Since the moment I enrolled at Knox College, people, friends as well as family, have spouted negative remarks concerning the quality of athletics at division three schools, often times reprimanding them as a pointless attempt at playing a sport beyond our capabilities. These criticisms worsened after I announced my joining of the college's softball team. Friends joked about our lost cause and our slim chance of winning. Little did they know that these jokes felt like insults, not only toward me but my teammates as well.

What these critics fail to understand is that participating in a division three sport means so much more to me and every other athlete in a division three sport. While the adrenaline you get during a close match is an exhilarating feeling and the desire to win is always present, there is so much more to playing a sport.

The first thing I want to address is the passion that division three athletes put forth while playing the game. The football team at Knox College arrives an entire month prior to the beginning of classes to attend camp to get in shape for the season. Being a manager for the team, I can see how much work and dedication they put forth each and every day. They spend hours at practice reviewing plays and perfecting them. The softball team will soon begin practices in two weeks, focusing on conditioning and techniques such as throwing and batting, despite the season not starting until the following year. The same passion and commitment is seen throughout each and every sport at Knox College and at other division three schools no doubt.

And the hours of hard work put forth by athletes is rewarded.

When I initially joined the team last year, the primary reason was the opportunity to make friends. Being a socially awkward teenybopper, I wasn't the most skilled when it came to approaching other human beings and initiating conversation. In fact, I went out of my way to avoid eye contact so as to not permit the opportunity to speak to me. But I knew that joining the team would be an entirely different matter. In order to play with them, I needed to speak to them, which I did, eventually. To this day, I am entirely grateful for the friendships I have made among my teammates (although the running and conditioning sometimes makes me question it). The nights out cheering on our assistant coach at his slow pitch games, going to the movies to watch Suicide Squad and other fantastic films, adventuring around Walmart and buying enough junk food to give us diabetes are what make all of our hard work worth it.

To me, it doesn't matter whether I am a part of a division one team or a division three team. I don't care about what others have to say about D3 athletics, whether or not they think we're good or work hard. What matters to me is that I have an opportunity to play a sport that I love and with an amazing group of girls.