HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM: 'Don't wait to be great'

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By Craig Welter, Monticello senior

MONTICELLO — As I was growing up, sports were something I was incredibly passionate about.

I loved watching them, playing them and reading about them. My two older brothers were not close enough in age to play outside with me, so I had to make my own fun in the backyard. Growing up on a farm, there weren't any other kids my age nearby.

I remember running around, tossing a football to myself in the backyard and pretending I was playing on Monticello's Dean Nelson Field or Iowa State's Jack Trice Stadium in Ames. I made our slab of concrete the home to my future varsity basketball games or ISU's Hilton Coliseum.

I dreamed of being the hero in those make-believe games and I always tried to put the effort in to make them a possibility.

Going into my senior season, I realized this was my last chance. This would be the time for me and my teammates to control our destiny. I worked harder than ever last summer. Looking back, I wished I would have done more.

Going into the third game of our football season, we were 1-1 and felt we had a really good team that had a chance to make some noise around the state. During the third game, I took a step while making a block. Afterward it was incredibly painful to walk around.

I went to see a doctor the next day and, after getting a bone scan done, the results showed I had a stress fracture in my foot. I would be wearing a boot for the next four to six weeks, meaning my football season was all but over.

I was absolutely devastated. All of the hard work and pain I had gone through seemed to be gone in one single moment. That realization hurt more than any workout or practice I had ever gone through. It was just an empty feeling in my stomach and I felt it every single time I had to watch my teammates practice or play under the Friday night lights.

The thing that kept me going was we started to win. We won some games others never expected us to, proved a lot of people wrong and earned the school's first playoff berth since 1991. I did get to play bits and pieces of our final game, a loss to the eventual Class 2A runner-up in Waukon. All of that felt good, but I still felt the emotional sting from my injury.

I was determined to make sure my basketball season would turn out better.

Our team was 3-0 heading into the first home game of the season against one of the best teams on our schedule. Late in the game, we had a lead. My teammate, Sawyer Herman, got a steal and we headed into a fast break. He dropped off a pass for me that should have been an easy layup, but my knee gave out and I missed the shot. I joked with him later that I should have just called for the lob and dunked it. I went to the trainers room and my knee felt pretty good, but when I went back on the floor I realized I couldn't move side to side at all. I knew I had to take myself out of the game.

I tried playing the next day, but realized there was no chance of it happening. I gave it some time to rest and rehab over break, but during one of our practices it gave out worse than the first time.

After I got an MRI done, I realized my basketball season would be over.

The results showed a torn meniscus and a torn ACL, which meant a three to six month recovery after surgery. Basketball always was my favorite sport and now I would never get another chance to do the thing that I loved most.

But the news got worse.

The doctor told me that there was no chance of being able to run track either. That was when I absolutely lost it. I was so overwhelmed. Track was another sport I was incredibly passionate about. I had so many goals for myself and our team was looking for a repeat state championship. I wanted nothing more than to be able to be part of that. Now I won't get the chance to run on Drake's blue oval again.

If you are passionate about something, enjoy it every single day. Make goals for yourself and make the strides you need to reach them before it's too late. I waited until my chances were gone, even if that was only because they were cut short.

I wish I would have done a basketball workout every day or got myself in better shape for track, or lifted weights more often to avoid injuries. I still feel that sick feeling in my stomach days after I learned I needed surgery and I'm not sure when it will ever go away.

I don't want any high school athlete to ever have to go through what I went through because high school sports meant so much fun for me and they are one of the best opportunities to make memories for yourself.

I didn't write this to get sympathy. That is far from what I want. What I want is to reach out to high school athletes everywhere. I don't want anybody to have to go through what I went through.

If sports are something you are truly passionate about, don't be afraid to be extraordinary. Just because you don't have the greatest talent, or you aren't the tallest or the fastest, you can always give your best effort and improve yourself.

Don't be afraid to research what the great athletes in your sport do to be so incredible. Reach out to your coaches and tell them what you want to become.

Never put a limit on yourself, especially at a young age. As a high school student in an off-season, you have all of the time in the world. Take advantage of it. I wish I could have just one more game under the lights of Dean Nelson, or to hear 'Panther basket, Craig Welter' just one more time on our home floor, or even to run one of our track team's grueling 600 workouts.

It kills me to have to sit on the sidelines and watch the teammates that I've been playing with since we were 8 years old. The only place I want to be is on the court.

I always dreamed of being extraordinary, but I never put in the full effort needed to make that dream a reality. Even if my message only reaches out to one out of 1,000 athletes, I hope it can be used to motivate them to become the best that they can be.

Remember, your clock is ticking and the alarm can go off at any time. Don't wait to be great.