I Had to Make a Compromise for OFSAA Because of a Time Conflict

Everyone always told me that some day I would have to make a decision about which sports I wanted to choose over the other.  Well, this week it happened.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I qualified for all three of my throwing events for OFSAA  in Sudbury which is super exciting.  People don’t always see the extra training that I do on my own  before and after the regular practices and they think that I’m just ‘lucky’.  I have to work just as hard as everyone else to get my results and that is why I get so much satisfaction.

However, I found out that on the last day of  meet  I also have a soccer game in Ottawa 5 hours after my last event in Sudbury (which is almost a 6 hour drive depending on traffic and road construction).

I was so torn up about what to do.  I have worked really hard on Javelin and it’s the event that I broke a meet record in a few weeks back so I know I have potential in that event.   For selfish reasons I really wanted to compete in Javelin at OFSAA to see how I could do against the top 16 girls in Ontario.  I also wanted to do well for the school and my teachers that have put in so many mornings to help me before school to help.  After all, this is what we’ve been working towards for the last two months. Everyone kept telling me what an incredible experience OFSAA is and how great it is to compete against the top 16 of the Province.  I’m such a competitive person so I love that challenge.

In the back of my mind I kept thinking about my soccer game too.  I didn’t want to let my school and teachers down by not competing but I also knew I had a responsibility to my soccer team mates.  I take my commitments very seriously.  How can I be in two places at once?????

After spending many hours talking with my parents we figured out a plan.  Go with the school to Sudbury to compete in shot put and discus and then take a Voyageur bus home on the Friday night so I can play in my soccer game on the Saturday.  It was the only way that I could think of getting to experience at least a bit of the OFSAA meet and still be back for my soccer team.  At the end of the day my soccer team comes first since we are a team.

As soon as I talked to my teacher and told her to that I would not be competing in the last event I was really upset but I also had a huge sense of relief since deep down I knew it was the right thing to do.  I was feeling very guilty for competing knowing that it would let my team mates down.  There are a lot of injuries on my team and we couldn’t have any call-ups since those girls are playing at the same time in another game.  This is the first season that my team is playing at the OYSL level and every game is as important as OFSAA if we want to stay at the provincial level next year.

I was also thinking about the girl who game in 5th place.  I was hoping that she would be able to go to OFSAA to compete in that event  since she was so disappointed that she wouldn’t be going.  I really hope that they contact her so she can have the same experience.

Sometimes I just have to stand back and remove myself from everything and look at the big picture to keep things in perspective.   I had to turn a lose/lose situation into a win/win situation.

Watch out Javelin next year!