North Carolina State University Athletics
Sisterhood with Allison: Competitive Intensity
2/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
[Allison is one of three seniors on this year's Wolfpack women's tennis team. Throughout the year, Allison, Lauren, and Agustina will be posting weekly blogs about what it is like to be a member of a Division I athletic team including personal insights on competition and experiences shared amongst the team. The blog's title, Sisterhood, has an important meaning to the team. Each player does not only consider themselves teammates but part of a sisterhood where they will learn to share four years of their lives with other student-athletes from all around the world who enjoy playing tennis and having the opportunity to be part of the Wolfpack.]
All of us imagine ourselves playing center court at Wimbledon in a tight three-setter to be No. 1 in the world. We all transport our thoughts into holding that victory trophy over our heads, kissing it, and thanking all those who got us here. But, then when we place this dream into a college-level setting and onto the NC State courts, there is nothing more real.
Coach Olsen and DuBois wanted to show this to us when they designed a new motivation during practices. They wanted to show that each one of us could hold the No. 1 spot on the team; they wanted to show us this by setting up guidelines stating that we had to play in practice as if we were playing in a dual match. The reason for this was that the outcome of these daily practices would determine the line-up on match-days.
The eleven of us sat down in the locker room after we heard our new objective. We thought about what this new challenge would mean to us. We wrote it down on the locker room wall so we would remember what we wanted our focus to be on when we are all competing for the No. 1 spot. It was competitive intensity.
The ultimate goal was for all of us to bring our competitive side out during practices. We knew that we usually see the most competitive wolves on the courts when we play against other teams, but against our teammates we find it harder to treat each other as a full-opponents instead of half-friends. Therefore, in order to tap into our optimal effort and focus on a consistent basis, we wrote down on the wall: (that through our drive towards practicing the way we want to compete) we are always and forever competing as a team.
The best way to imagine what a typical practice now looks like is to envision Wimbledon. Picture on one side of the net stands Andre Agassi and on the other side resides Pete Sampras. We are seeing two of the best tennis athletes going head-to-head.
And why do we love this match-up?
The reason is because they are both talented competitors and, more importantly, great friends. When you break this down, the reason why Agassi and Sampras were such talented competitors was because they pushed each other further than either one ever knew they could be pushed. And the reason why Agassi and Sampras were such great friends was because of the respect they held for one another in their common enthusiasm towards the pursuit toward being No. 1 in the world.
This is how we think of our new motivation every time we walk onto the court. Whether we play each other or play opponents - we are competing as a team. We look at these written words on the locker room wall and know we are great friends. It is at the end of each day when we thank one another for always playing the best we know how in order to bring out the best in ourselves.
