I've Reached the Top
It’s slowly starting to come to me. I’m only barely able to even grasp the magnitude of it all. Everyone else seems to be able to understand it all pretty easily, but somehow I’m still having trouble believing it. Half expecting to wake up tomorrow, half trying to diminish the accomplishment so that I can comprehend it all. The trophy is sitting next to me on the desk. It’s clear, engraved from behind, and is the first award I’ve ever received where the words “National” and “Champion” are both displayed. ...What a weekend. I can only describe it as...indescribable.
And you know what? It wasn’t just winning the National Championship that made this weekend so great. The time I spent with Coach, Sean, Heather and her dad, and Hayley and her parents is what truly made the whole trip such a memorable one. I feel like I just got so much closer to everyone that was on the trip. The last day we were there we walked along the beach and onto this “jetty,” which was just a piece of concrete jetting about a hundred feet out into the ocean. We watched pelican dive into the ocean, and saw jellyfish swim up to the surface, and saw someone catch an 18” catfish. We played ping pong and shuffle board and talked just about anything and everything. The night before we all ate dinner on a boat that had been converted into a restaurant. We ate so lavishly. Heather and I split a desert that was the size of a football. We heard stories of all the things Heather’s dad did to his friends as pranks while he was at Trinity. We won the National Title that day. I’ll never forget the volley The girls’ opponents missed on match point, or the return our opponent swung and missed at on match point. I’ll never forget Coach’s advice to the girls after they had lost the first set. I’ll never forget my backhand return to break back in the second set of our match. I’ll never forget Heather’s continuous ordering of chicken, or Hayley’s immense fear of spiders and heights, or the song I played for Sean during the car ride to one of our matches. I’ll never forget the feeling...walking back from dinner after winning the tournament. The four of us. Sean on the left, then Hayley, then Heather, and finally myself. The wind in our faces, the sound of waves crashing on the beach to my right. The U.S.S. Battleship Lexington lit up ahead of us. And most importantly...the feeling. Everyone of us had a jump to our step, and if you could have seen us you’d know that something wonderful had just happened.
But that’s not what I’m having trouble comprehending. You want to know what’s really getting to me? Trinity’s giving me a ring. Yeah, a National Championship ring. At first I was just excited, I mean, who wouldn’t be. But it slowly started to sink in. This has been a dream of mine for a long time. This was a life goal of mine. I did it. I can say I’m number one in the country. Yeah, maybe in D3 and maybe in doubles, but I don’t really care. I don’t want to diminish my achievement. I don’t want to wake up. And, I certainly don’t want to stop here.
This is truly a first for me and I think that it’s been a real eye-opener. I can do this. I can accomplish my goals. I can do anything I want and be anyone I want. It’s in my reach. Hopefully this will be just a first step, and hopefully this national title will lead to more before my college career is up. But if not, oh well, I did what I had set out to do in college. And for that I’ve never been so proud.
It’s slowly starting to come to me. The fact that, I did it. I did it I did it I did it. And I can do anything I set out to do...
And you know what? It wasn’t just winning the National Championship that made this weekend so great. The time I spent with Coach, Sean, Heather and her dad, and Hayley and her parents is what truly made the whole trip such a memorable one. I feel like I just got so much closer to everyone that was on the trip. The last day we were there we walked along the beach and onto this “jetty,” which was just a piece of concrete jetting about a hundred feet out into the ocean. We watched pelican dive into the ocean, and saw jellyfish swim up to the surface, and saw someone catch an 18” catfish. We played ping pong and shuffle board and talked just about anything and everything. The night before we all ate dinner on a boat that had been converted into a restaurant. We ate so lavishly. Heather and I split a desert that was the size of a football. We heard stories of all the things Heather’s dad did to his friends as pranks while he was at Trinity. We won the National Title that day. I’ll never forget the volley The girls’ opponents missed on match point, or the return our opponent swung and missed at on match point. I’ll never forget Coach’s advice to the girls after they had lost the first set. I’ll never forget my backhand return to break back in the second set of our match. I’ll never forget Heather’s continuous ordering of chicken, or Hayley’s immense fear of spiders and heights, or the song I played for Sean during the car ride to one of our matches. I’ll never forget the feeling...walking back from dinner after winning the tournament. The four of us. Sean on the left, then Hayley, then Heather, and finally myself. The wind in our faces, the sound of waves crashing on the beach to my right. The U.S.S. Battleship Lexington lit up ahead of us. And most importantly...the feeling. Everyone of us had a jump to our step, and if you could have seen us you’d know that something wonderful had just happened.
But that’s not what I’m having trouble comprehending. You want to know what’s really getting to me? Trinity’s giving me a ring. Yeah, a National Championship ring. At first I was just excited, I mean, who wouldn’t be. But it slowly started to sink in. This has been a dream of mine for a long time. This was a life goal of mine. I did it. I can say I’m number one in the country. Yeah, maybe in D3 and maybe in doubles, but I don’t really care. I don’t want to diminish my achievement. I don’t want to wake up. And, I certainly don’t want to stop here.
This is truly a first for me and I think that it’s been a real eye-opener. I can do this. I can accomplish my goals. I can do anything I want and be anyone I want. It’s in my reach. Hopefully this will be just a first step, and hopefully this national title will lead to more before my college career is up. But if not, oh well, I did what I had set out to do in college. And for that I’ve never been so proud.
It’s slowly starting to come to me. The fact that, I did it. I did it I did it I did it. And I can do anything I set out to do...