You just lost: the championship, the big game, the rivalry, the meet, the tournament, the one thing you have been training for. You just lost. Maybe it was a fair fight, maybe the ref had a bad day, maybe the umpire missed a call, maybe the wind blew the wrong way. End of the day, you are going home a loser. You had worked for this, for what seems like forever. You trained, you sacrificed, you dedicated, you did everything you thought you could. But it still wasn’t enough. All of the work was pointless, because guess what-- you failed.

Those hours of extra training, the dances missed, the late nights out with friends cut short, all of it was pointless, worthless and a waste of time. This failure ruined all of that, and well at least now you’ve learned your lesson: it isn’t worth it. Right?

Wrong.

Look back: this is one of the few times that’s okay to do. How far did you come? How far are you now compared to where you were when you started this journey to your goal? How much did you learn, how much did you gain, how much better of a person are you because of it?

The sacrifices and work were never a guarantee that you would get what you wanted, you knew that going in. It’s always been a risk, and a gamble, but it was one you were willing to give. Because you wanted your best shot at that moment of greatness. You wanted to know that when the time came, you would be able to say "I am ready" and when the final whistle blew, you wanted to be ready to say "I gave it my all."

Championships will be lost, but the lessons, moments and victories that lead to the championship opportunity are forever. You have changed as a person and become better for it. You now know what it takes to be more, and you have become more from reaching for your goal then you would have, had you settled for mediocrity.

So does it suck? Yes. Does it hurt? Absolutely. But was it worth it? 100%. You gave an all out effort. You put your head down through the criticism, stuck it out through the obstacles and worked your ass off so that you could go in with your best foot forward. That is just what you did. You went in at your best, with your strong mind and passionate heart, and you gave an all out effort. You did the very best you could.

Unfortunately, today wasn’t your day. Does that mean you give up?No! That means you take a breath, you try again and you go about becoming better, again. Think about how much you accomplished this time around, how much more will you accomplish with one more try. I know it's not easy, I know it's hard and I know the thought of doing all of that again for the possibility of another failure is daunting. But take a look, is it really a failure or is it just another opportunity to learn and become better. You decide what today was. You decide what tomorrow will bring.

No one but you can make you lace up your shoes and get back at it again. You get to decide. You get to choose: do I give it another try, push myself and become better or do I live with the “what if?” That choice is totally up to you.

I hope that you take a breath and see the greatness that has enveloped you from the journey you went on. I hope you remember all the lessons you learned through the process of striving for a goal. But most importantly, I hope you see that you are strong from overcoming the obstacles and perservering when things got hard throughout, and that you can do that again.

The work you put in was never about winning a championship, even though that’s what it started as. It became a journey to be the best you can be, and that is a journey and a goal that is never ending.

So go ahead, be upset, be hurt, be mad. But take that anger, lace up your shoes, and hit the pavement, get in the weight room, and get back on the field. Because I promise you, the “I gave it my all” is a much better feeling than the “what if” of regret. But hey, it's not worth it, right?