Many students at every university and college participate in some sort of sport. Whether it be the easier club and intramural sports or the rigorous Varsity sport we all have a commitment. I joke that I signed my name with blood and tears but I was not far off. Dont get me wrong there are a ton of things to be thankful for when it comes to sports like the bonds and friendships you share with your team and all the memories but sometimes life gets hard.
1. Everything hurts and I'm dying.
There were few days that I woke up and something wasn't sore or hurting. Ice has become my best friend, your bond will become inseparable. People will soon look at you like you are crazy because of the ice taped to your legs and you will frequently get the question " what did they do to you?" but you know better.
2. Eat, sleep, practice repeat.
With practice everyday for 3 plus hours will work outs thrown in there, there is no time to do anything else, mainly because you are too tired to do anything. Finding time to go to class, do homework, practice, workouts, maybe some time for friends but it all seems to become a blur if you are not in practice. When you do not have practice you are not sure what to do with yourselves, FREE TIME? WHAT IS THiS?? It is all for the love of the sport, right?
3. Losing.
In every athletes life they have experienced a loss, but if the loss wasn't enough the silent bus ride back to campus makes it worse. There is no worse feeling (other than injury) than losing a big game or match, well really anything. We set such high expectations and when things do not work out we tend to beat ourselves up. No one likes seeing their teammates down in the dirt and the sad part is there is not much to get everyone out of this rut, at least not on this bus ride. Losing is a good thing because in the end it makes you work harder in practice and in the next competition you have.
4. Injury
Injury is the worst, going through an injury myself there is nothing that you want more than to get back to practice. Suddenly every suicide and mile ran becomes precious and all you want is to be doing them again. Depending on the injury, you could be out for the season and that kills the hope that you were clinging too thinking you would make an incredible come back this season and win everything. Rushing back into practice no matter how much you want to would make it even worse and your injury is not just going to go away by pushing yourself too hard and too fast. It is also hard on the team to see you like this, remember were all one big family and of course its not the same when you are not there.
5. Laundry
If your room has not smelled like sweaty gym clothes, you are either lying or not trying hard enough. Your roommates will hate the way you leave your gear every where and might remind you to do laundry more than once a week. Febreeze will become your best friend and you will go through a can a week when you are in season. I do not mind doing laundry but it is just a hastle (even though we get a free laundry service, but who wants someone else to be tortured by our disgusting sweaty clothing). Sometimes it feels like the smell will never leave as if it has embedded itself and will never let go .
Why do we do it? Well the love of the sport outweighs everything else. No gains can be made with out some sort of sacrifice and in this case it usually is sleep and social time but who cares? Eventually you learn to balance it all but it is not easy, but then again what is? surely not all those sprints.
