By Nic LaPonte
For those who live the life of an athlete, the trials and adversities that come along with the commitment to a sport are part of playing the game. For those on the outside looking in, however, many of the struggles that people endure can seem pointless for just the sake of a game.
From the marathon runner who continues to train and compete despite an amputated leg, to the youth soccer team that continues to practice in the rain, the drive is the same. It is a drive that makes a person push it to another level, not give up and go home.
The struggles that are inherent in any sporting activity, whether it is overcoming an injury, getting past a fear or having the personal discipline necessary to take that extra trip to the gym and attend that extra practice session, everyone has something to overcome.
In a local sense, this philosophy of struggle against adversity is applicable not only for the individual, but for a whole team as well. Take, for example, the poor run of luck that the women's soccer team has had this season with injuries. Not only do individual players have difficulties to overcome, the entire team has to pull together in situations like this in order to continue to pull victory from the hands of fate.
The everyday cultural environment is full to the brim with stories of players and teams who have either started off without a prayer in the world, or come back from the brink of a major catastrophe. Movies ranging in scope from "The Mighty Ducks" to "We Are Marshall" capitalize on the ideal that it is possible for anyone to succeed as long as they want it bad enough.
The idea of the individual triumph is such an integral part of our American ideology it is not surprising that images of it appear in popular culture. Part of the reason we are so inspired by these stories is that each of us would like to think that we could be that person. It is a fundamentally different thing to watch from the outside, commenting idly on the struggles of others, than it is to undertake a hardship yourself.
Sometimes, however, there comes a time to let the dream die. One of the best first basemen in MLB history, Lou Gehrig, voluntarily benched himself after struggling his heart out to continue playing in the face of his encroaching amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
It was not for his lack of heart - Gehrig is regarded as one of the single most inspirational and honorable figures in our national conscience. Rather, he realized that the nature of his struggle was not simply to continue playing, but to continue living. It takes an immense amount of personal fortitude to drive on in the face of pain, overwhelming odds or injury. It takes even more to give up on that tightly held dream and accept that life may have other plans for you.
So when fighting the good fight, play your hardest, give it your all. But at the end of the day, there is more to life than constant struggle.
