Last Lasts

My brother plays his last home football game this weekend. His final game ever is next Saturday. I had hoped to make it to one of them but the way schedules work out I just couldn't swing it. So naturally I thought I would blog about it. Not about missing the game, but about the last time you do things for the last time.

Many college athletes have already experienced their last competition in high school; some knew they were going to continue playing the sport in college and the "last game" wasn't really the last game. Seventeen and eighteen year olds move on from their final games much easier because the prospects of leaving home for college or work create more excitement; they bounce back by being young and dumb. There's something special about college athletes, particularly at the division III level. Their college athletics career is driven by something other than money. They do not get a free college education for their skills and abilities. Division III athletes play sports in college for a love of the game and competition. Nothing else compares to the love of an athlete and his or her sport. 

I was in the same position as my brother a few years ago. I was completing my last year of college, on the verge of full fledged adulthood, but also nervous for the real world. I was doing many college things for the fourth and final time and I had mixed feelings: excitement, sorrow, happiness, disappointment. I spent ten years running track. I think of all the workouts that tried to kill me and the long runs where I discovered my best friends. Looking back on my college experience, all my best friends and favorite memories come back to people on the track team, not necessarily the meets or individual races. And we will always be part of that team even though we graduated. The coolest part about being a runner is you are branded a runner for life. Heck, after college you can even go out and win money for races. It's great. As long as you have working legs and a desire to run you're a runner. Even after your legs stop working, you will always be a runner because the label never leaves.

But here's the kicker about football (<-- best pun I've written in a while, thank you): your final game is the very last time you will suit up and play. Very few people make it to the NFL but the vast majority of college football players are done playing at 21, 22, or 23. I can't imagine trying to get 22 friends together, plus the equipment and space to play a full game at age 30. The injuries would be tremendous! Everyone that played in the game wouldn't be able to walk for a week after the game because of pulled muscles and trying to prove they "still got it," what "it" is: speed, strength, stamina, endurance. You end up jumping at the chance to play a flag football game, even though it is a poor substitute for the real thing--you are so desperate to get back into the game. But it's ok. It's human nature to gravitate towards the things we love. Go play in the first flag football game you can and every one after that.

There are a few perks to being done with a sport. You have your life back during the season you used to compete. I was at a loss of what to do with all my free time the first spring I wasn't running. I was accustomed to hours of practice followed by hours of studying in the library after. With no after work commitments I thoroughly enjoyed the spring weather. And my legs didn't hurt; I had not idea what it was like to wake up everyday in March and April and not have to give my shins a pep talk because of perpetual shin splints. You too will wake up mostly pain free when your sport ceases. During football season you will have the opportunity to watch every college and professional game available. Do it. Watch them all. Because you can and because you earned it. You sacrificed 4 or 5 years of summer into fall Saturdays not watching your favorite teams. You only saw the highlights and heard the synopsis from your classmates after the fact. Lay on your couch for 24 hours and enjoy the freedom. It will make you miss the game more. You might be a little lost and heartbroken but you will heal. We all do.

~~~~~

Good luck. With everything. With every last last. You will relish in some final lasts: your last class, your last caf meal, your last paper, your last reading. And others will cause some anguish: your last concert, your last workout, your last group meeting, your last practice, your last game. The last time you hang out with your friends as students and not as alums. Trust me, that one is scary. But you'll be ok. Life is glorious and you're just getting started. Thirty or forty years from now you might not remember every game or even the big plays of major upsets. You will remember the people who were there and celebrated with you, win or lose. These were likely the first friends you made in college. The ones that taught you how to do laundry and how to hack a microwave meal. They remember your college experience almost as well as you do and maybe for some nights, better than you do. They were an integral part of your college experience. Cherish it all. Every final hoorah is worth celebrating. So do it. Enjoy all your last lasts.