The ups and downs of being an athlete
Well, it looks like I got dragged into working tonight. Who knew BOTH standbys would be called on? Ah well, it doesn't bother me very much this time. I had homework to do, and the extra money is always a nice bonus.
I've been keeping tabs on the SPRING BREAK!!! thread my friends have created on facebook regarding our plans for late March, and getting increasingly frustrated with my coaching staff as a result. These might not be easily related, so naturally I'll explain. The plan is to go down to Florida for spring break and hang out in Daytona for a week. In order for that to happen, several things must happen: we need to figure out how we're going to get down there, where we're going to stay, what we're going to do, and so on. All of it needs a decent amount of planning, which happens now. The problem for me is the same problem that has befallen me for 3 years now: good ol' track.
The deal is that if you're on the track team, you're pretty much engaged in a non-spoken agreement which says that you will change your spring break plans at the drop of a hat at the request of the coaches. We always go down to Miami for spring break to take part in the Hurricane Invitational, which is a big annual meet sponsored by the University of Miami. Or at least, that's what they tell me. I've never been, myself, due to a series of events that were (or weren't) directly under my control. Freshman year, my coach told me that I wasn't going because I didn't have enough D-1 experience to be able to compete properly. (We'll discuss the apparent experience requirement of spearthrowing later.) So, like a typical college kid, I made plans with my friends to hang out in NYC for the week. 1 week before spring break, suddenly my coach tells me that I'm going. Since I've already made plans at this point, I said I didn't want to go. I wonder how things would have changed if I didn't go to NYC that week...hmmm...thoughts for another day.
So I didn't go freshman year. The next year, I assumed that since I had performed admirably and gotten a year of training under my belt that I would be going down to Miami, and so I ditched any plans with friends in favor of the meet. Of course, 3 weeks before the break, I'm told that I can't go due to budget cuts. I'm not one of the top athletes on the team, and they only have enough money for the elite members to go, and so I didn't go to Miami once again. I'm sure my friends remember the result of that little detour: I went down to West Virginia with the outing club instead, and sprained my ankle. Also missed the entire subsequent season due to that and a nice little development of arm tendonitis, likely caused by the shift in weight I was forced to make due to the ankle. Come to think of it, sophomore year sucked overall, didn't it? On a good note, however, I threw in the last meet of the season at Cornell with a partially injured arm and still got 3rd place.
Last year the budget problem remained, but I still could have gone, if not for my little injury stint the previous year. As Jovonne put it, I didn't have a "season" and thus I hadn't proved myself in front of the coaches. Figures.
So now, we come to the final year and the last chance to go to Miami for free. All the pieces are in place: I proved that I could contend with the best in the conference, I threw consistently, and I didn't get injured. Also, I'm a senior and the whole "last year" thing always works well. Given all of the above, you can probably imagine my annoyance when my coach told us that the NCAA decided to have the Indoor Regional Championships on the same week as our annual spring break trip. GREAT! WONDERFUL! What this means for the Miami meet, I don't know. We'll definitely have athletes in the indoor championships, and my coach isn't sure about what the team plans to do for the week.
All of this brings me back to the original point, which is that I have basically no freaking clue as to what I'm doing for spring break. I'd love to go down to Daytona with my friends, of course. That's a given. It would be even better, were it possible, if I was already down there in Miami for the meet and as such I wouldn't have to pay for a thing. My money is incredibly tight for the moment, to the point where I physically cannot afford a $300 plane ticket (or any $300 expense, for that matter). So basically I'm gonna be the guy on the fence, maybe I'll be able to go, maybe not. I'm pretty sure I can't go to London at this point...my car repair bills firmly cemented that in place. Giving up 2 major trips with my friends is not something I want to do, but the money is going to be the #1 deciding factor.
And of course, my coach will probably tell us what we're doing for spring break 2 weeks beforehand. Solution: badger him, starting tomorrow.
