It’s different now, I get that. Team sports were your entire life. They shaped you into who you are today, and there is nothing that will ever change that. But, I do understand the nostalgia of past years that come to light every time a soccer ball touches your feet or you shoot a basketball or you step onto a track. You miss it more than anything, and you would give anything to have it back.
You miss the entire atmosphere of a bus ride to a game, where everyone is getting amped listening to music and too anxious to wait any longer for the bus to stop. That feeling when you were running so hard and so fast you thought your legs were going to fall off and your lungs were going to explode. Spending time with your teammates eating carbs and watching “She’s The Man.” Hell, you even miss early morning practices because that meant that you had another 2 hours of doing what you ultimately love the most. Nothing will ever compare to those feelings. The feeling of success and the feeling of determination from failure. It’s an indescribable feeling that you will never get back, though you wish so badly that it would.
You have sweatshirts, jackets, and t-shirts reading name after name after name of the teams you’ve played for, the tournaments you’ve been in, and the championships you’ve won. You even wear your old jerseys to the gym, feeling a little better as you’re sprinting on the treadmill. They make you proud and you want everyone to read them, wondering about your past accomplishments as an athlete. You tell friends stories and stories of the time “one of your teammates did this” and when “this happened in a game.” And it kills you because you will never have that experience again.
You see college athletes wearing their new sports gear, and you can’t help but stare in envy. You wish more than anything that that were you sporting that new jacket. You get a little bit sadder each time you see a team eating together at lunch, because you remember the times you did that with your team, and you wish you still could. But, it’s not all that bad.
You had your time as an team sport athlete, and sadly, it came to an end sooner than it may have for others. But now you get to take on a new perspective as the watcher and the supporter. You’ve spent most of your lifetime to be the one everyone was cheering for, now you can take that pride and cheer on others. You can be the one who supports from the bleachers, and is glad enough to do so.
