When you decide to become a college athlete people tend to tell you all of the horror stories that come along with it. They tell you about conditioning, the long nights and early mornings, and the responsibility that comes along with it. But what they don’t tell you about becoming a college athlete is that…

You’ll be blessed with a roommate that has been such a blessing in your life. A roommate that started as a walk on but worked hard and did everything it took to earn a full scholarship. You won’t know that the girl that you were too afraid to say hey to outside of Jervey will be your teammate and road roommate. They don’t tell you that your roommate will help you through one of the most difficult times in your life. And they don’t tell you that Vee will become a part of your family and you’ll become a part of hers.

They don’t tell you how competitive and determined your teammate will be. How she’s one of the first in the gym and one of the last to leave. They don’t tell you that she’s so selfless and will go out of her way to do things to help you. That she’s shy and quiet when you first meet, but one of the goofiest people you’ll ever meet. And they don’t tell you that if you ever tell Nelly that she can’t do something, she will prove you wrong.

They don’t tell you that you’ll have a hairdresser on the team that runs House of Beauty. That she is the most girly and prissy person you’ll ever meet, but she’s also wiling to listen and offer helpful advice with whatever you’re going through. They don’t tell you that MK will come to your house whenever you have a rough day and bring Spill the Beans to make everything better.

When you decide to play a sport in college, they don’t tell you that you’ll meet someone who wears Nike all the time. You wont hear that her laugh is contagious and she has the best taste of music. They don’t tell you that she’s competitive at whatever she’s doing. And they definitely don’t tell you that Lex will dance at any moment.

They don’t tell you that you’ll have an Italian teammate that is one of the funniest people you will ever meet. She’ll tell you exactly how she feels no matter the situation and make you laugh while doing it. They don’t tell you that she works so hard in the classroom and is one of the smartest people you’ll ever meet. You won’t know that she can sing almost every song that comes on the radio, but has no idea what they mean. They don’t tell you that Franny has the meanest Euro step in the game.

They won’t tell you that you’ll have a Canadian teammate who knows how to have a good time. You won’t know that she will say whatever is on her mind no matter who is around. They don’t tell you that she’ll try to get everyone to listen to Dancehall and that Sirah is one of the kindest people you’ll meet.

They don’t tell you that you’ll have a teammate that doesn’t talk much, but when she does she has something to say. She can be closed off at times, but you’ll learn more about her as time goes on. They won’t tell you that she’s strong and fast and takes no prisoners on the court. You won’t know that even though she barely spoke her freshman year, you could pick her laugh out of a crowd of millions. They wont tell you that KP is an observer and one of the funniest people you will ever meet.

For some reason they fail to bring up the teammate who seems to never run out of energy. The one that is everywhere on every play and is one of the hardest working people you’ve ever met. You won’t know that she has the funniest facial expressions and always has a clap back for whatever you come at her with. They don’t tell you that Li is full of random facts for every day.

They fail to tell you that you’ll meet a guard that came in ready to make an impact on the team. They don’t tell you that she will always be one of the best-dressed people that I’ve ever met. You wont know that she looks out for the people around her and has a heart of gold. You won’t know that Dani is leaves an impact on someone everywhere she goes.

I wish someone would have told me that I would bond with the freshman in just a few months and they would feel just as much like family as the people that I already spent a year to two years with.

I wonder why no one told me that I would have a teammate from “Bawdimore” who is absolutely hilarious. They didn’t tell me that her dance moves are terrible but she makes up for it by how much she enjoys dancing. You won’t know that she’s scatterbrained and sometimes you have no idea what she’s talking about until you ask more than once. They don’t tell you that Jaia says whatever comes to her mind no matter how it comes out, but she’s one of the best people to be around because of her amazing personality.

They don’t tell you that you’ll meet someone with such a STRONG southern accent that she has to clarify what she’s saying. You won’t be told that she is one of the most down to earth people that you will ever meet. She may not say a lot, but if you listen hard you’ll hear Kobi’s quick and funny comments under everyone else talking.

You won’t hear about the girl who’s completely independent and seems to have everything together. They don’t tell you how hard she works to get what she wants. They tend to leave out that your little sister Kayce is all about the team and brings so much energy to every practice and workout.

People fail to tell you that you’ll meet of one the most random people that you’ve ever met. They don’t tell you that she has a nickname for everyone that matches her bubbly personality. If you watch closely you’ll find her dancing to whatever song is playing. When see her you can pick her out by her love of socks and her curly hair and after you meet her you’ll never forget Chyna.