Other than the spring break issues, I find that I quite like being an athlete. The perks are certainly enjoyable: I get free shoes pretty much whenever I need them, so long as they're of the trainers/spikes variety. I get about 5 free shirts a year, about 2 of which are pretty cool and stylish. The uniforms can be stolen if properly executed, and the cold-weather garments they give us are pretty nice also. I get free laundry service for practice clothes, and full access to a gym where the only other occupants are other athletes and aren't nearly as annoying as the typical dregs you'd find in a public gym (Archbold?). Plus whatever you want to work with is always open. I'm also a big fan of the free football and basketball season tickets, the latter more so than the former, even if I have to pull off a slight case of illegal ID swapping to sit in the student section.
I also get exclusive control over the logistics of my event of expertise, which is to say I'm the one who decides which javelins to take to meets and where to store them. I'm kind of superstitious about which javelins I throw...my favorite one, the Red Dart (my name) resides right next to my locker and no one throws it during practice except me. Seriously, an incorrectly picked javelin can mean a difference of 3 meters! And that's a big margin, gosh darnit!
I suppose the biggest perk, for me, is pretty much kept to myself. I like the feeling of being on a varsity team, and always have since high school. I don't know what it is, really, that gives me such a degree of increased self-respect when I consider myself an athlete. Maybe it relates way back to middle school when I was made fun of by athletes. I was a complete geek back then...what you might call the prototype of emo, even. I didn't have many friends, I played video games all the time, I didn't try or want to try anything outside of school...and I was pretty clutzy in the physical department too. I guess I've made it my personal goal to become just as high as those kids were on the athletic hierarchy so I can finally face them on even ground. Of course, now that I've made it, most of the people who used to make fun of me have quit organized sports altogether. So I can't really face them literally, but it still makes me feel good to know that I used to be the way I was, and how far I've come since then.
As a side note, it feels a lot better to actually about something on my mind rather than just mindlessly recounting the day. Also, it's kinda amazing that Karl decided to resurrect this thing at the same exact time I did.
Finally, I would like to say that Guitar Hero 3 is amazing, and somehow as a complete novice I've progressed to playing Expert songs within 2 weeks of playing for the first time. I'm entering in an online tournament sponsored by my clan for the highest score achieved in a given song on Medium. If I win, I'll get a free year of Insider, worth $20...not the most amazing thing, but I'll have a nice little icon when I make posts in the forums! Riveting, I know. I guess my geeky side will never die...
I've been keeping tabs on the SPRING BREAK!!! thread my friends have created on facebook regarding our plans for late March, and getting increasingly frustrated with my coaching staff as a result. These might not be easily related, so naturally I'll explain. The plan is to go down to Florida for spring break and hang out in Daytona for a week. In order for that to happen, several things must happen: we need to figure out how we're going to get down there, where we're going to stay, what we're going to do, and so on. All of it needs a decent amount of planning, which happens now. The problem for me is the same problem that has befallen me for 3 years now: good ol' track.
The deal is that if you're on the track team, you're pretty much engaged in a non-spoken agreement which says that you will change your spring break plans at the drop of a hat at the request of the coaches. We always go down to Miami for spring break to take part in the Hurricane Invitational, which is a big annual meet sponsored by the University of Miami. Or at least, that's what they tell me. I've never been, myself, due to a series of events that were (or weren't) directly under my control. Freshman year, my coach told me that I wasn't going because I didn't have enough D-1 experience to be able to compete properly. (We'll discuss the apparent experience requirement of spearthrowing later.) So, like a typical college kid, I made plans with my friends to hang out in NYC for the week. 1 week before spring break, suddenly my coach tells me that I'm going. Since I've already made plans at this point, I said I didn't want to go. I wonder how things would have changed if I didn't go to NYC that week...hmmm...thoughts for another day.
So I didn't go freshman year. The next year, I assumed that since I had performed admirably and gotten a year of training under my belt that I would be going down to Miami, and so I ditched any plans with friends in favor of the meet. Of course, 3 weeks before the break, I'm told that I can't go due to budget cuts. I'm not one of the top athletes on the team, and they only have enough money for the elite members to go, and so I didn't go to Miami once again. I'm sure my friends remember the result of that little detour: I went down to West Virginia with the outing club instead, and sprained my ankle. Also missed the entire subsequent season due to that and a nice little development of arm tendonitis, likely caused by the shift in weight I was forced to make due to the ankle. Come to think of it, sophomore year sucked overall, didn't it? On a good note, however, I threw in the last meet of the season at Cornell with a partially injured arm and still got 3rd place.
