To the sport you left behind in high school

Of course, the moment you get to college, the only thing you can think about is the fact that there are no parents around, the parties, and the naps you’re going to take in between classes that you chose to take. Your first semester of college is life a whole new life with new friends and new opportunities. You’ve been able to let go of high school and realized you are at a new stage in life.  Seeing all of the college tours going on around you make it seem like forever ago that you were walking around different campuses trying to find the right match for you, but now, here you are, well into your second semester of college.

The Adjustment

Now that most of us, hopefully, have adjusted to the college life, it has become a habit and a routine to be away at school. But, have we really adjusted? In our first 18 years of existence, normally, a kid does the same thing every day with the same friends and family in the same house in the same town at the same school, and now that has all drastically changed. As the realization sets in, students might begin to miss the old routines that they had in high school, and more specifically, the sports that they participated in.

Classic FOMO

Whether it’s seeing the sports teams at your college or it gets to be that time of year again when you would always be getting ready to get back to conditioning, something will always be there to remind you about the sport you left behind in high school. The sport became a part of you, along with the teammates, the wins, the losses, the bus rides, the matching gear, and the nerves and adrenaline. You probably didn’t realize how much you would miss it until you were buried behind a pile of books reminiscing about the same exact time last year that you were entering your final pre season.

Where Did the Time Go?

Along with missing the sport itself, you miss everything that came along with it. Maybe when you got stressed out you’d run over to the gym to shoot baskets or the track to run a mile. Now, it might seem foreign to hold the ball or glove that once seemed to fit exactly to your hand or put on the shoes that have been sitting in your closet for months, untouched. You may even start to feel out of shape because you aren’t pushed to run a suicide at the end of practice, and YOU have to push yourself to get to the gym.  The teammates that lived five minutes from you may now live five hours away. Everything has changed, and it is all just a memory now.

Just like you, I left behind not only a high school sport but a piece of me. Track and field was a long six years filled with injuries, tears, joy and life long memories and friends. Not only did I grow as an athlete throughout these six seasons, but I also grew as a person. I learned to never give up, you might hit complete rock bottom before you can reach the top, and that sometimes, life is going to put obstacles in your way that you have to find your own way around. Then, once I finally reached my goal of breaking my school record in the 400 meter dash, I never forgot who was with me the whole way; my awesome teammates. Without these girls by my side, I probably would’ve have quit a long time ago, and I will forever be thankful for them for picking me up when I was down (literally and figuratively) and being the epitome of teammates. After all the complaining I did, I never thought I’d say that I miss track, but now that it’s really over, I find myself thinking about the “good old days” more often than I ever thought I would.

Although it’s sad, it’s all a part of growing up. You may wish you could lace up, dive into that cold water, or put that helmet on one more time, but your time has passed. You gave all you could give to that sport and your teammates, and you moved on to the next stage of your life. But, one thing your mind will never let you forget is that moment, the final moment in that pool, court, field, or track, where you silently said a fulfilled goodbye.