During my two years of high school tennis I have come to learn that team love is so different.
I'm not gonna lie, team love is tough love. These girls push me to my limits; limits higher than what I thought I had. They push me to be the best player I can possibly be and the best person I can be.
But what I've also learned, is that team love is unconditional. Period. When I am at the top of my game, they are there holding me up. But when I'm at my lowest they are the ones who catch my fall and are fully prepared to build me back up again.
This week was intense for our girls tennis team. Last year we lost a close match in the quarters of state so our goal this year was to get past there. About an hour into our quarterfinal match we were at 2-matches all, and I looked around to suddenly find that it had all come down to me. My match would decide the rest of our season.
It was 5-7, 4-5, and I only had to win one more point to make it 5-5. I knew I could do it. Just keep pushing Rachel.
Amid my jumbled thoughts and loud cheers from the crowd (half the high school came down during lunch), the only cheer I heard was from my teammate: "I believe in you Rachel."
No, it wasn't "Win this match for us Rachel," "We're all counting on you Rachel," "Winning state is all up to you Rachel." It was just that they believed in me. Nothing else. And I believed in myself after hearing those words.
Now, I wish my life was a movie and I could tell you about how I overcame adversity and won this match and that we're headed to the state semis next week and that I'm the hero of the high school. But, as I've been reminded quite a few times lately, my life is not a movie, and I did fall short on Thursday, losing the second set 6-4.
After I shook hands with my opponent, I couldn't even make it off of the court before the tears started coming down. Real tough right?
With my hands covering my emotion-filled face and muscles shaking from adrenaline, I felt arms close around my shoulders. Bracing myself for their tears as well because of the end of our season, I looked up only to find 7 smiling faces looking back at me. The gratitude and love I felt at that moment while being congratulated on what I was told was my best match of the season is hard to put into words. I let the team down didn't I?
No Rachel, you just proved to everyone just how tough you are. You just pushed yourself to your furthest limit. That is the best match we've ever seen you play. Rachel we are so proud of you.
It's that kind of unconditional love that makes me so indescribably thankful for my team.
And there's always next year to win state, right?
xoxo,
Rachel
"Dear Lord, we pray that we should play a good, clean game and win. But if you choose that we should lose, keep us from giving in."
No comments:
Post a Comment