Last year the budget problem remained, but I still could have gone, if not for my little injury stint the previous year. As Jovonne put it, I didn't have a "season" and thus I hadn't proved myself in front of the coaches. Figures.
So now, we come to the final year and the last chance to go to Miami for free. All the pieces are in place: I proved that I could contend with the best in the conference, I threw consistently, and I didn't get injured. Also, I'm a senior and the whole "last year" thing always works well. Given all of the above, you can probably imagine my annoyance when my coach told us that the NCAA decided to have the Indoor Regional Championships on the same week as our annual spring break trip. GREAT! WONDERFUL! What this means for the Miami meet, I don't know. We'll definitely have athletes in the indoor championships, and my coach isn't sure about what the team plans to do for the week.
All of this brings me back to the original point, which is that I have basically no freaking clue as to what I'm doing for spring break. I'd love to go down to Daytona with my friends, of course. That's a given. It would be even better, were it possible, if I was already down there in Miami for the meet and as such I wouldn't have to pay for a thing. My money is incredibly tight for the moment, to the point where I physically cannot afford a $300 plane ticket (or any $300 expense, for that matter). So basically I'm gonna be the guy on the fence, maybe I'll be able to go, maybe not. I'm pretty sure I can't go to London at this point...my car repair bills firmly cemented that in place. Giving up 2 major trips with my friends is not something I want to do, but the money is going to be the #1 deciding factor.
And of course, my coach will probably tell us what we're doing for spring break 2 weeks beforehand. Solution: badger him, starting tomorrow.
Other than the spring break issues, I find that I quite like being an athlete. The perks are certainly enjoyable: I get free shoes pretty much whenever I need them, so long as they're of the trainers/spikes variety. I get about 5 free shirts a year, about 2 of which are pretty cool and stylish. The uniforms can be stolen if properly executed, and the cold-weather garments they give us are pretty nice also. I get free laundry service for practice clothes, and full access to a gym where the only other occupants are other athletes and aren't nearly as annoying as the typical dregs you'd find in a public gym (Archbold?). Plus whatever you want to work with is always open. I'm also a big fan of the free football and basketball season tickets, the latter more so than the former, even if I have to pull off a slight case of illegal ID swapping to sit in the student section.
I also get exclusive control over the logistics of my event of expertise, which is to say I'm the one who decides which javelins to take to meets and where to store them. I'm kind of superstitious about which javelins I throw...my favorite one, the Red Dart (my name) resides right next to my locker and no one throws it during practice except me. Seriously, an incorrectly picked javelin can mean a difference of 3 meters! And that's a big margin, gosh darnit!
I suppose the biggest perk, for me, is pretty much kept to myself. I like the feeling of being on a varsity team, and always have since high school. I don't know what it is, really, that gives me such a degree of increased self-respect when I consider myself an athlete. Maybe it relates way back to middle school when I was made fun of by athletes. I was a complete geek back then...what you might call the prototype of emo, even. I didn't have many friends, I played video games all the time, I didn't try or want to try anything outside of school...and I was pretty clutzy in the physical department too. I guess I've made it my personal goal to become just as high as those kids were on the athletic hierarchy so I can finally face them on even ground. Of course, now that I've made it, most of the people who used to make fun of me have quit organized sports altogether. So I can't really face them literally, but it still makes me feel good to know that I used to be the way I was, and how far I've come since then.
As a side note, it feels a lot better to actually about something on my mind rather than just mindlessly recounting the day. Also, it's kinda amazing that Karl decided to resurrect this thing at the same exact time I did.
Finally, I would like to say that Guitar Hero 3 is amazing, and somehow as a complete novice I've progressed to playing Expert songs within 2 weeks of playing for the first time. I'm entering in an online tournament sponsored by my clan for the highest score achieved in a given song on Medium. If I win, I'll get a free year of Insider, worth $20...not the most amazing thing, but I'll have a nice little icon when I make posts in the forums! Riveting, I know. I guess my geeky side will never die...