HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM: For the love of the game

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By McCall Meade, Williamsburg senior

WILLIAMSBURG - As an athlete we are constantly asked “Why do you put yourself through that? Why would you waste your time being in pain when you could do something more enjoyable?”

Why? Why? Why?

Maybe we are a little crazy. Maybe we don't know any different. Maybe it's all we've got.

Maybe it's something inside each and every athlete that makes us want to excel and push our bodies to the limit just to see how far we can go. Or maybe it's our burning desire to be the absolute best.

Whatever it is, there is nothing that can compare with the athlete's mindset.

The dictionary defines an athlete as “a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina.” Trained and skilled are key words in that definition. Each and every athlete has skills, brains, coordination or the mindset.

As an athlete we must learn how to accept our skills train them. I believe we are born athletes whether we have the skills or not.

NBA great Tim Duncan once said “Good, Better, Best. Don't ever let it rest until your good is better than your best.”

The will to improve is constant. What is the fun of doing something if there is no room for improvement?

The question is does the drive for improvement start when frustration sets in when we fail to do something perfect or when we decide we will do anything to be the best and nothing is going to come between us and accomplishing our goals?

Maybe it's a little bit of both. Coaches can constantly tell their athletes what to work on, but what it really comes down to is if we want to improve. The coach cannot run sprints or do the drills to make us better. It's us who decide to make the change and work for what we want.

Waking up at 6 a.m. - or earlier - during the summer is not ideal, but it's worth it. It's a lifestyle we have grown accustomed to. Get up, brush your teeth, drive to school and start your day with lifting and conditioning - pushing our bodies every morning to get an edge on the competition.

The music is blasting, the cement floor is slick from the Iowa's summer humidity, metal plates are being slapped on and words of encouragement are shouted to keep us pushing.

To some it may be our own personal hell, but to us it is our workshop. It's the place where we carved out and shaped up to be a special kind of person who represents our school, coaches, teammates, families and - most importantly - our love for the game.

The thrill of playing at home and whooping the opponents at their house is only a little bit of why we do what we do. It's more for the love of competition and the fact all these hours of hard work come down to one moment of opportunity.

The fight, the drive and the love of the game help us strive to make our dreams reality.

It's not merely a sport to us. It's what we do, it's what we know, it's what we love.

We all have reasons why we participate in athletics, but deep down we all know we do it for the little girl or boy who fell in love with competing and never looked back.

Some may call us crazy, but we call ourselves athletes.