You’ll never hear about the girl from Cali who is one of the coolest people you’ll ever meet. You won’t hear that she’s so selfless and cares so much about the people around her. They don’t tell you that you’ll love her style and the way she dresses, but most importantly you won’t know that SiSi is a hard worker in everything she does.

What they don’t tell you when you decide to become a college athlete is that you’ll be blessed with not only teammates, but also a family.

There have been many times in my life where there was good and bad leadership.

Whether it was in a classroom or playing sports, leadership played a big role in my life. I was able to watch the leaders throughout my life and learn from their good ideas and bad mistakes. According to Jim Collins, in his book GOOD TO GREAT, there are five different levels of leadership. The leadership is ranked from level 1, being the most common, yet least effective leader, to level 5 which is the most effective. It isn’t until level 5 leadership where a leader really stands out. These are the rarest group of leaders. Level 5 leaders build lasting greatness.

They tend to blame mistakes on themselves when something goes wrong, and value others when things go well. These leaders have no ego and put their company before their selves. I can relate the idea of five level leadership to the leaders I have grown up with in my life. The leaders in my personal life mostly consist of players and coaches on the sports teams that I have be on. I played football my whole life and throughout my high school years. I had witnessed the culture of our program change from when I joined the team as a freshman, to the last game of my senior year.

Throughout the years I played, I was able to identify the type of leadership that went on.

Because of the leadership, the program went from being one of the best to one of the worst. On this team I was able to identify level 1 to level 4 leadership. The level 1 leaders were the players who sat on the bench, but helped make practice effective. Theses players used their little amount of skills to contribute to the team. The level 2 leaders consisted of the players who started on the team and played the most. These players used their capabilities to achieve goals for the team, such as winning games. They were the ones out on the field winning the games.

The level 3 leaders where some of the players who labeled themselves as “captain”. The captains led the stretching lines and spoke at team meetings, but some of them weren’t respected by other players. Our captains that were respected and had players believe in them were the level 4 leaders. These captains were helping the team build a culture and become better. Their teammates wanted to play for them. Level 5 leadership was attempted but failed by the Athletic Director of the school.

This mistake inevitably caused the program to nosedive.

Our head football coach became Athletic Director when I was a junior in high school and put us in a harder division. Our team was playing harder teams and each year we kept losing talent. This caused the team to lose more games and less students wanted to play. Players started to not show up at practice and because we were a small school, this was a bad sign.

I would consider our coach as a level 4 leader because he cared about the football program and wanted it to be a great one. He made people believe that he can make the program strong, but his ego took over, and his self –interest of wanting the program to be more than what it was caused it to fail. If he was a level 5 leader he would have put the program back into the weaker division, but his ego got the best of him.

He was unable to take the blame for the mistake and do what’s right for the team.

I believe that if our coach drops his ego and turns the program around, he can potentially become a level 5 leader. He is an alumni of the high school and grew up in the town.

He cares about the team and its reputation because he has been coaching for over 15 years. Level 5 leaders are usually found within the organization and that is where he comes from. This will be difficult to achieve though because there is less talent on the team and the amount of players are diminishing.

The leadership of upper level management is a key factor of what drives success in a company.  Without proper leadership, sustained success is unattainable. 

Each individual’s definition of leadership is going to be different.  In “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, he introduces this concept called Level 5 Leadership.  A level 5 leader is an individual who takes a company from good, and creates great sustained success for future generations.  According to Collins, level 5 leaders “build enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will” (Collins, 20). These leaders put their personal desires and egos aside and focus all of their ambition towards making the company great.  While focusing on the success of the company, these leaders never seek praise, and often discuss the companies’ success using words such as “we” instead of “I”, as to hide from the spotlight and credit the success towards others.

The immense humility these leaders possess creates an environment filled with positive morale which leads to success. To completely grasp this concept, one must understand that personal humility is only half of the paradoxical blend, which forms a level 5 leader. While being modest and humble, these leaders will do whatever is needed for the success of the company. According to Collins, “Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce results” (Collins, 30).  The work ethic these leaders contain aids them in their success. They desire long-term success and will settle for nothing but that, no matter the difficulty of the task at hand. The determination to set up the company for greater success once they have left, while knowing they may receive no credit or praise is what separates this elite group from others.

