I’ve been called a lot of names in my twenty years, some offensive and some just plain weird. Names and labels were never my biggest concern though, as my mother always told me there was nothing wrong with me and – because mother knows best – I always took her claims to heart rather than the words of others who didn’t really know me.

Coming out of high school, I’m sure we’ve all heard girls and boys around us called just about every name in the book; Bitch. Jackass. Loser. Slut. Geek. The list could go on and on as we keep getting more and more creative with our insults. Hit up Urban Dictionary and you’ll find tons of ways to describe attitudes you never knew there were words for.

And that is exactly where I headed the first time someone referred to me as a NARP.

For those of you who don’t know, NARP stands for “Non-Athletic Regular Person.” Look it up on Urban Dictionary and you’ll find this:

Which was hilarious to me, as the lacrosse team at my school was my first source of the word. The definition itself doesn't sound too bad, but look at the hashtags below it. Is that really how you are seen if you aren't part of a school sports team? I’d see and hear the term everywhere: in the halls, on YikYak, in the cafeteria. And, like most “NARPS”, I saw it for exactly what it was:

A stupid, childish discrimination that shows how little any of us have actually evolved since leaving high school.

Most people took it as a joke, because to be honest the term itself really is. I laughed when I heard the term, smirked when I read the definition. Because, in theory, that is what I am. We “NARPS” are college students who don’t have to worry about games or practices. We have the freedom to work, to give all of our attention to our jobs and our studies. But why should the fact that we don’t participate on a school sports team label us as “non-athletic” or “regular”?

You’ll see NARPS at every sporting event, on intramural teams, or in the gym working off a stressful day. They’ll spend just as many hours in the library as an athlete and they will work just as hard to be an involved student. While athletes are down at the field house training they’re not just laying around doing nothing. They're at jobs on and off campus, or participating in school activities. Whether or not a student is on a sports team should not determine whether or not they are athletic. It should not prove if they are regular or irregular. In the end, we are all just college students trying to do our best in whatever we are striving to do.

We all have different skills, different time constraints and different reasons for being at the school of our choice. Maybe you’re here for sports, and good for you if you are because you have the passion and skill to keep pushing yourself for the game that you love. Some people are at school strictly for an academic education, to work on themselves and nothing else. And that shouldn’t make them regular because they are trying just as hard as anyone else, just in different ways.

I probably refer to myself as a NARP multiple times a day. But sometimes, as I say the word aloud, cannot help but feel the context behind it and hate that this distinction even exists. While I embrace the term upon myself, you won’t find me tossing it at other students. Leave the labels in high school, or toss them aside all together. We’re all college students, and we’re all moving forward. Be an athlete, be a NARP, be whatever you want to be. But regardless you should always treat everyone around you with respect.

And if the term NARP really isn’t going anywhere? Well then we may as well redefine it so that anyone (student athlete or not) can embrace it.

N-A-R-P: “Non Apologetic Rad Person”

You’re welcome.