If you’re reading this, then you are currently still on the high, coming off of a junior campaign full of nothing but triumph. Each step of the way led you to glory, and now that you’ve tasted the other side of the rainbow, you know you want to taste it once more. For some of you, next year will be it; years and years of your beloved sport coming to its end. For others, you're still weighing your options and you just don’t know. Maybe you've already decided that the next level is for you and that’s great, but that still doesn’t matter. You’re judged off of four years worth of performances, not just three.

At this point everything is great, everything is fine and everything will go according to plan. For your sake, I hope it does. I hope that each morning you wake up with a purpose, that you see the light at the end of the tunnel and you reach it, you find it. I hope that you stay in the clouds, walking around with that swagger that comes with being among the best. I hope that you find this journey to be easy and that currently, you think it is.

Currently, you believe that your motivation and your self-discipline will never be met with any doubt. Your immovable force will never meet an immovable object. Your task is clear and you can see it all going down as you become the best to ever do it in your school colors. It’s easy. Follow the plan of the last three years and you’re bound to be a part of history once again. You’ll be on the wall or hang a banner in the rafters. Don’t get me wrong, you can, but I’m here to tell you why you won’t. I’m here to tell you why I don’t believe you will.

Remember when you were just a freshman and everything the seniors swore they were going to do, didn’t happen? Remember when you watched injuries, fatigue, and drama dismantle everything they were about and eventually they were just happy to be a part of the ride? Glad to take it all in one more time? Remember when you thought, “That’ll never be me,” but up to this point, you haven’t done anything to truly separate yourself from the pack, have you? I think you do. I think you know exactly what days, exactly what reps you took off. I think you remember thinking, “It’s just one.” Yet, how many times have you said that? How many practices have you taken off? What’s that percentage of off-season workouts you’ve skipped?

I know the answer to all of these, and as a current attendee of college and a few years removed from partaking in the journey of my life, I’m here to tell you that I was you. I was the one that swore it wouldn’t be me and did everything I could to reach that moment of glory one more time. I sacrificed everything I was for the grander plan and I was proud of it. I was proud of myself but eventually, the train began to fall off the track.

Soon enough I got caught up in the idea of, “the perfect senior year,” and began to skip things that I had no business skipping. I began to not chase my dream, and I lost sight of the things that mattered the most. I let the drama of high school run me over, and I fell into the trap of becoming the gazelle being chased by the lion, instead of the lion chasing the gazelle. (Thank you for the analogy, Dr. Eric Thomas.)

So what I’m here to say is that there are no breaks; there are no second chances. You’ve tasted the sweetness of being at the top, but there is always someone out there trying to chase you once you’re in that spot. There's always someone working harder. You have to dedicate everything you are to be in that spot, feeling that satisfaction of winning, again. The best will tell you that they are always chasing something that they can never reach. They see what their opportunity is and see what their own situation has become and know that no man, no person on this Earth, has ever been promised the next day. So if no man is promised the next day, how can you sit there and think that you are promised one more race? One more game? How can you think it’s going to be as easy as the last time?

I’ll promise, in fact, I’ll guarantee, that it’s going to be harder. It’s going to take everything you are and everything you have always sworn to be in order to reach that peak of glory one more time. It’s going to be painful and it’s going to be hard. Nothing on this ride has been easy and nothing in life is ever going to be.

So when nobody's watching, when everyone says you’ve done enough, push farther. When everyone turns their back because they can’t see the dream; they can’t see the glory; they think you’re crazy; go longer. When the voices in your head say it’s okay to take a day off, work like the sun won’t come up tomorrow. The day you let anything, any thought or any situation deter you off the path, is the day that you’ll go down the road of nearly every other high school athlete there has ever come to be. You’ll fall into the trap. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll turn the tables. Maybe you’ll see that this journey, this final task, is never going to be seen or done again. Maybe you’ll see and hear the whispers of your younger days come in and tell you that you are their hero. I hope you do. I hope you realize that this is your final stand, your last chance to leave a legacy for the ages. There is no time left.