For anyone who thinks playing a sport in college is not worth it, you are completely mistaken. Yeah, you may have heard the downsides such as losing hours of sleep because you have to finish homework in-between practice, workouts and competition. You spend months away from your family because you cannot go home on the weekends to see them. You get random bruises and pains for reasons you don’t know. It even takes a toll on you mentally. You get so caught up in the sport and the training that it just drains you. But has anyone told you the amazing things you experience? You join a team and become friends with every single person on that team. You guys meet for workouts and practice, and maybe lunch occasionally. Then there is team bonding where you share laughs and smiles playing board games and watching pitch perfect over and over again just because you can’t get enough of it. Oh, and you can't forget about the Disney obsessions we all have. That’s only the beginning. You become much closer with these people because now you are spending so much more time with them. Workouts become pushing each other to be stronger and practices become pushing each other to be better and to never give up. Driving to tournaments and practices are fun because we drive for hours together jamming out to throw-back songs and telling each other stupid jokes while reminiscing on memories. These are the memories you will never forget. We become closer when we have to sleep in the same beds, face to face, during hotel stays for far away travels.

We go from strangers to teammates, teammates to best friends and best friends to family. We become one soul where our hearts beat as one. As teammates, you understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. You understand the desire to win and the disappointment when you lose. We pick each other up when we are down. “Together we conquer and divided we fall.”. These are the memories in college you will never forget with the people you will always remember. Never take advantage of your teammates because they are the people who will always have your back no matter how tough things get and they will be your rock when you need someone to hold you up. As a sophomore, I have only been with my team for a year and a half but I can tell you this. These girls are the ones I can go to with anything. Playing on a college sports team will be tough and you may want to give up once or twice, but I promise you it is definitely worth it in the end. Your teammates and the memories you share make it all worth it.

To my team, without you guys, I don’t what I would have done during the hard times… so thank you. Thank you for the special memories and thank you for the laughs. Thank you for the endless jokes told in van rides and the endless quoting from pitch perfect… they make my days a lot better. Thank you for being my rock even after all I have done. I can’t thank all of you enough for being who you are, each one with different personalities. Thank you for being my team and my friends… but most of all, thank you for being my family.

So to anyone who cannot decide whether or not you want to join a team, I would recommend doing it. Not only for the satisfaction and the love of the sport but for the family you will make with the people you spend your days with.