The clock reaches zero and you’ve just beaten Jordan Matthews, one of Northwood’s biggest rivals. You get the sweet taste of victory, but how did you work to get to that? What motivated you to play your best to get the win?
Athletes usually start a sport when they are young and stick with it because they are good at it, gain an appreciation for it or enjoy playing.
“[I’m motivated by] my love for the game,” sophomore soccer player Jamie Palermo said. “I think [soccer’s] so much fun and I love the feeling after a win.”
They say practice makes perfect, but why do athletes want to keep getting better if they’re just going to play in high school?
“Knowing that I can get better, I just do all the things that are possible [to get better],” sophomore softball player Courtney Wilson said. “[I play] because it’s what I love and I enjoy doing.”
In any sport there is room for improvement, that’s why athletes practice. When someone else is better than you, that is the extra push that lights the fire to try even harder.
“If I’m playing against someone better than me, I’ll try harder on them,” senior soccer player Nathan Stephenson said.
With rivals, there come tensions and an even stronger emotion of anger towards the opponent. Whether it be Jordan Matthews in football and basketball or Carrboro for soccer, there’s always that stronger push in your head to beat them.
“Depending on who I’m playing I’ll try harder knowing that 110 percent of my effort will be needed,” senior volleyball, basketball and soccer player Gaby Mehringer said. “When we play sucky schools, like Roxboro Community, I can slack off. I try to do my best as a team player, but I’m not as focused on the little things.”
That push to win influences Mehringer every time she plays not just on the ones that matter.
“I’m very competitive,” Mehringer said. “I hate when other people are better than I am, even though it’s obviously reality. I just push myself and motivate myself to be better and play harder. When I see other people playing better than me, it makes me want to do more to be a better player or maybe work harder to prove talent isn’t everything.”
— By Tori Nothnagel