Grade-point anecdotes — Abrupt endings offer powerful message to young athletes

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This article was published 02/04/2020 (2048 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This is supposed to be the best time of the year in sports.

Major leagues ramp up for playoffs. Outdoor teams are bursting with energy, ready to knock the rust off and start their seasons. Golfers have long forgotten the pain and frustration the game consistently provides and contemplate ways to help melt the snow off the fairways and greens.

For post-secondary athletes, it’s supposed to be a time of celebration and reflection. They have all the forewarning in the world regarding how many games and years of eligibility they have left, which usually excuses them from an otherwise common fact of life: Athletes’ careers seldom end on their own terms.

In that sense, this is nothing new.

It’s just that with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing countless leagues and seasons to close, a significant number of student-athletes are able to empathize together and project their hurt and frustration about the end of the world as they knew it.

University and college sports are special, and the day they end has left many, myself included, with some degree of an identity crisis.

The end of an era is something I’ve talked about with a lot of athletes as a player and reporter, but the reactions at this time are rather unique.

The sudden jolt of coronavirus closures deprived thousands of players that closure, and in the moment that was the one big takeaway: It was taken away.

In these moments and any final chapters in the future, one of the best messages for athletes is to see the end as a small part of a greater journey. See it as an opportunity to look at how far you’ve come, how much your team, coaches and the adversity you faced shaped the person you are today.

When I ask athletes who got to see their final years through about the most meaningful parts of the experience, the endpoint usually becomes a footnote.

It’s always about the connections they made, the joy of overcoming obstacles and the satisfaction in knowing they poured everything they could into something they loved.

I was lucky enough to have both my Grade 12 volleyball and basketball seasons go right to the bitter end. Bitter, because they both ended with AAA provincial silver medals. We had almost the same team for both sports, and walked out of Neelin High School with our heads high after a narrow defeat.

The basketball final up in Thompson left a completely different picture: A locker room full of tears after our final chance to the court together.

It’s worth noting that those seasons both featured more than 30 games, or, 30 chances to lace up together and play for each other. Most team sports are that way, and the often recited cliché regarding championships is that they’re treated as, “just another game.”

It’s tough to not see the final games of a long season take place, and it’s good to see those who lost major portions of their seasons in the NCAA and NAIA get their years back.

But imagine being someone who trains for years to be at their absolute best for a single race at the Olympics and watch that dream sliding away right now? They didn’t get those 30 days of pre-game excitement, the butterflies or post-victory celebrations. A lot can change in a year, so while the Tokyo Games got pushed back this week, not all the athletes primed for the podium will get their euphoric medal moments.

The idea of not taking anything for granted — at this time in our lives — is lost on just about nobody.

It’s so much bigger than statistics, wins and championships, which you could argue aren’t all that important anyway. But if anything, this unprecedented shutdown better be a lesson for all those who have years left to return to their friends and teammates and get back to work harder than ever when that magical day comes.

You truly never know when your last game will be or how it will end. Let the end goal be a motivating factor to push through tough times, but don’t forget that it’s really about the process when it’s all said and done.

Approach training sessions — no matter how gruelling — with a positive attitude and gratitude, because a lot of people would kill for the chance to be in your shoes.

Don’t let one overarching goal get in the way of chances to celebrate the special moments along the way. Love those moments, because they might never come around again.

Play every game like it’s your last? Absolutely. 

That’s nothing new. It just means a little bit more now.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen