Climbing Student Athlete Mountain

Life’s interesting without sports on TV.

I might joke about not surviving without sports, but our personal entertainment takes a back seat to medical states of emergency.

Our world has literally never been more prepared for quarantined house arrest than we are now. There’s 72,000 streaming services available, an abundance of online home workout videos, you could even read a book if you’re feeling wild.

I don’t feel so bad for those who are healthy, but having to be put under quarantine. Social distancing may sound like “one of them millennial phrases” according to your token boomer relative, just keep in mind that not everyone has a healthy and happy home to self isolate. Take this as a unique opportunity, be safe.

Who I feel really bad for are the senior varsity athletes that had their seasons cut short. March Madness evaporated, the Usports volleyball final 8 was cancelled, any reasonable conclusion to a season had to be tossed.

A heavy number of those athletes never get to compete at that level again. It would especially feel sour for those on the verge of glory in the postseason. Exiting your career with a “what if?”, that’s pain.

You see it every year. "March Sadness" as some call it.

What just happened to some athletes is a lot like the movie “Salt” where Angelina Jolie escapes from the helicopter at the end of the movie. She swims through a significant slice of ocean water, starts running through a forest, and then the movie cuts to credits.

Ok. Sequel?

Nope.

An Escalade-sized cliffhanger, no sequel in sight.

What the fuck Salt.

The 4-5 year student athlete grind was described to me as a hike by one of my camp instructors from the States. (I was attending a basketball camp in Santa Barbara before my senior year of highschool.)

"A long but beautiful grind".

I had no idea what he was getting at back then, I kind of do now?

It really is like progressing up a long and challenging trail, but it’s not really about just making it to the summit.

It’s about making the most out of your hike. I’ve only realized this now 2 years removed from playing University basketball, which stings a little bit.

However, I was blessed to fully complete my trek up the mountain.

What just happened to so many varsity athletes was a medi-vac to alumni summit, it’s too dangerous to continue the hike. They barely received any sort of rightful conclusion.

Everyone’s path up the mountain is different, you may have some friends who start the climb with you but don’t finish, you may meet some new friends halfway up the hill, you may finish or start completely by yourself.

That’s really out of your control though.

Being conscious of your climb is in your control.

There’s really only a couple things to remember on your hike up student athlete mountain, but like most hikes, it's hard to think critically when you're always out of breath.

That’s something I want to change.

For those currently on this trek, here’s what I wish I thought of:

Your Path is Never Straight Up

Have you ever been on a real life hike that’s just a straight inclined path up a mountain?

You haven’t. Pics or it didn’t happen.

All climbs you make have sections of progression or incline. A big ol’ playoff run, an individual jump in production, varied hard-fought team success. All of these are “put your head down and sweat it out” parts of the hike. It’s easy to FEEL the progress you’re making when you’re on an incline.

No hike is straight up.

There’s flat parts and downhills on every hike known to man. You’re not always going to be heading upwards, you can’t dictate what the trail is going to look like on the climb.

Your career is going to have moments where it feels like you’re not going anywhere, moments where it may be hard to feel like you’re making any progress as a competitor.

Sometimes you need to walk the flat path to go back up.

Sometimes you need to go downhill for a bit to go back up.

Be accepting of this, you can’t constantly be trudging straight up the mountain, trails just aren’t built like that. You’re going to have years where you don’t make playoffs, where you underachieve at points, where you get injured, where the direction you’re heading in may not be the path you imagined.

No one experiences a 5 year straight line path to the finish, dips and plateaus are a part of every student athlete's career, they just look different depending what hike you do.

(Every time the Carleton men’s basketball team loses a game would probably be a dip for them)

If the trail you took went straight up the mountain for the entirety of the hike, you get burnt out, and develop an inconsistent pace.

The trail is always taking you to a point where you can go uphill again.

Embrace the flats and downhills, the change of pace can refresh and prepare you for another steep stretch.

This is part of what you signed up for, don't let it eat you alive.

“Trust the process” (Embiid, 2014)

Take a Moment to Look Around

You’re doing a hike god damn it. Why not sight-see?

Obviously if you’re on an “actual” hike this is pretty easy to keep in mind.

The student athlete climb has you looking down at the ground a lot, pushing your way upwards to experience certain levels of success.

It’s so easy to get caught up in that, consistently grinding to improve your team and your individual skills is just continuing the constant push up the mountain.

If you keep your head down looking at the path for enough time, your hike will end abruptly.

You don’t realize where you are.

Once you make it to alumni summit, you’re greeted by your former teammates. They tell you how proud they are, and congratulate you on an amazing career.

The immediate feeling is gratitude, but that slowly fades away.

What did I even do on my climb up the mountain?

Unlike most hikes, once you’re at the summit, you don’t get to go back down.

The summit is a flat base camp, there’s no more hiking.

The path you took isn’t visible from your vantage point anymore.

The view is nice, but it’s cloudy below the summit.

Just like that.

5 years with your head down.

It goes by fast if you don’t stop and look around.

We are so committed to improvement and constantly moving forward or getting better, that we often forget the reason we are climbing this mountain.

You may be able to FEEL your progress on the hike, but you can also FEEL the flats and downhills.

You need to SEE.

You go on hikes to SEE.

Lakes, rivers, cliffs, animals, and all that nature shit y’know?

For the current student athletes, especially if you happen to be closing in on the end of your University career, just stop for a second.

Look how high up you are.

Injuries - playoffs - amazing games - horrible games - under .500 seasons - awards - getting snubbed by awards - heroics - villainy - unforgettable moments - really forgettable moments.

Whether good or bad, it all got you to this point.

You’re allowed to be proud of your progress, but it’s impossible to do so if you never lift your head up to see where you are.

It all ends way too quickly.

Acknowledge what you’ve accomplished, you don’t get to relive it.

Student athletes just had the end of their hikes taken away from them, I hope they stopped for a minute on the way up.

The value is derived from your journey, your destination is a separate entity.

So stop, current student athlete.

Look around.

Smile.

Breathe it all in.

You won’t ever see this view again.

You don’t get a sequel.