My Angel in the Outfield

Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final. Failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” The thing is, sometimes we need people in our lives to help guide us when we feel lost or lacking the courage. We need someone who can tell us to take a step back and gain perspective from an overwhelming situation, someone to teach us that in the face of hardship we can still persevere.

I have dreamt of being an Olympian since before I can even remember. However, there was a moment when I quit. I quit running. I will share with you a personal story about the moment my dad would not let me give up on my dreams.

As I have said in a previous post, my athletic career during my four years at Princeton was always a struggle at best. I loved Princeton, the people I was fortunate to meet and my classes and the person it prepared me to be, but athletically, it was a completely different story. Despite passion and hard work, I watched as my results decreased and I failed to perform. I did not communicate well with my coach, we were both stubborn and simply made the same mistakes repeatedly until one day I was so frustrated I forgot what it was I loved about my sport. So I quit.

My dad, who was a man of few words, knew I was making a huge mistake that I would regret later in life. I remember him talking to me and asking me what was happening, why was I quitting something he has watched me pursue so passionately until that moment. I tried to explain it to him, but all I knew was that I was not happy and did not know how to change the situation to bring about a new result.

The personal character trait I admired most in my dad was his strong work ethic and with that he taught me to persevere. He explained to me that throughout our lives, we would all come up against inconsiderate people that would be more focused on their own agenda and it would feel like they are working against us. Now he used a much more colourful expression to describe this type of person, but the message is the same!

He helped me to see that I was giving up my dream because of this coach, and not because I was finished with running. He would always joke that I had learn to run before I learned to walk. Running was always a large part who I was and he did not want to see me lose that for the wrong reasons. If I had made the decision for myself, fair enough. However, this was not the case and he knew it.

The result was that I did not quit - I ended up taking ten months away from running. I took a break and returned when I felt ready, when I felt inspired with a renewed sense of passion.

Fast forward seven years and I am sitting here, telling you this story from Holland as I am training full time, in pursuit of excellence, and feeling the happiest about training and life more than I have in a long time. I have my dad to thank for this feeling, for not letting me quit when I felt it was too hard to continue. I wish I could sit and talk to my dad about this feeling, but sadly, my family lost our dad five years ago to heart disease. When he passed away, our minister told us that wherever we would be from that moment, that our dad would be there with all of us. I think of him as my angel in the outfield, and I continue to reach for my goals knowing I am not alone.

The message is that you have to keep being yourself and you should never give up on something you cannot go a day without thinking about. My dad taught me that, not so long ago!

Your Athlete,
Susan