She was undefeated, invincible and made every girl want to be her and every guy afraid of her. I personally wanted to be like her, tough as nails and as strong as can be, but after she lost to Holly Holm, I no longer wanted to be her.

I didn’t not want to be her because she lost, but because of what she said in an interview on Ellen after the loss. She said, “What am I anymore if I’m not this? I was literally sitting there and thinking about killing myself.” She said that she wanted to end her life because of a loss, because she didn’t feel like herself because she wasn’t undefeated.

I understand suicide, I’ve seen it rip apart families and tear friendships in half. I’ve seen an entire school’s heart break and watched a soccer team lose faith because of someone committing suicide. It's not that I’m heartless, but I’m passionate about how we use the phrase, “kill myself.” People with serious illnesses and heartbreaking catastrophes contemplate suicide, so Rousey’s words made suicide look like something you just do when you hit a road bump, which is not the case.

I thought that Ronda Rousey was everything; pretty, strong, and confident, so why would I not want to be her? I don’t want to look up to her because of the way she handled a loss. I understand she was upset, I would be too if I had been handed my first loss ever, but I’d be upset and then move on. As an athlete, I know how great a win feels and I know how awful a loss feels, but both have made me the athlete I am today. I play harder to avoid the loss and when I lose I know I’ll push myself harder next time.

Being an athlete, you should know failure, it should be something you know very well, because it’s the failure that makes you who you are, not your success. Success is magnificent, and a feeling that is unlike any other, but it does not make you into a champion. What makes you into a champion is how you handle the loss. If you handle it with grace and work towards being better, you are a winner, as opposed to someone who takes one loss and loses focus of why they started in the first place.

Always remember why you play, compete, or perform and let it drive you. Don’t let success and the honor that comes with it drive you. Strive to be better than you were yesterday and work tomorrow to be better than who you are today. Don’t let you failure brand you, you aren't the athlete you are because of one poor outcome, you are the athlete you are because of how you've handled it.

I look up to those who mess up, fail, and lose, but work to be better, not those who work to be the best and then quit when they aren't.