Giving it Your Best

I've read on the news about how different badminton teams were disqualified because they lost on purpose.  I'm personally glad that they got disqualified because of that, because I believe that in a competition, the teams ought to do their best to win everything.  When a team forfeits a match on purpose, it is for one thing, a very disrespectful thing to do, and secondly, it shows that you don't really have what it takes to be a true Olympian.  The thing about the Olympics is that the best athletes have been training for years in order to compete in this event, representing their own country, and attempting to win gold.

It is both an honor and a privilege for the athlete to be participating in the Olympics.  Because of that honor and privilege, I believe that each athlete ought to do their best, and to not do so would be a shame, not just to them, but also to their countries.  Giving it your best means that until the buzzer sounds, or the time runs out, or there is a pin... anything, you will not stop.

An image is played in my head of a volleyball game.  As long as the ball is in the air, the ball is still alive and something could happen.  A libero is a defensive specialist, good at both digging and passing.  As long as the ball hasn't touched the ground, the libero will dive and roll and somehow get to the ball, helping it so that the team wouldn't lose a point.  As long as there's enough space to put a hand under the ball, then there's a chance to keep that ball alive.  If there's a chance, there's hope, and if there's hope, there can be a future, if there's a future, you may be able to win.

Today, I didn't run because of a hard day yesterday, but instead, I did 22 pull ups, 55 push ups, cycled for 20 minutes, and worked on my forearms by hanging off a pull up bar.  My goal is to do well in this upcoming 5k, and although it's going to be rough, I'm going to push through and without giving up, race at a very fast pace.  The same thing for the 50 miler in October, I will give it everything I've got and push on forward to the finish.

Giving it your best gives you hope, and that hope leads you forward.