Thank You. I feel like you don't hear those words enough. You chose to take time out of your day to help me become a better athlete, the least I could do is tell you how much I appreciate you for doing that. 4 years. 4 years of aches and pains, 4 years of sweat all down my face and in my eyes, and 4 years of tears, resulting from either frustration or happiness. Through all of that
When people think of coaches, most think of them as "teachers of the sport", but to me, you are so much more than that. You pushed me and tested my limits without mentally and physically destroying me. You took my personal life into consideration and genuinely cared about what was going on my life, you would never tell me to "snap out of it, this is practice". You helped me become the healthy athlete I am today. I am mentally, physically, and spiritually tough because of you.
You stuck by my side even when everyone else lost faith in me. My junior year, I was no longer the "big shot" on the team, in fact, I was struggling to even still be on varsity. I went to number one , to number three, to number five. Everyone said I was "burned out" and "no good" but you would always pull me aside and tell me, "Don't pay attention to what they say. I am here. I am always here for you. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you," most coaches would've given up on their athletes after a full season of struggling and falling back, but not you, that made you test me and push me more. You pulled me aside and asked what I needed and what I wanted to do, not anyone else, but me. You focused on what I wanted and you helped me get there.
My senior year I finally got what I had been working my butt off for the previous 3 years for. I'm turning the corner to run the last 400m of the race that has always defined me as a runner. Each year everyone expected less and less of me because I never performed up to their expectations at that time. Everyone but you. You didn't let my poor state level performance get to me or define me as a runner, you just told me to keep my head up and move on. This year I wasn't even on the top 30 rankings even though I have clocked the times to be, but you embedded it in my brain that I can do anything I set my mind to, and that is exactly what I did. Last 400m of the race and I hear you yell out that I am in 10th place, seconds later I fall back 12th, I felt it slipping away, but then I remembered you. All the work you had me do, all the little talks we had, and all of the faith you had in me that no one else ever had. I crossed that finish line in 9th place out of almost 300 people. 9th place when in the previous year I was 68th. The first thing I did when I got out of that gate was to hug my mom and then hug you because you two are the reason why I got here as a person and as an athlete, I hugged you to say thank you. You stayed with me all these years and had faith in me when no one else did and for that I want to tell you, I appreciate you.
