One day you won’t be an athlete anymore. One day you won’t live and breathe for those Friday night standing room only bleachers. One day you won’t plan your entire life around games and practices. One day you won’t be an athlete anymore.

There will be the last time that your mom scrubs the relentless grass stains out of your uniform. There will be the last time that you break it down on three with the people that have your back every single day on the field and in the hallways. There will even be the last time to sprint for all the mistakes you made in the district loss the night before. One day you won’t be an athlete anymore.

Today that day seems light years away, and in a way maybe it is. Right now being an athlete is your identity; not in a terribly mistaken kind of way but in the way that it is who you are. It’s what you do, but one day it won’t be who you are.

You are the person inside the athlete. You are the way you react when the call doesn’t go your way. You are the last ounce of energy you give to attempt to save the ball before it goes out of bounds. You are the way you make you make practice a priority because you want to be better, and you know that your teammates are counting on you.

You are the way that you treat the least talented player on the team, the one that keeps the bench warm all season long. You are the drive to win when the odds are stacked against you. And you will always be these things, but you won’t always be an athlete.

I too was once an athlete; it was one of the highlights of my life. It was who I was and what people associated me with. I thought that I’d always be an athlete, just like you do now. I dreaded practices after a tough loss, and I counted down the seconds until conditioning was over every summer and every fall.

And I wish I hadn’t. Take every last second captive, and know that just like everything else in life, this is a season, a very fleeting season. But let me tell you a little secret, I may not be an athlete now, but I am the person today that being an athlete shaped me into every day. I see my drive to win and to be the best in life and in college. I see the way I learned to prioritize what was important to me, and I even see the extra effort resurface when I feel that I have nothing else to give.

One day your quads won’t be toned to the core and able to take on an army. One day you won’t be able to run miles and miles without stopping. One day it won’t be your name echoed over the PA system after a huge touchdown with 1:13 left in the fourth quarter. Your jersey will be given to someone else, and your cleats will end up at a yard sale for 5 bucks.

Your records will be broken and eventually forgotten. Your walk-up song will become an outdated CD in the pressbox that the new announcer uses as a coaster. One day you won’t be an athlete anymore, but you will always be the person that being an athlete shaped you into. So today while it lasts, enjoy every last drop of sweat and Blue Gatorade. Condition to the best of your ability; put in the extra effort. Because the athlete you choose to be today is the person you will become tomorrow. So be a good one.