What Sport Means to Me

When I do something, I want to be right in the middle of the action.

Sport gives me that. Whether it's a pressure break-point in a close tennis match, or a sprint to the finish in a Crossfit workout, sport never fails to deliver the intensity I crave.

I'm fueled by it. I live by it. Growing up, sport was life. It's how I was raised. School, practice, homework, dinner, then go to bed. The discipline becomes addicting, and the process of improvement a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Yet, there are failures. In high school, I trained hours each day to become a Division 1 tennis player. When it became apparent I wasn't going to receive an offer, I backed down. In my immaturity I became confused, mistaking a short term setback with permanent failure, quitting for good.

Sometimes we have to learn from our own mistakes, even when we know it is better to learn from the mistakes of others. Now as a journalist covering sports I know what I didn't then, that for every "gifted athlete," there is at least one, if not more, stories of perseverance.

So if sport has taught me one thing, it's consistency. Showing up every day to compete is the pathway to success. Competition breeds the most wonderful spectacle, but also the greatest humiliation.

Right now, I'm working on learning to relish the humiliation. That might sound strange, but I want the opposite of the outcome I had in high school. To do that, I have to become comfortable with failure, so that I have time to grow from my mistakes.

In that choice I find hope. Personal atonement, a second chance, a shot at redemption, it's all mixed in my psyche. Today I live out that competition not on the court, but in the media. With each article I write, I'm in a competition with myself to get better, and with others, for the readers attention.

As we level up in life, each successive period of growth brings with it a greater challenge, and a greater temporary failure. My prayer is that I can cherish the spectacle and enjoy the journey along the way.

"Failure changes for the better, success for the worse."

- Seneca the Younger