State Track

IM SO EXCITED! STATE TRACK IS IN LIKE THREE WEEKS! I really hope I make it again this year because I've gone every year of my track career and it's the funnest thing ever (except Drake). It's pretty much exactly the same as Drake, but more people from my team make it to state, and unfortunately, there are no professional people competing at state.

Last year at state, seventeen girls and sixteen boys made it to state from my high school. I think the best part about state is staying in the hotel with the entire team and just doing fun things together. Last year, we played a lot of games in the lobby with the boys. We played euchre, heads up, and a HUGE game of spoons. It was really fun! In our game of spoons, there was like fifteen people, and some of them weren't even from my school! They were from Manchester. It was probably the best part about state, and we got to meet a bunch of new people. 

My freshman year at state was a wild experience. Me and a few other girls almost got sent home before we ran! What could we possibly have done to do that? Well honestly it's not even that bad. Me and four other girls went on the roof of the hotel and played volleyball. Unfortunately, a hotel manager caught us and told our coaches about it. Our coaches were livid when they heard about it. All of us who were on the roof were sent to our rooms for the rest of the night and it was maybe 8:30. But I do think this was really our fault because f the hotel didn't want us getting on the roof, why would you put us in the balcony room that was two inches away from the roof? Bad planning on their part! On the way home from state that year, our coach finally realized it wasn't that big of a deal and even told us that he probably would have done the same thing in high school. That made me feel better. 

Hopefully all turns out well this year at districts because I really want to go back to state. The hotel we stay at is really fun and I get the opportunity to get closer to my teammates. I can honestly say that I have made a few best friends because of state track. Rooming with three other girls for three days straight really opens you up to their personality. I hope that se of you guys get the chance to experience state track because it's probably one of my favorite sporting events ever. No I'm not exaggerating that! 

Word count: 472 words 

Suck it Up

The one thing I hate most is when people complain about aches and pains. I am currently in track, and that is a sport where people just complain about everything. "My legs hurt", "my shins hurt", "I can't breathe". Yeah yeah yeah I'm feeling the same exact things you are but you don't hear me complaining! I swear people these days don't know what the word tough means.

Especially because I'm a girl, I hear it a lot. Girls aren't the toughest nails in the box. I will hear people complain every second of every workout we ever do in track and I just want to yell at them. I have tendinitis in both knees and my lower leg, scoliosis, and shin splints but no one ever hears me complain. Probably because I was a gymnast for ten years and you weren't aloud to be wimpy in gymnastics. You got penalized for crying (keep in mind these are little girls under ten years old!). Plus I am playing three sports at the moment, and most of the girls complaining about being "tired" are only doing track. Seriously people, suck it up! 

One of my best friends is one of these girls, and every time she complains about something, I tell her "well me too" and she always tries to refute it. One time at practice she was complaining about shin splints and I said me too and she said "well you don't have it in the same spot as me. Mines all in my bone." First off, that was a really dumb comment. Everyone's shin splints are in their bones. Second off, I long jump so I probably have worse ones than she does anyway. She was absolutely sure that hers were worse until I said "well mine were stress fractures last year" and she finally shut up. She no longer complains to me about her shin splints.. Mission accomplished! 

Unfortunately, I can't have this conversation with everyone, because I don't think they'd take it as well as my best friend. I'd probably be considered a bully or something stupid like that. That just goes to show you how wimpy people really are today.  

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Range of Competition

Unfortunately, in high school athletics, there is quite a different range of competition in each class. Now I bet you can expect that the competition is hardest in 5A, and it declines as you go down each class. This is unfortunate (not really unfortunate because it's fun to play hard teams) for my school because we are 5A.

It's pretty crazy to think that the state champion in 1A could probably be crushed by the worst team in 5A. I've had a few encounters with this situation. At a school volleyball tournament, we played a team called Tripoli. I had never heard of them before (they were 1A). They had gone to state the past like ten years, and we hadn't made it to state in five. We absolutely crushed that team. They were not very good... That makes me mad though because that would mean we would make state and probably win it. 

Now this doesn't mean that there are some really good teams in lower classes, it just means there are fewer of them. If you really think about it, it makes sense. In a 5A school, there are 2000 people who could potentially go out for a sport. There's probably a lot of good athletes to choose in that pool of people. But then you go to a 1A school, with only 100 people in it. Less people to choose from, probably means less quality athletes. 

I think one time, we should have a whole state tournament, including all classes. That would determine who the real state champion is, and it would be a LOT of fun to participate in. 

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The Importance Of Vitamin D

I bet you read the title of this post and went "what's this got to do with athletics?". Well let me tell you, it has a lot to do with it! I didn't know how important vitamin D was until I was running low on it! I don't think most people will have vitamin D deficiency, but if you do, it's important that you figure it out right away! I will never understand why I am vitamin D deficient because you get vitamin D from the sun, and I'm outside more than I'm inside.

The first symptom I had was fatigue. I was always tired. When I ran track, I could hardly get through a 200 without feeling like I was going to pass out. It was absolutely terrible. Especially because it hit me right when I was doing three sports. I would go to track practice, then go right to softball or volleyball after that. Hardly any breaks in my week (I'm doing that again this year and holy cow is it so much easier with vitamin D!). I just wanted to sleep for the rest of my life. 

Another thing that happened was that my muscles were always sore. My legs were dead, my back was killing me, and even my arms would be sore. Apparently you need vitamin D to clear out the lactic acid in your body. Imagine the pain I went through. A whole track season with lactic acid just building up in my legs. I don't know how I finished the season to be honest! 

