field, you’ll be saying goodbye to your sport altogether. Both of these are scary and sad feelings for a lot of reasons. It’s important to know how to make the most of your last season as a high school athlete
The first thing you should do is remember to appreciate every moment, even the stressful ones. Cherish every win and every loss with your team. Make the most of every long bus ride to away games. Bond with your teammates as much as you can. You might not ever get the chance to bundle up under your uniform for games on cold nights, huddling together with your teammates at every spare moment to keep warm. Listen closely to every speech your coach gives you, even if you may have heard the same things a million times. Enjoy every hard practice and every long game, because they’ll be over soon.
Team bonding is probably most important. The friendships you make with your teammates as a high school athlete could last forever. Even when you don’t have your sport anymore, and even when the team isn’t a team anymore, you will always have a bond with the people you played with. Your teammates are the ones who have seen you at both your highest and lowest moments, on and off the playing field. Cherish these people and make the best of the time you have left with them. Remember to keep in touch with them always, even when you’ve all moved on to bigger and better things.
Another important thing to remember is to listen closely to everything your coach or instructor tells you. They (usually) know what they’re doing, and can provide a lot of helpful advice not only for your sport, but for your life after high school. Take every pep talk and lecture seriously. Also, the more you bond with your coach, the more helpful they’ll be when it comes to recommendation letters for college, internships, and even future jobs.
Even though it is your last season as a high school athlete, it’s not time to slack off. There’s nothing better than completing your last season with a big tournament win or as a title holder. Work as hard as you can to get to that point. And, even if you don’t come away with a win, you won’t look back and regret not working hard enough.
Finally, you should remember to take some things with a grain of salt. If your coach yells at you, it’s not the end of the world. A loss in a game won’t ruin your life. Life goes on after high school, and while you should be working as hard as you can during your last sports season, you should remember to have as much fun as you can while you still have time.