In 2018-19, the Mountain East Conference began its "Dear Sport" initiative where student-athletes in the conference were encouraged to write a letter to their sport. The initiative provides the opportunity for student-athletes to express in their own words the impact that sports has played in shaping them throughout their lives.
Click here to view all letters posted throughout the year.
Below is a letter from Hannah Ramirez, a junior cross country runner at West Liberty.
Dear Cross Country,
Since seventh grade, you have helped me overcome so much that I did not think I could do. They told me to try out for cross country and see how I felt about it. I remember telling the coaches they were crazy, that I could not race three whole miles. Starting out it was hard, extremely hard, to adjust to putting myself through that amount of exhaustion for running -- something that every other sport hates to do. But here I am nine years later, still running, exceeding those three miles that I thought was impossible.
When I am stressed about all the homework assignments or the content of a certain class that that seems impossible to understand, I think back to that moment. I thought three miles was a hard task and here I am now, running at least eight miles a day like it is natural. I know not to give up and say I cannot do it, because if you work hard enough it becomes second nature, like you were never stressing over it in the first place.
Being a student-athlete has taught me a lot of things that help me get through life. Running has taught me discipline. It is doing those 6 a.m. workouts when you could be sleeping. It is picking studying over a college party. Running has taught me crucial time management skills. Being an Athletic Training major there are 150+ hours of observation and assessments of a certain team, not to mention the classes throughout the day. Being a student-athlete also adds many hours that I could not possibly count between practices, lifting, rehab and prehab to do your best to stay healthy.
The friends that I have made through cross country are everlasting, life-long friends. The bond between runners is unlike any other sport. From telling the box beside you good luck before the race to when the race is finished and everyone congratulates each other, stranger or not. We are not forced to line up after the game and shake hands. We do it because we are thankful that they are in that race to run with us and help push us.
Running has blessed me with so many experiences, but honestly the thing I am the most thankful for that running has brought to me is the teammates and coaches that have been in my life since. They are there when I cannot race because I was injured, running for me and not giving up when it starts to hurt. They are also there for me when they cannot race because of an injury or something, cheering me on from the side, supporting me and congratulating me on my performance. They have confidence in me when I don’t have it in myself. They are there for me when you I am too hard on yourself.
Being a student-athlete is an astonishing experience. I get to travel to new places and meet so many new people all while doing the thing I love the most. There will be certain events that I have to miss because I am a student-athlete. There are times when I must miss the big rivalry football game that everyone else is going to because I have a race. There will be times that everyone else getting is ready for Homecoming, getting dressed up, dancing and having a good time. But me? I am sweating, can barely breathe and every muscle in my body is hurting, but I am okay with that because I am at the conference meet. I am standing with my team on the starting line, everyone needing to use the restroom and nervous. There's the pause after the “runners on your mark," command, and I know I don't want to be anywhere else but there because this is my life, and without this student-athlete experience I would not be person I am right now.
Hannah Ramirez
West Liberty University