The comprehensive mixture of personal humility and this professional will for greatness is what makes level 5 leaders rare and prestigious.

The determination for success in future generations is what makes a level 5 leader so valuable. This past year I had the opportunity to experience working in one of America’s top 100 companies to work for. After learning this concept, I can see clearly why the company is extremely successful and then extremely unsuccessful.

Upon hiring, our general manager displayed the many qualities of a level 5 leader. Through daily team meetings to individual monthly evaluations and awards, he strove to praise his hard working employees. He was always extremely humble and thankful for the dedication of his employees for making the company succeed.  He would work endless hours in any position needed to ensure that the company was going to be successful.  He truly cared about the success of the company before his own personal goals.

Towards the end of the summer, we had received notice that he was going to be leaving the company.  In a short two weeks, he had promoted an assistant to the new general and they began to run the company. Within the upcoming months, the daily meetings stopped and we no longer received help from upper management. Employees were no longer being praised for their hard work, yet reprimanded for each and every mistake. Workplace morale had completely taken a 180-degree turn and was at an all time low.

As morale declined, employees began to leave the company, forcing others to work longer hours, without any thanks or praise.

Instead of daily meetings to praise and motivate, we were being told of the losses the company was taking and being blamed for not generating enough sales. Within a six month span, the entire company was different. No longer was it yielding successful results. This really shows how rare level 5 leaders are.

 Even though the previous general manager showed many of the qualities of a level 5 leaders, the failure to select a quality successor proves that he is not a level 5 leader. Instead of spending the time to select a quality general manager, he simply hired the next man in command, which ended up being disastrous.

There are two important topics I have learned in Organizational Behavior of Sport Management that are very similar to experiences have had in my life. These two topics are the subject of Tribes from Seth Godin’s novel “Tribes” and Level 5 Leadership from Jim Collins’ novel “Good to Great”.

The definition of a tribe is “any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea.” Based on this definition, tribes exist in many different forms; whether they are businesses, sports teams, non-profit organizations, charity organizations, etc. However, tribes cannot be what they are without following the attributes of leadership, teamwork and generosity. Godin says that “Leaders who set out to give are more productive than leaders who seek to get.” In my senior year in high school, I have experienced tribes as well as leadership that perfectly demonstrates the attributes of tribes.

The tribes I was involved in were sports teams such as the Varsity Men’s Soccer Team as well as student tribes such as the Jackson National Honor Society. In my experience on the soccer team, our goal was to not only win games and the State and Shore Conference finals but to have a good time together and to help the freshman and junior varsity players become leaders. In my experience in the National Honor Society, our goal was to promote academic excellence, service to the community, and leadership for the real world.

These tribes are different regarding ideology and activities they do, but one thing they have in common is that they demonstrate the same attributes that make up an excellent tribe. 

Without these attributes, there would be no leadership or teamwork in the tribe and eventually the tribe would cease to exist. Not only did I have experiences of tribes throughout my life, I have also had experience with Level 5 Leadership. Level 5 Leadership is defined as Level 5 executives who build enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. Through the experience I had with the Varsity Soccer Team and the National Honor Society, I had seen a bit of Level 5 Leadership. The soccer team’s captain had an agenda to lead the team to the State and Shore Conference Finals and win. Unfortunately, we did not win, but the captain did express personal humility which was a big and bold move for a captain.

That kind of leadership is what actually lead the team to the finals in the first place.

If only Rutgers Football and Men’s basketball had that kind of leadership and teamwork they would’ve been an excellent team that is very worth watching on television and spectating at the stadium and the court. Regarding the National Honor Society, the president followed the organization’s agenda to promote academic excellence and create great leaders which was the professional will of a Level 5 leader. There were some instances where followers didn’t follow their roles and broke a few of the organization’s rules, but the president took it upon himself to stop the disorder and take full responsibility for the organization’s mistakes.

The attributes of personal humility and professional will are considered a paradoxical blend because it is impossible to mix them into one single attribute. However, through my experience with both tribes, I was able to see the Level 5 Leadership in the team captain and the president of the National Honor Society. Both leaders didn’t let their ego get in the way of ambition for team and the organization and concern for their success. They also took responsibility for any mistakes or disorder that may have happened in the team and the organization.

This is why in today’s world we all need tribes and leadership like the tribes and leadership I have experienced. If we do not have them, then there would be nothing left to do in our lives and humanity would no longer function as a whole.

