Unsolicited Advice to Athletes Who Are Told They Are Not Good Enough

When the water in your bottle runs out

Fill it back up

Just because you have been told that you are too short

To play the game that you love

You will not cry

Those who use you as the arm rest

Or the punching bag

Will get what they deserve in the end

But you are a nice person

You don’t want anyone to suffer

The control is not yours

So let it go

Do not wish upon the negatives

Only the positives

You were told this your whole life

And it still holds true

So when the water in your bottle runs out

Fill it back up

The air will contain the stress and anxiety

But you will stay calm and ready

When your body returns home

With bruises

And cuts

The tears will not fall

Because your soul is content

And tells you

You were born to do this

Since the beginning you were nothing but a thought

A thought in the mind that knew that you were to be strong

So when the water in your bottle runs out

Fill it back up

When the running and the jumping begin to burn already aching muscles

Your body will keep going

Because it knows that it can

Since you were young

The sound of the gym was your place

Tennis shoes squeaking against hardwood floors

And the basketball pounds into the floor

The volleyball hits repeatedly sweating arms

With a satisfying thud

Because you have been told that you are too short

You will not cry

You will do what you are born to do

You will play what you are born to play

Do not listen to the boys that laugh at you

They do not understand the pressure that parents put on your chest

The weight of their mistakes bare down on you

They are afraid you will follow in their footsteps

But you know you won’t

Because when the water ran out of your bottle

You filled it back up

 

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