If someone suggested I write an article like this one year ago, I would have given them an unnerving death stare followed by a roll of the eyes and an “over my dead body” retort. After a grueling junior year soccer season, I felt certain that playing a sport in college was the worst decision of my life. Yet, here I am, a recently retired athlete (call me a NARP and I’ll fight you) writing as to why anyone who has the opportunity to play a sport in college should.
I would be straight out lying to you if I were to say that being a college athlete is all rainbows and butterflies, champagne and glory. I’ve never been so mentally, emotionally, and physically tried as I have been playing college soccer. Now, I may not be able to speak for every athlete, in every division, of every sport, everywhere across the globe. However, I can give you the lessons learned from the trials and tribulations of one athlete who was a fraction away from not making it through her four collegiate seasons.
At my lowest point in my athletic career, I lost all sight of the point of soccer in college. I was in physical pain, battling my entire sophomore and junior year seasons with an injury, working hard yet not getting the playing time I thought I deserved, emotionally unstable from the wreck of it all, and at wits end with the inconsistency of my coaches. I watched all my non-athlete friends go out to the bars and the parties, looking as though they were having the best time of their lives while I sat with ice bags on my hips and prepared for another personally disappointing game day. Additionally, at the Division III level, with no scholarship money on the line to keep you going, finding reasons to keep on playing during challenging times can be difficult.
I tell you my story to show that I’m not the star-athlete who everything came easy to, who all the coaches, players, and fans loved, who cruised by in their careers without suffering from a major injury. I’ve doubted it, I’ve struggled through it, and yet I am STILL advocating for you to continue to play a sport in college.
When you play a sport in college, you learn so much about yourself and about others. After that junior year season, I realized I had stopped playing soccer for the right reasons. I was playing to impress my coaches. I was playing to never make a mistake. I was playing so that I wouldn’t get tired and wouldn’t see my playing time dwindle. And at the end of the day, I was playing selfishly. It took a while for me to come to these realizations. After I did, I stopped playing for my coaches. I stopped playing to be the best for everyone else. I started playing for myself, for my teammates who were on the line next to me, and for the sake of the game I loved to play.
So by now you may be thinking, “Yeah, okay great but exactly why should I play a sport in college after your super compelling argument thus far??” Here’s why:
Playing a sport in college teaches you skills that you will carry with you for the rest of your life.
It shows you how to persevere through adverse situations. The game isn’t always going to go your way: whether it’s struggling with a personal injury, a bad couple plays in a row or trying to keep your spirits high after a 6-game losing streak.
Playing a sport in college will show your limits, physically, emotionally, and mentally. It will unveil your breaking point and give you the opportunity to learn how to govern yourself once you’ve reached that point.
It teaches you to work towards a goal greater than the accomplishment that just one individual can provide. Sure, it’s incredible to score all the points and gain all the recognition but that is not always what is required of you. By devoting yourself to the being the best player for your teammates (not only yourself), you learn the balance between self-sacrifice and individual feats that one needs to be successful.
It teaches you time management skills. Also, it shows you how to handle all your other activities while being physically and mentally exhausted because your coach threw in a “fun” surprise set of 300-yard shuttles at the end of practice.
It teaches you how to be a leader, and to know when to be a follower. There will be times in your athletic career, and your life, where you will have the opportunity to accept a role of leadership on your team. You don’t need to be a captain or a coach or an upperclassman to be a leader. Leaders are people who guide and motivate, who listen and delegate. Additionally, there will be times where it is more prudent for you to follow, to listen to the advice of others, to accept at time those ridiculous standards your team upholds to make you better—even when you completely disagree with them.
Besides all this, being on a team in college brings you into a community that the NARP life could not aspire to mimic.
Your teammates have your back from day one. Whether you are the most confident, social butterfly or the quieter, more socially awkward individual (like myself), coming in as a freshmen is intimidating. Being apart of a team brings you in to a family from the start. You may not always like them, or agree with them, or feel like you fit in with your team but you compete with your teammates to keep each other on the top of each one’s game. You push each other to go farther and harder then you ever thought was possible. Finally, they offer a support system and guidance when you need a helping hand—both on and off the field.
PLUS, winning a championship with your team will be the highlight of your college career. On a side note, if you are so lucky to work hard enough to win a conference championship with your team, you will experience one of the greatest rushes ever. Nothing in my college career will ever compare to those final seven minutes of the conference championship game my senior season at our home field. Adrenaline rushing. Everyone on the bench jumping and screaming. Watching the final seconds of the clock tick to zero. Bursting out onto the field and running towards each other in a frenzy filled with emotion. Not to mention the post-game celebratory mudslides, champagne showers, and Queen’s “We are the Champions” on repeat for several weeks following that perfect November day.