Determination

By Jake Wilcox

 

The sound of “Eye of the Tiger” shot around the room as the alarm clock struck 5:30. With a quick opening of my eyes, the nerves struck the pit of my stomach with an almost sickening feeling. My throws coach, Farris, was watching the news channel and sitting up in his bed. He turned and asked ,“You ready for today”?  With a quick reply of, “hell ya,” I rolled back over. Only to hear, “Get up and get ready we have to get on the bus in thirty minutes.” I sat there peacefully thinking of the day and trying to keep myself from drifting back into sleep, when I heard a high pitch yell and pounding coming from outside the hotel room. Then there was a mumble from my throws coach of “oooh shit, it’s here” followed by “you get it.” I slowly walked to the door. This could only be one person, my head coach’s wife. Her high pitched yelling at 5:30 in the morning was unpleasant to the ears. Before I could get the door open wide, she had launched herself into the room yelling “morning hugs, morning hugs.”

 

The day was perfectly sunny with no wind. It was the day I had been wishing for since I had picked a discus up in seventh grade. I had been thinking of this day for so many years, and it was finally here. All the way through my senior year, I had thought about going to State finals in track and placing. In my junior year of high school I had taken 7th place in the discus. This made me want to win State Champion ships  even more.  I remember what Jeff coach, a sophomore from Chewela, told him right after he won the state finals my junior year, “one year down, two to go.”  When I heard those words my junior year, I knew I wanted to win. Winning state was the only thing I thought about when I stepped into the ring, or when I stepped into the weight room to lift.

 

In order for me to be able to win at State, I would have to have a strong mental attitude, and I would have to be physically strong as well. This would mean I would have to commit to being in the weight room lifting every day, and I would also need to spend much more time throwing.

 

 Over the years of participating in sports, there was one idea that stuck with me the most, “If you have the mental attitude that you’re going to lose, you will lose every time.” This is something that my dad would tell me when I would say ,”I’m going to lose”.  This motivated me to try and find the mental strength that I would need in order improve and have the confidence to move forward. Working on strengthening my mental state of mind when it comes to competing in sports is something that I will always continue to work on and the one thing that I can always make stronger.   

 

Having a strong mental attitude was only part of what I needed to work on. I would have to improve at the physical side also; I needed to increase my throwing distance. Making a commitment to spend time every day during and after school lifting weights, I needed to be stronger.  The more time I spent in the weight room, the more and more confident I would become in my throwing ability. 

 

My throws coach, Farris, spent many hours with me in the ring trying to improve my throwing abilities. I had developed some bad throwing habits that needed to be changed. In order to have the strength and to learn the right techniques to make it to State, I would need to put the time and effort into getting there.

 

 I sat in the grass outside the stadium; I couldn’t help but think of every little part of my throw. It wasn’t long until my coach said, “time to warm up.” As my coach and I walked to the ring, I felt more mentally stronger than I ever had before; I had gained confidence in my abilities as a thrower.  I have never liked cocky athletes and really respect athletes that are great at what they did and showed good sportsmanship. This is one reason I didn’t like the defending state champion. He was a good athlete, but he did not have good sportsmanship. As the throwers from the first two flights got slimmer and slimmer I started to get ready to throw.

 

Finally after what felt like forever, the official called for the third flight. It was time to prove what I came here to do. The first three throws were better than I had ever thrown in my life and it came down to the last three throws in the final flight.  I was seated in first and the defending state champion was seated in close second. As he walked towards the ring I could see the fear in his eyes. This was the last throw of finals, This was it, If he didn’t throw far enough I would win. The thought of this made me more nervous then I had ever been in my life.

 

 He started this throw. It was fast and he released with a huge throw, and my heart just sank as the discus flew through the air.  I knew it would be close. When it landed, I heard the official say “foul.” He had fallen out of the ring and scratched what could have been an amazing throw. All I could do was smile. I did it, I was a state champion and was very excited about my victory.

 

Throughout the year of working towards this goal, I had to work very hard to stay on track. The time I had to spend lifting and throwing improved my distance in the discus by thirty feet from my junior to senior year.  The commitment I made to improve, gained me a throw of over 164 feet at state my senior year and a first place victory.