To my friends, family, roommates, boyfriend, professors, and classmates:

Today marks the first day of the season. I know what you’re thinking, “You chose to play sports, so why does the start of season matter?” or “Don’t you practice year-round anyway?”. The answers to those questions are not as simple to explain as one would think, unless you are another athlete who understands the struggle of being a collegiate athlete.

The first practice of the season is the hardest practice of them all. It starts with a lot of talking, high expectations, pain, sweat, and usually tears. Your coach has a higher-than-he-should expectation of your physical strength and ability, as well as the idea that ever since season ended you have thought about nothing else but your sport. So, when the first practice of the season begins, you die.

You are pushed to your physical and mental ability almost right away, trying to adjust back to the pain and endurance your body once knew in the previous season. You attempt to show your coach that you can meet his expectations, only to crawl out of the gym once everything ends.

The adjustment back to season play is difficult. Once again, your life revolves around a sport that you will end up building a strong love-hate relationship with. All those nights that you could stay out until 2am, wake up at 11am, and finish that lab that is due on Monday are gone. Your schedule becomes air tight, so tight that you must schedule in when you will eat, shower, call home, and see your friends. Failure to be organized results in late homework, hungry stomach, smelly body, smelly clothes, and no friends.

To answer your questions, the start of season matters because all the times you said “I’ll do it tomorrow” and “I’ll be fine” hit you square in the face, and the repercussions are you unable to sleep in a normal position or walk like the average person for the rest of the week. And yes, we do practice year-round, but there is a huge difference in the environment between a captain and coach held practice. So, the practice I had ran by our captains is ran while improvements and skills being developed, while practices run by coaches are run to put everything together and be perfect for season. And perfection is not obtainable in the sport of softball so you can see where this becomes difficult.

So here is my message to all of you: you are all important and loved. Starting today I will not be able to check my phone or social media as often, but you look hot in the picture of you and that guy from the bar you put up on insta. And I don’t mean to make you want to gag in class because I haven’t had time to wash my practice shirts in a week, I don’t enjoy smelling I have just become immune to my body odor. Your phone call and texts all matter to me, really, I just might pass out after my shower because my body decided to shut down after our conditioning workout and I only had the strength to set my alarm for the next day. But I love you and you are all important to me, so please believe me when I say “I am in season”. It is not an excuse, but just an explanation of why I am a smelly, hungry, head-down gremlin limping around campus. Please continue to love me, as when May comes around I promise to be your normal, collegiate athlete friend once again.

Love,

Caitlyn