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GOLDEN EAGLE SPORTS HOTLINE 585.395.5168 |
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Senior Student-Athlete Speech
By Paulette Kowalski ~Senior Volleyball Captain
Most of you know me from my athletic training concentration, but my teammates know me as Paulettey, the middle hitter that runs around screaming "yea, c'mon, go-go, yes, ok," and most famously, "red."
When I was asked to speak today, I was asked to focus on my experiences at Brockport and what gains came from these experiences. The most obvious experience is earning my diploma, but when you look deeper, it is more than a diploma. Hopefully, it symbolizes four years of our lives where we met new people, learned more about who we are, and the best part for many of us was being able to play sports while doing it.
So what experiences occurred during these four years?
For starters, preseason, it is everybody's first experience as a college athlete. In the volleyball preseason everyone comes in, meets the team, gets roomed with an older teammate, and travels to one of the top floors of Mortimer hall. You notice you have the top bunk and do not think much about it, but three sessions a day and two days later, your muscles are sore. You do not want to climb up to get into bed, and you realize why the top bunk was given to you. I am not quite sure what else happens on other teams, but I do know that football players always reside on the first three floors of Mortimer, they still take the elevator, and the sound of their fog horns are heard in the morning all the way up to the twelfth floor.
What else goes along with being a college athlete?
In the fall you learn to stay away from the varsity weight room wing after the football players have taken their pads off, or the volleyball players have just had practice. Cross country runners, field hockey, football, tennis and soccer players hope for enough gym space on a cold and rainy, or even snowy day.
In the winter season you learn to avoid the hockey rink or wrestling room for the same reasons you would avoid the Tuttle south weight room in the fall. Swimmers learn that a long season can lead to brittle hair, and still come back for three weeks of intercession along with track and field athletes, gymnasts, wrestlers, and the men's and women's basketball teams.
Spring season is similar to the fall; the weather causes early morning or late night practices and taking care of the baseball and softball fields early in the morning. My point? I guess its no matter how smelly the sport, or how early the practice; we athletes always come back for more.
How could I forget some of the more important experiences at Brockport?
Free food and long bus rides. Free food, there is not much to say about. It is always a great experience. But I will never forget the smell of a bus, which is probably a combination of traveling as both an athletic trainer and athlete. In fact, I m sure most would agree that the back of the bus is the worst for obvious reasons, especially if exhaust fumes are seeping inside, or being stuck in a traffic jam, breaking down, or being in New York City and holding up traffic because the back of the bus is about to hit a pole. Yes, it happened to us.
Let's not forget the fun things about bus rides either, like Cuffie singing, or the softball players getting pumped up to "popping popcorn," playing practical jokes while people are sleeping or taking pictures of them, doing "Darren's dance video's," watching videos like Varsity Blues or Rocky to get your team psyched, or just the anticipation of competing.
Competing. It is what we, as athletes, were meant to do. There is nothing like the experiences of the first time you step onto the court, field, mat, or skate onto the ice. You are nervous. You are excited. You are in your element. You cannot wait to prove yourself.
After that first experience you are able to develop a sense of pride for Brockport. You start to feel the rivalry, and you cannot wait for your warm up tape to start at a home game because it is your court, it is your territory, and your pride.
But your first experience as a college athlete has a counterpart. That is, your last experience as a college athlete. For many, the last experience was a hard fought competition, and even if the outcome was not as we had hoped, we all have good memories about it. In the end, it is our memories of the years that matter. We all had four more years of sports than most of our friends, and we had many fun moments and made relationships that will last a lifetime. So, finally, behind our diploma is a plethora of pride where blood, sweat, and tears were shed for each of our sports.
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