Being a student athlete
looks like nothing but a party from the outside looking in. And while it is the most amazing feeling in
the world playing for your school; the amount of sacrifices, hard work, and
preparation constantly challenge your mental, physical, and emotional state. While many students go out and party on
certain nights of the week and weekends, more than likely on those nights you
can find the hockey team doing homework and studying because we have 6 am
practice or a big game the following night.
What my normal daily routine is would make most non-athletes cringe and
throw in the towel after one week. The
alarm starts blaring at 4:30 am Monday morning and I groan and roll out of bed
and throw on some warm clothes and walk to my car to drive to practice. The feeling is mutual between my teammates
and I, 6 am practices SUCK! We are all
here to work hard and move forward and improve as one fierce unit. Practice is very high tempo and our coach
expects nothing but perfection out of each one of us. We end practice around 7:15 and head back to
school and walk past the rooms of other students who are just waking up. After a few hours of classes and studying, a
few of us head to the gym and push our bodies through the aches and pains and constantly
strive to get stronger. And then repeat
for the rest of the week. Although
school is still a top priority, all my mind can think of is the battles that
lay ahead of me on the weekend. Because
for the 2 ½ hours of game time, nothing else matters when you’re on the ice and
some do believe that it is possible to skate fast enough to leave your troubles
behind. In order to reach the highest level of success, you must be willing to sacrifice and work harder than you ever have before.
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."
--Colin Powell
--Colin Powell
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