Throughout the world, there are very few organizations and even sports teams with Level 5 leaders. Level 5 leaders are explained to be an executive in whom extreme personal humility blends paradoxically with intense professional will, according to Jim Collins, author of Good to Great. Having such contradictory characteristics, coming across someone like this is very rare.

I have never run an organization, but I have been in charge of several sports teams. Not in the context of coaching, but rather as captain. During my senior year of high school, I was named captain of my soccer team and also the winter and spring track teams. Being captain of the soccer team is very different than being captain of the track teams. Soccer is much more of a team oriented sport, where track focuses more on individual accomplishments.

I have played soccer my whole life, like most people who choose to write a topic about sports. I was always one of the stand out players on any team I played for, from recreational sports to all the way up to collegiate soccer.

Every position on the soccer field is important in winning a game, but some are more important than others.

For example, in football, the quarterback is the most important player on the field. In soccer, the most important position is the sweeper (center defender), in my opinion. This, coincidentally enough, is the position I play. The sweeper is the player who directs everyone else on the field. The sweeper tells the other players when to step up to the ball, when to pass, when an opposing player is closing in on them, and any other direction that helps them win the game. In addition, the sweeper is the glue that holds the entire defense together. The sweeper is the last line before the opposing team gets to the goalkeeper. In my eyes, it is my job to do everything in my power to protect the goalkeeper and prevent any shots on goal as well as to keep my team motivated to win.

Jim Collins identifies the characteristics common to Level 5 leaders as humility, will, ferocious resolve, and the tendency to give credit to others while assigning blame to themselves. In my senior year, I feel that I exhibited a majority of those characteristics while acting as team captain. Each game we had, I did everything in my power to keep the opposing team away from my goalkeeper and the ball out of our half of the field. Anytime we lost a game or the opposing team scored a goal, it would crush me. I felt that I failed my team, failed my defense and failed my goalkeeper.

It did not matter the reason, as the captain, I felt any type of loss personally.

When we started our run in the state tournament, my coach asked me to start playing another position since our forwards were finding it very difficult to score.  The strategy was to have me play the first half of the game as sweeper to allow my defense to settle into the game, then once the second half began, I would move up to forward. The switch was a key catalyst in changing the way we played our games and helped us win the state sectional championship that year.

I had to ensure my defense was comfortable without me at the helm as I had been there for four years. I also had to be sensitive to the forwards that my moving up was not because any wrong doing on their end, but a change in strategy to surprise our opposition.  As each game went on, my field presence and playing defined the game. The local newspapers would interview me after every game and call me on weekends to discuss how the change in our lineup was driving us closer and closer to the state championship.

As flattered as I may have been, I never took the credit for myself. I always said, and truly believed, that the only reason the switch up was successful was because I had an extremely capable team supporting me. When I moved to forward, that was the first time in 4 years that the defense line had a different sweeper and they were able to hold their own. That was a huge reason we were successful.

Every player on my team was the reason we were successful, not just me.

I always had a tendency to deflect all the credit that came with our wins to my entire team, not just me. But on the other hand, whenever we would lose, it was no one else’s fault but my own. I constantly made sure that my team knew we would not have been successful if it was not for everyone’s contribution.

I was not a perfect Level 5 leader, but looking back on my experiences and learning about what it means to actually be a Level 5 leader, I realized that I had moments that made me feel like one.

We sucked, we were embarrassed, and we were defeated. For six years, I trained my ass, thinking that the outcome will be worth it. When the time came, I was wrong. I suffered for two years. During training, I questioned my ethics and morals among my teammates. Fights broke out people went through the motions. NO ONE cared. We were all sheepwalking. We were recruited to play and win games, but in reality we just showed up to practice and did what were told to do.

At the time, our leaders were hidden. We were faced with high expectations and delivered nothing. When my freshman year ended, we were given a t-shirt at the alumni game and pity “golf claps” from the alumni. The next season was a repeat.

During the spring season of sophomore year, the “cancers” and the “rats” were off the team.

That cleared the air for us, but we were still faced with a challenge. In order for our team to get on the same page we all needed to have a share interest. Yes, you can say that we were all here to play soccer, but that wasn’t good enough. Each person had different views and ideas of how we should play and that was a problem. There was no chemistry. So what did we do? Challenged our ideals. Challenging the status quo allowed everyone to rethink his ideals. That was the hardest thing to do. Seth Godin argues, “The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest thing is to respond. But the hardest things is to initiate.” Step one was crossed off.

