Athletes After the High
By Mena alchi | Sept. 24, 2024 | The Fall Supplemental
Students at Stanton College Preparatory School participate in extracurricular activities, including athletics, for various reasons. Some engage in sports to manage stress after school, stay active, or enhance their college applications. At Stanton, student athletes learn fundamental skills, including sportsmanship, trustworthiness, and teamwork. Through Stanton’s athletic program, they develop character, learning to trust their coaches and value their hard work. While these experiences can lead to rewarding trophies and victories, they may also prompt athletes to question how they should continue striving for success.
In the pursuit of success, students will often dedicate two to three hours each day to intense workouts and practices, striving to break personal records and compete with their teammates. This intense dedication helps students reach extraordinary goals and discover the best way to keep achieving them. For many, a win is not just about breaking a personal record or securing a victory; it can also be about advancing to a higher-level meet or feeling proud of their performance.
“The feeling of winning is very special to me because I feel like it is proof of the work I put in,” said senior golfer Moli Roelke. “After reaching a significant goal, I immediately find a new challenge for myself. Golf is a sport of accountability and personal growth, and it is not always a linear path of development for myself.”
Many students, such as Roelke, aim to learn from what they could have done better to build on their success. Throughout the process, athletes reflect on what they did correctly versus what they can improve upon. By doing this, they can set a higher standard for their next game. While Stanton’s golf team may have few players make it to the state series every year, competitors like Roelke learn more about themselves as athletes, rather than just focusing on the win or loss.
“[A] lesson I [have] learned from my [victories] that I apply in life is the power of discipline,” said Roelke. “My greatest achievements, on and off the golf course, [were] when people did not let my bad habits slide and constructively criticized me into being my best self.”
Although working out, managing nutrition, and developing skills are parts of an average Stanton athlete’s routine, facing setbacks can be crucial to improving athletic performance. Some athletes do not handle or accept losses easily because of the competitive drive they have created throughout their high school years. Despite this, Stanton athletes learn to embrace losses because they realize consistency and dedication can lead them farther than unrealistic goals they may set on themselves earlier in seasons.
“I do not handle losses well,” said senior Swim and Dive captain Leighton Yates. “In diving, it is not so much [about] losing as it is [about] not performing as well as I could have. In the larger meets, I put a lot of pressure on myself to make it to states. [However,] I remind myself that I am doing this [to] have fun and I get over it eventually.”
As Stanton athletes finish their athletic pursuits, they undergo multiple victories and losses, recounting moments they could have refined or enhanced their training to meet higher expectations. Nevertheless, countless student athletes understand the importance of learning to progress from their triumphs and failures.
“Sports [help me see] that [I] can always be better,” said Yates. “Even after competing well or learning a new dive, I am always motivated to try harder at the next meet or perfect my dives since there is always room for improvement.”
Some athletes like Yates have earned leadership positions in their sports, where they continue to guide younger members towards the value of communication and collaboration. Through this process, older teammates motivate each other and handle challenges that appear unexpectedly. Over the years, these athletes have encountered multiple obstacles, learning how to approach their feelings towards such achievements and setbacks.
“I would advise upcoming athletes to just go with the flow,” said Yates. “Some days will not go as well as you hope, but it is important to not let the [tough] times affect the good ones.”
Similarly, in Cross Country, an individual sport like Swim and Dive, athletes strive to elevate their personal performance while contributing to the team’s success. Several athletes on the team attempt to break personal records but continue to inspire and encourage each other to reach new heights. While enhancing together and making it to higher-level meets annually, the challenge after a win is motivating one another to try harder.
One Stanton student who competed on Stanton’s Cross Country and Track & Field team was Christian Kuhn. As a distance runner, Kuhn set high standards for hard work and dedication, achieving personal records of 4:37.41 in the 1600-meter run, 10:04.56 in the 3200-meter run, and 16:57.00 in the five-kilometer race in the 2021-22 school year. These impressive accomplishments highlighted his commitment and success as an athlete. Now at Florida State University, Kuhn has moved away from competitive racing. Instead, he runs occasionally and prioritizes strength training, demonstrating an evolution of motivation and priority after a successful peak.
“I did not see myself competing at a collegiate level, but I still [saw] myself running and racing outside of college, just for fun and to [remain] healthy,” said Kuhn.
Although Kuhn had a successful high school running career, he realized continuing to run in college was not necessary to uphold that sense of accomplishment. He understands the importance of recovery and running purely for enjoyment. For him, success is not measured by the number of gold medals he earned, but the lessons he learned from being part of the team and how he now incorporates those lessons into his daily life.
As Stanton students continue to excel in their athletic careers, questions emerge about their qualifications for athletic scholarships and their potential to lead by example on collegiate teams. Regardless of these feelings, Stanton’s athletic program has instilled ambition in each athlete, providing them with the willpower to go far. Once some students reach their college careers, they may realize that advancing in a sport they love is not always suited for their physical or mental health, but they continue to appreciate the lessons learned from their sports experiences, whether they were part of a winning or losing team.