"I'm a high school player. I'm a team player.
I play with my friends and with some of my enemies, but I respect everyone
when it comes to my sport. I know I'm not going to get a multi-million dollar
contract to play professionally. I know I may not even get my name in the paper.
I play for love of the game. For the pride and honor, for the blood, sweat, and
tears it takes to make the team, to earn the spot, to win the game. I
play because I can, I play because I know that my life would be empty without
the sport I play. I would have a lack of everything my sport
gives me... integrity, courage, talent, fearlessness, pride, strength, stamina,
will, and the heart of a champion. If I didn't play, I would lose a
part of me.


I'm an athlete. I'm a girl.
I'm a champion, not because my team always wins, but because when
we don't, we learn from our mistakes. We try to fix them, and most of all
because we have fun. I have built lifelong friendships and memories because of
my being an athlete. I leave everything on the field or court and
continue to push myself. I am never happy with second place, but I have learned
to accept it. I have learned to get over and through my anger and be the athlete
and player I have always dreamed of being. I don't play for my parents, for my
family, for my friends; I don't play for my coach or my teachers or my school. I
play for myself but when I'm playing I represent them. It isn't about winning or
losing, but I hate to lose. I won't settle for a tie, and I am not satisfied
with 100%. To play, you have to sacrifice everything, your body, your
time, your sweat, blood, and tears, everything... for your team.


I am a player, an athlete and a champion.
Not because I know what it is like to win, but because I know what it is
like to lose. I know what it is like to feel the anger and pain that comes along
with "second best." I have been that girl with tears in her eyes, walking out to
receive the second place trophy and clapping as the other team, my opponents,
receive the first place one. I know what it is like to lose, to win, to
want to quit, to want to cry, to not want to get up. I know what it is like to
hear the cheers and yells for you. I know what it is like to feel the
pressure of everyone on your shoulders, and I know what it is like to choke
under that pressure. I know what it means to be an athlete, a true player, and
that is why I play. I am an athlete, a champion, a true player."

--- An Athlete's Pride