Now we needed to change the culture. Our past culture was destroyed by selfishness, which led to a losing streak, then partying on weekends, and the cycle continued to repeat itself. In order for our team to get back on a high stature, we had to be passionate for what we stood for. We had to come to practice with a mindset that we WANT to be here and are not FORCED to be here.

“The real power of [a team] has nothing to do with the (external factors) and everything to do with the people. You don’t need a (object) to lead… you only need the desire to make something happen.” And we had that desire. It came from a shared experience.

Our weight trainer changed our mentality.

We suffered through workouts everyday for 15 weeks. It was the most effective thing for our team because we connected. When you suffer for that long with everyone then it clicks in your head that we need to get on board. That suffering turned into a desire. A desire only a few people can understand. A selective group. Our group, our team.

Godin states, “One of the most powerful of our survival mechanisms is to be part of a tribe, to contribute to (and take from) a group like-minded people.” Once you have a group of individuals that connect, you need to stay committed. Continue to believe in it. Our team believed in the workouts. We believed it will pay off, but there were no grantees. We believed in it because we had faith.

Four months later, my junior season started. We had a winning record; we made the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament, and made the second round of the NCAA Tournament. For our team, that was a step closer to success. A team could be called many things. I never considered it as a tribe, until I understood it’s meaning. People who want success can only get it through shared interests. If no one else cares, how do you plan to exist? Someone else needs to have that shared interest in order for you to make something out of whatever it is.

“A movement is thrilling. It’s the work of many people, all connected, all seeking something better.”

Big thank you to Seth Godin and his work. Tribes has inspired millions of people to lead and be part of something great.

I cross the line and hear a roar from the crowd that reassures the doubts in my mind.

That was when I heard him say those three magical words: “new national record”, words we had been working all year to hear. We were a complete team, with no one part being lesser than the other is. There was an established order that no one argued against and everyone knew what their purpose and place was.

So let us start from the beginning of this simple, yet outrageous idea that would propel us into being one of the most successful high school track teams in state history. My freshman year was one full of watching and waiting. I took a class, which taught me that a successful business is one where everyone has the same goal and believes in the same idea. In the book, Good to Great, the concept of promoting from within is very popular, and that is exactly what happened to me.

I started as the worst athlete on the entire team, but one thing set me apart from the others and that was my drive. I did not like to be very vocal but I loved to succeed, and more than anything, I wanted to see people in the program succeed. Within the level five leaders, the team continuously saw the drive they had to make their entire companies great and not just themselves. I strongly related to this concept of “drive for the overall team”.

The only problem was, at the time, I did not have any of the power or influence to make anything happen.

I was tirelessly working my butt off to become one of the top four hurdlers so I could join the relay. I spent all my nights researching successful hurdlers and learning every little thing I could about them that might have made them better. One day, I made a small change in my hurdling form, and it was enough to catch the eye of my head coach. Finally, my sophomore year, the coach placed me into my first hurdle relay in the last meet of the year, and I did amazing. Amazing was actually not that good for a regular person, but for me it was the turnaround I was waiting for.

All of the sudden, two freshmen joined in on my way of training and we created a group chat to talk about the latest stats and techniques. I could see them starting to believe in the same things I believed in. During this slow transition, my best friend and I saw the stat for the national record. I wrote it down on a piece of a paper and brought it to school the next day. I spent my entire junior year with that time in my head and the team on my mind. We were the top team in the state and some of us were not satisfied.

Many of the leaders we read about were never satisfied with the first or top position and they always wanted more.

The leaders we read about would make drastic moves because they believed it would be for the better of the company. One of those moves we have seen by successful leaders is to choose the right people for the job. My senior year started amazing, with my best friend, two great underclassmen, and me. All of us loved the sport and contributed in any way we could. During this time, my best friend explained to the team that we did not need to worry about the national record, because we are already in a good enough position.

The rest of us immediately recognized the strength of belief was not there for him and he wanted to settle. That was the moment we collectively saw he was not the best fit for our team, and he needed to be replaced. We all liked and saw him as a good team member, but others wanted to succeed and join the team, and they believed in the improvement of the team.

In class, we learned when the right people are where they need to be – it will be a success.

