Being an athlete is hard to many especially me. Staying healthy , focusing, making smart decisions and working hard all come with the package. Being an athlete also holds many challenges and each individual’s experience and be different. To some, being involved in athletics can be seen as effortless depending on the way they go about it. Humans have different perspectives in things or events in this case. For example, in track and field a distance runner may feel that running four laps is easy, however a high jumper who does not run long distance will feel as if four laps is too advanced and too long. Athletes can also be caused to always overthink a situation. Questions tend to float around them. “Will I win?”, “What if they are better than me?”. I am guilty to say that I always overthink and destroy myself mentally.
I am a runner. I’ve been doing track and field for about 10 years, and it had become sort of a safe haven. But with happiness can come some holes in the rode. My sophomore year of highschool i was competing in the high jump. i was in second place but if i would have cleared the bar i would have won the event. I was very confident as i approached the bar. “I got this, easy win”, my self conscience whispered. As I planted my foot and sprung into the air I heard a pop. Everyone went quiet as they heald their breaths. i tried to stand but pain shot down to my toes. i let out a shout and fell back into the mat. “Is it over?” were the first words in my head. I guess “easy”or “confidence” wasn’t the right words to use for that particular day. I had tore my ACL completely. I did a full year of physical therapy and sat out of what I loved to do the most that whole entire year. At the beginning of my senior year. I trained hard to get back in shape and win the state sectionals. The key is that i never gave up. Even though I stopped having hope for a while, i was patient and found another oppertunity. Giving up is the “easy way out” but I accepted the challenge and used it as an advantage. I began asking myself again “Will i win?”, “Can i do it?” and it helped me alot.
Challenges can steer the person away from trying but can also teach them a lesson or cause them to find another way to go about something. A true athlete had to already or will experience a challege that will render them mentally or physically.