Practice hurts

As each new high school sports season begins, it’s not hard to tell which students have opted to commit themselves to a team. They wince a little when they sit down or get up. They walk a little more gingerly, and you might see them trying to rub a little pain out of muscle here and there.

This is especially true if they haven’t been in any sports in the season or seasons prior to the one they partake in.

Here is the sad, but true, reality of competing in a sport.

Getting in shape is hard.

If you sit on the couch playing video games for six months out of the year, thrusting yourself into a sport which requires running is going to result in owies.

Lactic acid is going to build up in your muscles after the first day of practice and get even worse on the second day.

It’s going to hurt to walk, hurt to sit down, hurt to get up — heck, it’s going to hurt to breathe.

Does that mean you are injured?

No, it doesn’t.

It means your body is adjusting to pushing itself.

The good news is that on day three, you’re going to turn the corner and start to feel better. On day three, that lactic acid that has been building up in your muscles, causing you pain with every move, is going to begin to break up and all of a sudden, your body is getting stronger. It is no longer fighting the new use it’s being put to.

Of course, you are not “in shape” on day three, but you have reached a milestone on your way to getting there.

But, you have to keep on pushing. You have to keep building your strength and your stamina.

With it being spring, the two sports that are currently preparing for their first competitions are track and soccer. These are two sports that require running more than any other sport requires.

If you play soccer, you are going to be running pretty constantly for two 40-minute halves. Though you may not have to run the full length of the pitch, you are going to be running.

If you are a trackster — unless all you do is jump or throw — your job is literally to run.

So, if you have not made any attempt to begin to get your body in shape, those first few weeks are going to hurt.

Not only are your muscles going to scream in resistance, but the potential to make yourself sick after pushing yourself hard aerobically is certainly a possibility.

It’s not for the faint of heart, at least it’s not if you do, indeed, push yourself to the point of pain.

It is obviously necessary, however, if you want to experience success in your sport.

You can’t win a soccer game, or a race, if you can’t reach your maximum potential athletically. The only way to do that is to push through the pain.

That might mean working through shin splints, strained muscles or tendons and ligaments, and the list goes on. Generally, a person can prevent these kinds of issues by stretching, warming up and cooling down appropriately, but even then, they can happen.

What’s important is to remember that practice can hurt, especially early in the season, but if you fight through it and push yourself, that pain will fade and you will become the best athlete you can be for your team or for yourself.