Kindness

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." -Aesop

It is important that everyone on the team is kind to one another. In order for us to attain our utmost highest physical performance, we must feel safe, comfortable, and accepted by our peers. In order to feel this way, we must be treat each other with kindness. Merriam Webster defines kindness as "the quality of being friendly, generous, considerate, and respectful." If we can treat ourselves and all of our teammates with kindness, then everyone will feel accepted and free to be themselves and truly give it their all. This will make us a successful team.

Empathy

“Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another.” – Alfred Adler

Empathy is a trait that everyone can get better at feeling. Many people mix sympathy and empathy with one another. Sympathy is the act of feeling sorry or pity for someone else. Empathy is the act of actually placing yourself in that person's shoes and trying to understand why they are feeling that way. As a team we need to be empathetic with one another. The simple act of understanding why a teammate is upset, frustrated, or distant is the first step to making that person feel safe, accepted, and not alone.

Many times when we see that someone is struggling we do one of two things. We make an assumption of why that person is acting the way that they are and avoid it so that we do not have to be part of it. The second is that we may try to fix the problem by telling the person that it could be worse. Both of these are not the right way. If you see a teammate that is not acting like themselves and seems at all distraught, go up to them and say,

"Hey, I am really sorry that you are going through a rough time. Just know that if you need someone to talk to I am here for you. Let me know if you need someone to talk to and I will listen." 

These simple words can make the biggest difference in how fast a person feels less isolated and is likely to feel better about their situation knowing that they are less alone than they feel.

Hard Work

"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do." -Pele

Cross Country is an endurance sport that requires that you push yourself to its absolute limits. Many times, your brain will tell you that you can no longer continue, but with the right amount of physical training, your body will allow you to continue and pursue. It is the coaches job to create workouts that will prepare you for your upcoming races and for the culminating western mass and state races. It is your job to listen to the coach, push yourself as hard as you are told to, and do your absolute best in all that you do. Only you know what your best is and at the end of a practice and meet, you can honestly tell yourself that you have done your absolute best, then you have. Giving anything less than your best work is not only cheating your team, but yourself.

Dig deep, push yourself, and work harder than you ever have and the results will be rewarding. 

Academics