I think the worst thing that happens with vitamin D deficiency is that if you don't have enough vitamin D, you can't take in vitamin C, and that is EXTREMELY important. If you don't have vitamin C, your bones get really really weak. Unfortunately for me, I didn't know what was happening so my bones got really weak and I ended up getting scoliosis from it. If you don't want scoliosis or a bunch of broken bones, dreaming make sure you have enough vitamin D! 

Now that you've heard all the fun symptoms of vitamin D deficiency, make sure that you have enough. I promise you, it is terrible. Hopefully I have prevented someone from going an entire year with the pain I went through!

Word count: 386 words 

Sore Muscle Remedies

No one likes sore muscles. Amirite? It hurts like no other and it hinders your performance. So how do you get rid of sore muscles? There's only two things I do; stretch and ice baths.

Stretching. Yes I know you all probably could have thought of that on your own, but it really helps if you do it at the right time. Right after you do something physically straining, you need to stretch. Everyday after track practice, my team stretches together. It helps keep your muscles loose, even when they really want to tighten up. Another thing you can do is get a rolling pin (or a fancy rolling stick thing that all runners have) and have someone roll out the sore spots. This is really effective for your legs. After a really grueling week of track, I have her roll my legs out. It is probably the most painful thing ever, but it really does help. You could probably rub some icy hot on there to get it real nice and loose while they're getting rolled. Before track meets, I spend at least thirty minutes just stretching. It's kind of funny how flexible I can get! 

Oh man who would ever want to do an ice bath? ME! I'm tellin you, they work miracles! I don't know what it does, but holy cow you feel like a new person afterwards! Yes, it is the worst thing of your entire life when you first get in, but after like two minutes, your body goes numb. If you're a first time ice bather, I would say only go right to ten minutes, but for all you pro ice bathers out there, kick it up to fifteen minutes! It really feels fabulous once your done! 

I'm sure there are a thousand and ten more ways you can relieve muscle soreness, but these are the two methods that work best for me. I do know that it's better than doing nothing, so if you have muscle soreness, don't be afraid to try these two things. Stretching isn't hard, but ice baths can be kind of scary. Once you get your first one done, the other ones won't be as bad. You just have to rip the band aid off and get it done!!

Word count: 388 words  

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Who thinks it's terrible to play softball in the rain?? ME. These past two weekends at our softball tournaments, it has been constantly raining. This is bad for all sorts of reasons. First, it makes it hard to throw the ball. It gets all slippery and mistakes are made up the wazoo. Second, it gets more dangerous. When you slide it's easier to get hurt. Third, it's just plain uncomfortable. Everything is wet, outfielders feet get soaked, infielders get SUPER muddy, and it's just not anything to look forward too. I really feel bad for the spectators though.. They just have to sit there and get wet for no reason!

One thing I worry about a ton in the rain is if the pitcher is going to be able to handle it. Some pitchers can do it, but some can't. They use "the ball is wet" as an excuse and can't ever throw a strike. I always hope and pray that it will be the other teams pitcher that is like that, not your own. The other thing to worry about is control. It's not as bad in the infield, because for the most part, the dirt doesn't get too wet. But as an outfielder, I worry about my inexperienced players a lot. The ball gets absolutely soaked when it comes into the outfield and you have to know how to handle it in order to throw the ball in control. I asked my freshman right fielder how she thought she was supposed to keep it in control and she said "just grip the ball harder". NO. DON'T DO THAT. That will probably make it worse. It's actually quite simple. You just make absolutely sure that you finish waaaaaayyy down. Way further down than you usually would, and it helps keep you from launching the ball over the cutoffs head. 

I Hate with a capital H, having wet feet. It's not comfortable. After a while it even gets numb. And then your shoes smell terrible and it's just a mess. But if I can say for myself, I love sliding when it's raining. Not when it's like sticky mud, but when there's puddles of mud and water. You fly. I did a slide by last weekend right into a mud puddle and I just flew right by home plate and it was probably the funniest thing I've ever done in my life! The downfall to that was my shoes, batting gloves, and every other inch of my body was caked in mud. Mom had a fit when she saw my shoes😱

Usually umpires are good about calling games when it's raining so majority of the time, you don't even have to play in the rain. I think that's best because it's not real softball when you play in the rain. Too many mistakes to see who the real winner is. 

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Burns, Raspberries, and Bruises

What's the worst thing in the world, but also the best? BATTLE WOUNDS. They hurt terribly bad, but they usually have a cool story to them. You can get all sorts of battle wounds. You can get a floor burn in volleyball, turf burn in football, raspberries from gymnastics, ball marks from softball/baseball, strawberries from softball/baseball. There are all sorts of fun things!

My favorite thing ever is when you get a ball mark on your body from getting hit by a pitch. It's the best when it leaves a seam mark too! I can't count how many times I've been hit by a pitch. I've even gotten hit by a line drive right in the arm. That one hurt a lot!!

I think it's safe to say that the worst things ever are floor burns. I am a back row player, so I basically have burns on my elbows, knees, and hips constantly. The worst ones are the ones that burn over a burn and bleed. OUCH!

A lot of people have never experienced a raspberry from gymnastics. SCARIEST THING EVER. It's when your foot slides down the side of the beam otherwise known as "straddling" the beam. This happened to me so many times when I was a gymnast and they always scared me to death. It's painful when you fall on it because it's wooden.

Another thing I get all the time are strawberries. I steal bases almost every single time I get on base, so that means I do a lot of stealing. Because I steal so much, I have huge holes in my pants and my knees get scraped up. Also, I sometimes do a slide by, which means I slide around the base and then flip on my stomach and grab on to the base, so my arms and stomach get scrapes on them too. I don't mind these too bad, they just take a long time to go away. 

So you see, battle wounds are not a bad thing. I strive to get one every game so I feel like I played my hardest (except for raspberries, no one wants those). So suck it up and be happy.

Word count: 365 words