My best friend was off the hurdle team and it was not easy to talk to him about the goal anymore because he lost the drive to succeed. A younger hurdler, who was a little faster, but not as technically sound in his form wanted to join the team. He raced in junior varsity and never seemed to fit the part, until he came on board with us. The day before nationals, we all came together and I thanked the entire team who trained with me, because they made our belief a possibility.

The positive response back was overwhelming and gave me the confidence I needed. The next day our lead off leg ran the fastest time of his life, and then second leg tripped and almost fell. Even though he tripped, it seemed as if nothing could faze him, and then the third leg ran his last race ever. It was his best of all time and we caught the team in first. I was in the anchor position, and the moment I dreamt about for years was finally a reality. The entire stadium was quiet, and in my head, I heard nothing until the announcer said those great words: “new national record”.

The record became a reality because of the hard work and understanding of everyone who was a part of the team.

We had set up a domino line and we knocked over the first domino together. After winning that race, the team won three more races that year, and I left knowing the team was better than it was before.

After my team left school, the next team made it better than we could have ever expected. They continue to win at least six national races a year and continue a tradition of success, attributed to striving to succeed, and not just mere talent. The culture of the program is to continue what we created and to make it greater for those behind them.

(Written by Madilene Lake)

If you had told me in the fall of 2005 that 10 years later I would have voluntarily run four half marathons and a marathon, my 13-year old self would have said “As if” and gone back to texting on her pink RAZR phone, not so silently judging you for suggesting such a ridiculous idea.

At the time, I hated running. I hated how it made me sweaty, hated the hills, and hated the fact that my parents would drag me through the streets of our neighborhood to run “for fun.” Running wasn’t fun.

It was a self-induced death march that I was unfortunate enough to have to endure in the name of family bonding. Well, that’s how I saw it as a moody teenage girl anyways. Which, was when my mom and brother suggested I run cross-country my freshman year of high school, I was skeptical. Why would I purposely want to run long distances multiple days a week? How is running a sport?

But, because I had decided not to cheer and lacrosse try-outs weren’t until the spring, I didn’t have many options for fall sports. So on August 1, 2006, I laced up my running shoes and reported for practice.

Right away I knew cross-country would be like nothing I had ever experienced.

First off, running is hard. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect there to be such an exact, and often painful, science to running hills or timing splits. Second off, and most importantly, I had coaches who believed in me.

Over the next four years, Coaches Cathi Monk and Christine Dahlhauser would teach me to not only have a love for running, but to have a love for myself. These two incredible women pushed me harder than I had ever been pushed.

They didn’t expect greatness, but they did expect that I would put in my greatest effort to be better than I was the day before. Most days I would do my best, but there were definitely practices and races that I just wasn’t feeling it. Each had an incredibly distinct voice and more than once I heard “Madi Lake, what the heck are you doing? I know you can do better than that!” from across the course. At that moment, the very moment I thought I would rather keel over than run harder, I would close my eyes and dig deeper, somehow finding strength that I didn’t even know I had.

They taught me to be a hill seeker, and that the most important moments in life happen on a “hill.”

While most runners hate hills, hills Coach D reminded me, give you the opportunity to prove to yourself (and others) how strong you really are. There is nothing more satisfying than basking in the descent after conquering a particularly steep hill. They taught me that the last .1 is just as important as the first 100 meters. In cross -country, it is the scores of the top seven runners that makes up the team’s final score, with the lowest team score winning the entire meet.

Therefore, even though you were running your own race, you were really running for six other people. You need to finish your race just as strong as it started, no matter how tired, or downtrodden you might feel.

You must always finish the race. You must always fight the good fight.

Finally, they showed me what it was like to be something larger than myself. At the end of my freshman season, Coach Monk handed me a single chain link. “This link represents our team,” she said. “As the newest members, you are our newest links. Right now they are shiny, but with age, they will dull. This is like a team – it’s easy to be excited when things are “shiny” but much harder when they’re dull. We are only as strong as all of us together and although it might be hard, there isn’t anything that can break us.” Being a link can sometimes be hard, but it’s always worth it in the end.

I am a far cry from the girl I was at 13 – instead I am strong, confident, and determined to succeed.

Because of these women, I am a life long runner, and appreciate what running can do for the soul. It is because of Cathi Monk that I know I can push myself without breaking, and that I’m stronger than I think I am.

It is because of Coach D that I have learned the importance of never giving up and to always have faith, no matter the circumstances. It is because of these two women and their wisdom, grace, and strength that I am who I am today, and for that, I could not be more thankful.