This one’s for the kid who isn’t the typical athlete.

    They don’t hit the weights three hours a day. They don’t study film. They don’t invest hours upon hours upon hours in the gym, the wrestling room or the practice field until someone turns the lights off.

    Because, come on, is there a point?

    You’re a sixth-on-the-depth chart, riding-the-pine kinda guy. The best thing about going to games is the bus ride there and back during dead winter mornings where everyone on the JV squad is asleep except you. Because you just lay on the bench with your head in the clouds and your headphones on.

    This one’s for the kid that just wants to hang out and be a part of a team even though your batting average is zero. You haven’t wrestled any varsity matches. You don’t register varsity minutes.

    Maybe you’re new to the sport. Maybe you always just love going to practice each day to catch fly balls the senior D-I prospect slugs your way. Maybe you love running routes. Maybe you just want to travel across the state to one of the biggest wrestling tournaments in the region to try and earn your first pin.

    Either way, you know there aren’t any scouts with your name on their clipboard. Maybe you’d like to think there is, but there isn’t. And you’re fine with that. Because you know there are dozens of athletes in front of you who are trying to impress. They’re all great guys, and they deserve that full ride they’re aching for.

    But you? Well you’re just along for the ride.

    This one’s for the kid who understands that hard work doesn’t always mean success on the battlefield. Sure, it might be frustrating, but you don’t let it get to you. Because, darn it, you tried. You know it. Your coach knows it. Your teammates know it. You bust it in practice because that’s the kind of person you are. You do it because your dad says it builds character. Doesn’t everyone’s dad say that?

    But it’s more than a character-building exercise. You work at it because you want to get better. You want to perfect that double-leg takedown. You want to shoot the perfect free throw. You want to make that cut at just the right time.

    But somehow, it doesn’t come. Maybe you aren’t fast enough. Maybe your reflexes are off. Maybe you were meant to be a sports writer instead.

    But you still go through the grind. Some days are a bummer. You sit in class and think about the ensuing practice you don’t want to go to because the varsity squad is fresh off an historic beat down, and you know the coaches are going to take it out on the entire team. You walk through the hallway, the same one you ran sprints in the weekend before.

    Up and down. Line to line. Up and down. Sometimes, it sucks. There’s no getting around it.

    But aren’t those days worth it? I sure thought so.

    This one’s for the kid who might not think time is valuable. Because it comes and goes in a flash. Soon, it’s gone. So revel in it.