Blog #4

I have always been a firm believer in the fact that every experience good or bad should be a learning experience. College athletics is no different. Four years of your life you will be asked to balance 6am weights, 1:30pm volunteer opportunity, 3pm practice, 8pm study hall, a personal life, and 4-class load. You will be told your game is 4 hours away and we will arrive home at approximately 2am when you have a 8am test the next day. College athletics are a learning opportunity. Everything you do in athletics can be related to real life. I learned three main lessons through college athletics.

1. Big fish small pond - small fish big pond.

Coming from a school with 20 kids I was always considered to be athletically inclined. Sports were easy; being good sometimes took little to no effort. The move to college athletics was rough. All of a sudden, there were 20 people all athletic. I learned that I was no longer the star. Its important to understand at college athletics you will play a specific roll. You must use you're strengths as an advantage. Work on your weaknesses hard to improve. If you're a great defender, but an average shooter you need to understand that. Play great defense. Let your best shooter take the shots.

2. Your team becomes your family

In college athletics you will more than likely be spending more time with your team than with your actual family. Between playing games, practicing, lifting at 6am, traveling to games, study halls, volunteer work, you will be with the team constantly. Don't be afraid to lean on your teammates. Understand you will probably have a fight with a teammate, but just like a family does, you will get over it.

3. Never take anything for granite.

Its only 4 years you get to travel with you best friends. Your food and gas is paid for. Yes, it takes a lot of time, but I guarantee that once your time is over and you enter your sport retirement, you will be wishing you could go back. Celebrate every win, on and off the field. Each game, each trip, each practice is a memory. As days go by be thankful that you are having the opportunity to play a sport. Furthermore, be thankful you are having the opportunity to probably pay for your school by simply playing a game. You can’t ever forget how blessed you are to play a sport you love.

Looking back at my college career these are three things that we must understand as we give all of our blood, sweat, and tears. As an athlete will you remember every detail of every game you won? No, but you will remember the little things that happened during your college career.