Be Inspired - Words From The Rams
There are many benefits to students who join sports teams in high school. From learning life skills such as how to work with others to helping students destress and stay healthy, high school sports have a wide variety of positive effects. Here's a few of our current and past athlete's favorite things about running cross county and being a part of the Green Mountain XC team!
"The best thing about running cross country is that it is so hard. It never gets easier, you just get faster. I also like hanging with the [other athletes] and making friends." -Evan M
"Something that I like about XC is the actual running. Being able to calm yourself down mentally while [also] being active physically, is a great thing to feel." -Kenneth P.
"So far what I like about the XC program is that everyone is incredibly kind and welcoming! The coaches are supportive of my goals and my teammates encourage me to push myself harder at practice, which helps me become a better runner. For me, there is so much room to learn and grow as I am just starting, and what I love about the program is that it provides the space but also the structure I need in order to do so! All of my peers on the team, whether they are just joining like me, or whether they are returning veterans, have also created a truly welcoming and fun environment that I can tell people thrive in. I can't wait to continue running with the Green Mountain Cross Country Team, and I can't express enough how much I am looking forward to becoming a part of this RAMily!" -Charlotte H.
"Bill Bowerman, the co-founder of Nike, once reflected that 'running is basically an absurd past-time to be exhausting ourselves, but if you can find meaning in running, chances are you will be able to find meaning in another absurd past-time: life'. As I continue on my quest for self-realization, I've explored how this particular form of exercise has become such an integral part of who I am. It has provided me with some of the greatest joys in my life, but also sadness and pain. It has bestowed me with momentous success, but also a healthy dose of failure. It has allowed me to develop a vast network of friends and colleagues to share my life with, but also offered the solitude to be alone with only my thoughts. And perhaps most importantly, it has afforded me the opportunity to push my body and mind to places unimaginable, and yet took joy in reminding me that I am also human. It is an oxymoron of swirling emotions and contradictions. It gives and it takes, and yet it has become so interwoven with who I am that it’s difficult to separate the two. But if this is who I am, I must probe deeper. I ask myself again, why do I run?
Running at face value is difficult, monotonous, and certainly not the easiest mode of transportation. And yet week after week I push through the miles, not as something to casually check off a list, but rather as something that I actually look forward to. It would appear that running is what I consider the best part of my day. It gives me joy when I am sad, allows me an oasis to decompress when needed, gives me the confidence to achieve my goals, and even allows me ponder life’s little conundrums. Running is a source of inspiration and quietness, clearness and cloudiness, and though it is often a contradictory act, it is an opportunity for me to make peace with myself, to find joy in the moment, and to help me find a way through life’s greatest struggles and most beautiful moments. But most importantly, however, running is a moment of happiness, and though I may never know the deeper meaning behind such a thing, I can accept it as it is and find contentment in that answer." - Graham T.
