Cross Country Decision

In everyone’s life, whether you are in Pre-K or Pre-Calculus, we will all have to make a decision that we know deep in our hearts will determine what the future holds. Mine was my decision to join the Cross Country team going into freshman year of high school. At first glance, it may not seem to be a major decision but if you dig a little deeper, it will become clear that this was in fact a huge choice that would determine my future in high school. In the final weeks of eighth grade, my first plan for the 9th grade was to join the Roswell High School tennis team when January came around, which to me involved training over the fall months. But then, my mother approached me saying that I must play a different sport in the fall, her reasoning
They were very welcoming towards me and made me want to come back. I went home that Friday describing to my mom how much I enjoyed it, while also feeling proud that I might actually have a better chance at succeeding at this sport than tennis. Going into the summer, I drastically decreased my tennis practice attendance, due to my increased attendance at my cross country practices, only attending around 9-10 tennis practices while attending 60-70 Cross Country practices. As I traveled with the team to their yearly camp in North Carolina, tennis became one of the things I thought about the least, but still in the back of my mind I strived to keep the feeling alive. I realize now that I just did not want to give up something I had worked on for years and years. It had become something of a relationship to me, and Cross Country was breaking us up. I feel that the quote by Rick Godwin describes this feeling, and perfectly outlines what I now feel towards this sport, stating that, “One reason people resist change is because they focus on what they have to give up, instead of what they have to gain.”. I would eventually have to accept that I’m most likely not going back to tennis and must do what I feel is best for