Champions

Athletes have always been told that champions are made when nobody is watching. As an athlete I have heard this before many times, but never really paid attention to what it really meant. I never believed this and took it as just another motivational quote the coaches would use, that was until the same belief came into play in my life.
I was going into my senior year of high school and I had just transferred into a new school. It was tough enough transferring in to a school where I did not know anyone. But I also had a lot of pressure on my back because I was projected to help the team win many games during the season.
The fall season came around and all was well, we played many games and I was pitching pretty good. We lost a few games but it didn’t really matter to us because we had yet to begin practicing and still not at our full potential. We soon began to near the end of the fall season and that was when I started to feel slight pain in my elbow. I thought nothing of the continues pain, to me it felt more like soreness and I played threw it. That was a mistake. What I should have done was report it to either the coach or the trainer.
Turns out the pain I had was due to bone spurs and inflammation. The doctor said I was not going to be able to play, at least the beginning of the season. The second half of the season although, was still questionable which kept my hopes high. So I decided right then and there to do everything in my power to recuperate and return for the second half of the season. The following week I began to wake up at five in the morning to run at school. Just because I could not throw did not mean I could not stay in shape for when I returned. It was tuff though because at that time it was still dark and there was nobody at school. It was just me and the track, nobody to watch me or accompany me. Then I would go to school and attend practice. After practices when everybody left home I did not, I stayed and worked out even longer, again with nobody else in sight.
I continued to follow that same workout for the next month. When I returned and was able to play again I was in better shape than before. I was throwing harder, and lasting longer. I even lost weight, which impressed the scouts because I was more slender. We finished all of our games and I had the greatest season of my high school career only playing half the season.
That is why my belief was changed and now I agree with what the coach has been telling us all along. I now believe that champions are made when nobody is watching. I learned from personal experiences that it is true, and if any athlete were to ask me I would tell them just as my coach told me.