It’s the summer of 2016 and the event everyone's been long-awaiting has finally come. Blood, sweat, tears and the rest of the ingredients to success have been poured into a period of two whole days. People from all over the country are present to participate and to witness the glory that is Masters. A coveted Dartmouth tradition. Our Rio 2016.

It’s a well-known fact that students at Dartmouth are dead-set on achieving excellence. In the classroom, at events, on the fields, in the gym, and of course, in the frats. Here at Dartmouth, excellence is not one-dimensional. Just like the athletes in the Olympics, we work our asses off and focus on achieving the goal of getting to Gold.

In an effort to illustrate the spiritually fulfilling event that is Masters, I’m giving you all the reasons it’s equivalent to Rio 2016.

There is training involved. A LOT of it.

If you actually think we’d walk into an event without coming in prepared, you must not know Dartmouth at all. Mind you, we’re still huge (proud) nerds, and just like we study (for the most part) in preparation for a test, we’re going to train in preparation for Masters.

I’m really not kidding, throw saves are game changers and spin serves are EVERYTHING. And just like Olympic athletes, the only way to be good at something is to practice it day in and day out. The best of us have been practicing all summer which could be compared to four years of training for the Olympics.

Dietary Regimes

In terms of “fueling the body”, Olympians have diets and we have our tolerance. I won’t say much on that other than that tolerance may or may not be "practiced" in preparation for such an event.

I know those of you not from here are already judging at this point. That’s fine, we knew you would. Just don’t tell us we aren’t dedicated.

Are we talkin’ teams?

Seeing who will be representing each team is half the fun. Drake’s song lyric “You and yours versus me and mine” is suddenly more meaningful.

Olympic athletes from all over the world gather in Rio to compete, and people from all over the world gather to watch. We may not gather in Rio, but we most definitely have Masters competitors representing all different kinds of backgrounds.

No event binds us groups of people together quite like Masters. If this isn’t one of the more inspiring examples of unity in diversity I’m not quite sure what is.

The uniforms.

The Olympic teams may have us beat in style, material, and cost (Please see Michael Phelps’ light-up uniform here, but our jerseys aren’t too shabby either.

We’re going to leave it at we simply don’t have time for that, not with all the training (mixed with some unfortunate effort of studying) there is to be done.

Arena.

The Olympics are held in a different country every four years. This year, Rio holds the biggest competitive stage in the world, and so do we. Our arena may be a bit slimy and hot, but we’d be wrong to discredit its personality.

Not only is it our stage, it’s our home. To compete is nothing short of a true honor, just ask anyone who competed.

Fans.

What would The Olympics be without the unwavering pride and support coming from the fans? The fans of the Olympics are as equally invested in their country winning as the athletes competing.

At Dartmouth, large amounts of people gather in sweaty solitude ready to cheer for their teams.

I don’t use the word “cheer” lightly, either. There are legendary stories of people bringing drums and launching full-on parades up and down the “arenas”. Whether you’re sitting on someone’s shoulders to get a better view, or standing on top of tables waving your shirt around, the fan-base is just as exciting to watch as the actual competition.

And if this case still doesn’t convince you…

I wouldn’t blame you. The Olympic athletes are bad-ass and have put more effort into four years of training than most of us would in a life-time.

Masters is simply another event intended to bring us together as members of the Dartmouth community and remind us that there’s always time to spare for friendly competition and fun in college.

Just like the Olympics, the magic of Masters simply comes from witnessing a tradition like no other (and of course, being there to see it in person).