I kept going for the guy next to me performing to the best to his ability. Success was the result of all the hard relentless work done throughout June into August. I acknowledged that my team had a good group of seniors who were high character student-athletes I spent most of childhood with. Ultimately finishing with a record of 3 wins and 7 loses taught me many lessons on becoming a better person and
The first round of regionals approached and we were given the name of the team we would play for the first game. As we loaded the bus for departure nerves were floating throughout the air. But our traditional karaoke bus ride did not go unsung. The bus was filled with the voices of the girls I have grown up with and flashbacks of all the memories we had shared. I knew that this game had the full potential of being my last, but I would not have wanted to lose with anyone else.
Waiting in the gym for my results, I gave up on my hopes of getting a good ranking. The hours passed by very slowly. When the awards started, I felt my hopes drop even lower than before. This contest consists of 10-12 graders, and multiple duet and solo groups, so the anticipation level is very high. When they got to the 11-12 oboes, I didn’t expect much.
Then, tragedy struck the team; three of our fastest girls were injured and out for the season. Now, I wasn’t happy about them being sidelined, but it did finally give me a chance to recover my placement from the beginning of sophomore year. I wanted to help lead the team to state, and with what my coach had previously said, it didn’t appear to be too far out of my reach. However, “too far” should have been followed by an asterisk, as my season soon spiraled out of my
I’ll admit it, I’m not the best player on my team. And as we all know, there’s only so many spots for the varsity team. So in no way did I expect to make varsity as a sophomore. However, I didn’t expect my friends too, either. The preseason had gone well: we practiced in the gym
“The two opportunities I was able to go to the State Tournament were definitely my highlight moments.” Degler said. “It’s an experience you don’t always get to have, and we had a good group of girls who played hard and it all came together for us, we didn’t know it at the time but it’s something you look back on and remember.”
The course was muddy and slippery and damp. I knew that the last runners who were going qualify to state were going to run a nineteen-minute race. While other teams were practicing and warming up, my team was playing in the playground. From what I’ve been through this week, I know I wasn’t going to make it to state, but I still wanted to know how close I would be .The teams were called to the starting line and I was nervous.
Most high school athletes across America share one common aspiration: play their sport at the next level in college. For a select number of fortunate athletes, that dream becomes a reality when they commit to a school and sign their letter of intent. But are they really fortunate? College athletics are oftentimes not as glamorous as one would think. The transition to college is not a walk in the park, but add a rigorous summer conditioning program, two-a-days everyday, and the pressures of coaches you have yet to impress, and you have a recipe for disaster.
I watched the team as they celebrated their victory with the fans. I watched the players hug each other and cry with tears of joy. " So that 's what it would feel like to go to the state tournament," I heard myself say. As they continued to celebrate, I sat there wondering about the team and what kind of players contributed to their success.
Despite the newspapers and previews saying we would not contend for the state title that year, I kept in my head that anything could happen. Going into the year I told our team “lets focus on what we can do to improve, and not worry about anyone else”. At the beginning, other teams were too strong for our inexperienced runners to compete with, but we didn’t change the focus. Practice after practice, I made sure we were doing everything we could to be at our best for the end of the year. I didn’t care what other teams were doing because we had no control over that.
Get your ass over here and run!” I ran down the 3rd base line and stood next to coach. “I loved your work in the off season and I think you can find a starting spot on varsity.” My face gleamed with joy, I told thanked him and started warming up with the varsity squad. My first few varsity games I was the most nervous I have ever been in my life.
Night fell and to fill the down time advisors set up a V.I.P. party for qualifying chapters, although the Holyoke chapter qualified they were a little too busy to go, doing what you might ask? You guessed it, studying. The Sr. and Jr. teams studied until the party was dismissed somewhere around 11:00pm then off to sleep for an early
So I bravely walked up to that piece of paper. I read through the names, first looking at the varsity list, then I read the JV list. And my name was there! I was so ecstatic to be on the cheer
We took all four hogs to the county fair, we didn't think we were going to win any market classes this year and that was okay with us, three years in a row that’s pretty good. We started the day with showmanship, we both did well in our divisions but, neither of us won overall showman. We then went in for pen classes, we both ended up winning our classes so we had to find friends to help us show the other hogs. In the final drive we both were in the top three pens, Brynn ended up having the Champion Pen of Hogs, I ended up having the third overall pen. When individual classes came around I knew Brynn’s Duroc was going to win because the judge couldn’t stop complimenting on how he was such a great hog.
On the last day of tryouts, all fifty of us were to find out what team we had made, or for the few girls, that they were getting cut