There is one thing that all sport fanatics have in common and that is a burning love for the game that they have grown-up with. At times, we can get too caught up in the emotions of the game to remember why we started, so let’s take a moment to reflect on why we love sports.
As a child, we all began playing sports because it was fun. It gave us the opportunity to release all of our built up energy and it allowed us to better ourselves physically. It has taught us countless life lessons that we couldn’t learn any other way and it’ll stick with us because you learned them in a positive, fun way. Whether it’s playing pick-up basketball on the playground with friends or playing in the NCAA Division III National Championship game as a senior at Wittenberg, we all started doing it for the same reason: it was fun.
“Playing tennis has always been something that I enjoyed doing my entire life,” Martin Mora, ‘18, said. “It’s helped me mature as a person and it’s been really fun doing it. I like being able to use my energy towards something positive.”
One reason why people fall in love with sports is because it gives us the opportunity to build lifetime bonds. Your teammates become your family. Putting yourself aside and working towards a common goal is one of the fastest ways to form a friendship that will last a lifetime. The next reason is because sports let us believe in the impossible. As a kid, we all dreamed of become the next Michael Jordan or Serena Williams and that dream helped us grow into the people we are today. We all have watched a game where it seemed like there is no way a team could comeback and win, but somehow they find a way to make us believe in miracles.
Sports give us a place in history and Wittenberg’s athletics is the perfect example of that. With countless teams setting records every season, the football team seems to do it the most. In 2011, the Tigers became the first non-Division I NCAA program to compile 700 all-time wins, and just the 19th NCAA program at any level to reach the mark. Their most recent achievement came during the first-round of the 2016 playoffs when the Tigers beat Thomas More College after four overtimes and became known as the longest game to be played in Division III history,
“Our game against Thomas More last year is something that I will remember for the rest of my life,” Keenan Wilson, ‘18, said. “We left our marks on history and if that record is ever broken, then I hope I’m watching that game.”
After dedicating years of my life watching and participating in sports, I have come to realize that it impacts us on every level of our being: body, mind, soul and spirit. Is it any wonder why we’re so consumed by it? No matter what your reason is, whether you’re a player, coach or fan, all that matters is that you never let your love or passion for the game end.
