{"id":2962,"date":"2023-05-11T15:10:19","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T19:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/?p=2962"},"modified":"2023-05-11T15:10:22","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T19:10:22","slug":"athletes-talk-about-the-bad-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/2023\/05\/11\/athletes-talk-about-the-bad-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Athletes Talk About the ‘Bad Days’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cEvery year you work, you work towards a goal. There are steps to success. <\/em>There is no failure in sports.<\/em><\/strong> There are good days and bad days, Some days you are successful, some you are not. Some days it’s your turn, some days, it’s not your turn. And that’s what sports are about, you don\u2019t always win\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

–Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failure isn\u2019t talked about enough. Particularly in the sports world, the focus is on wins and highs. It makes sense. That\u2019s what\u2019s sexy. That\u2019s what\u2019s fun to talk about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Success is uplifting and can inspire the masses to do great things. After all, kids don\u2019t look up to the losers. Fans often ridicule athletes for their shortcomings and judge the greats by how many rings they\u2019ve won and how many accolades they have to their name. In today\u2019s internet and social media-dominated world, there\u2019s a high value on winning, so much so that it\u2019s all society tends to care about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what happens to athletes when they lose? How do they cope with the various levels of pressure and desire to meet expectations set by their coaches, their families, teammates, and themselves? What goes on in an athlete\u2019s mind when they fall flat? More importantly, what lessons can society take from their run-ins with failure? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four SUNY Cortland men\u2019s track and field athletes were interviewed about their athletic careers and experiences failing, both on the large and small scales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was truly my darkest day at SUNY Cortland\u2026 and it was a blessing in disguise\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Jones is one of the captains of the track team at Cortland. He does many sprint events and does his best work in the 60 and 110m hurdle races. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout his career, he\u2019s reached sustained success on the track. He\u2019s been a dominant force at the conference and regional level and is perennially a national-level competitor. He is poised to crack the top 20 in the national rankings and make his third national appearance. Right now he is on the outside looking in, but he\u2019s been here before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021-22 season was probably the most important year for Jones\u2019 development as an athlete. He had a great indoor season, which led him to qualify for the NCAA National Championships. It would be his second time, the first indoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Aaron would finish 12th at the meet and miss the final and All-American status by four spots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time we go to nationals,  just makes it to finals and, you know, be top 8,\u201d Jones said. \u201cSo it was, it was, in a way, disappointing not to be able to get that experience in the final.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the hurdler, he was in the right space of mind to bounce back, saying, \u201cWe were good at reflecting on the situation, getting ready for outdoor, and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this positive, forward-thinking, Jones says he had cracks starting to form, not physically, but mentally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following outdoor season Jones did not have as smooth of a time as he did in indoors and started to stress areas of his race that weren\u2019t present in the past. As the season got closer to its end, the pressure started to build. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outdoor regionals are the last meet for an athlete to qualify for the national meet. Jones was just on the cusp of being among the top 20 qualified times and needed a good race to get in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He, quite literally, had to \u2018go hard or go home.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaron, in the most pressurized situation of his season, hit the first three hurdles and fell after transitioning from hurdle four to five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was just the ultimate feeling of defeat. I got up after and yelled at my coach. It was truly the worst version of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones did not talk to anyone following the meet. He texted the team via group chat that he was going to transfer. He had practically cut ties with Cortland following the race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was truly my darkest day at SUNY Cortland\u2026 and it was a blessing in disguise\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones said following the regionals collapse was a long process of bettering himself and his mentality as an athlete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI dedicated that summer to nothing but mental toughness,\u201d said the Buffalo native. \u201cI spent $100 worth in psychology training for athletes, reading book after book. \u2018Anxiety and arousal,\u2019 I\u2019m learning all of these concepts and learned who I was as an athlete and what I wanted out of this sport.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Jones, his most impactful takeaway was the accountability he gained from the incident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI came to the realization that everything that happened that day was my fault. I chose not to work hard, I chose not to be positive, I chose to downplay my abilities, and it all showed in the end.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones says the experience has made a massive difference in his mindset and that it has shown in his performances this season. He\u2019s confident that he can make it back to nationals and redeem himself for last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought I was going to walk my way to All-American”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with Jones, Brett Morse is a team captain. Also, like Jones, the Saratoga Springs native is a multiple-event sprinter and is a national-level hurdler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morse is currently 11th in the nation, safely qualified for his fourth national meet. He has his eyes set on an All-American spot and plans to use this past indoor nationals shortcoming to his advantage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not many athletes nationwide had a better 2022-23 indoor campaign going into nationals than Brett Morse. He had gone completely untouched. Morse went undefeated all season in the 60mHH en route to  SUNYAC and AARTFC titles. His dominant performances culminated in him being ranked fourth in the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Morse, there wasn\u2019t an issue of confidence until the pressure of being a favorite started to get to him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThroughout the season, I was very confident, I thought I was gonna walk my way to an all-American,\u201d said Morse.  \u201cBut I think the week of the meet I saw, I was seeded fourth, and that just hit me. It was like, \u2018Oh, like I\u2019ve got to get All-American, or else this is a bust.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morse went on to add that you can\u2019t force success. \u201cWhen you try to force something like that, especially at a high caliber meet like nationals, it’s not going to work. It’s never going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morse, a favorite to be an All-American, was almost a lock to be in the finals. All that wasn\u2019t known was the place he\u2019d finish at. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody, not even Morse himself, could have predicted that the veteran would run the worst race of the year and not only miss finals but finish 17th overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe number one thing I thought about was how embarrassed I was. I looked at the clock and thought, \u2018There is no way I ran that badly.\u2019 Who goes from fourth just to finish 17th? That’s a disaster.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the disaster, the senior said he had to quickly change his frame of thinking fast. Trying his hardest to shift to a positive outlook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the race, I asked myself, \u2018How can I make a good out of this?\u2019 There’s no way I can find a good out of this. But I have to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to some feedback from his coach, Morse found a small silver lining in his performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCoach Patrick sent me the video of the race and sent me the splits between my hurdles three and four, and it was the fastest I’ve ever moved between 2 hurdles. So I was like,  \u2018OK. This sucks, but at least there’s something at least somewhat decent that came from it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What tends to happen with athletes dealing with poor performance is the urge to direct blame. There has to be something wrong, and it can\u2019t be the athlete themselves because they\u2019ve been working so hard or doing so well. For Morse, this experience forced him to take some accountability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs terrible as the race was, I needed it to humble me a bit,\u201d Morse said. \u201cAnd instead of just hitting myself and trying to make excuses and getting that victim mentality, I was like, alright, you know what? Learn from this. Try to get better from it. Have a short memory and just come back stronger outdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And come back, he has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomething is always accomplished. Even if it\u2019s getting to the competition\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Graduate student Rich Samuels, unfulfilled expectations on the track have become an expectation. It hasn\u2019t been an issue of talent or ability, Samuels is one of the best in the nation at the 800m, but life sometimes isn\u2019t fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mid-distance runner has had many athletic opportunities taken away from him in his six years as an athlete at Cortland. Most due mainly to circumstances outside of his control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Samuels, the program expected big things from here when he arrived as a freshman. He was \u201calready expected to qualify for nationals.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those goals went out the window early, as Samuels would go on to have a stress fracture in his leg, an injury that would cause him to miss practically his entire freshman year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following his injured first year, Samuels had a decent sophomore year but was nowhere near the peak of his powers coming off the injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His junior year was looking to be the year he stepped into the role the program had wanted him in from the beginning. He was running his best races as a collegiate athlete and in 2020, qualified for the indoor national meet. On the bus ride to the meet in Winston-Salem, NC, the NCAA canceled the meet due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuels was understandably upset with losing his shot at an All-American status but understood the importance of shifting focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s something that you got to cope with. You know?\u201d said Samuels.  \u201cFor an entire week afterward. I’m sitting here thinking,  \u2018What are bigger concerns that we can be dealing with? Yeah, I lost the opportunity to run and complete, but. There are more pressing things. I tend to l try to dive into something else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the years following the pandemic, Samuels didn\u2019t run his best as injuries began to pile up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was healthy all the way, up until championship season, and then I would get injured. And then, I got to the outdoor season. I\u2019d be healthy all the way up until championship season, then I\u2019d get injured. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wallkill, NY  native didn\u2019t buy into the blame game. Instead, he felt he had just to accept his reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll these injuries that I keep dealing with,  I could blame like the training. There\u2019s a whole bunch of circumstances I could blame,\u201d said Samuels. \u201cBut at the end of the day, you either qualified or you didn\u2019t, won the race or you didn\u2019t. As you mature, you realize things happen for a reason, and you must reload and get right back to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuels has finally had a healthy outdoor season, and he\u2019s not wasted his opportunity. He\u2019s run a personal best this year and is fighting for another national qualification.  Looking back, he acknowledges what could\u2019ve been. Had he not been injured, had Covid not existed, but he doesn\u2019t view that as a failure. He doesn\u2019t believe failure in sports is real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are people who will look at their career and say, \u2018I didn’t win this championship, or I didn’t go all American, so it was a failure. But that’s more of their ego talking,\u201d said Samuels. \u201cI don\u2019t think failure exists in sports because something is always accomplished, whether it’s getting to the game or the race or the competition. You’ve always accomplished something by even just getting there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuels is currently at the precipice of a school record and a chance to prove himself nationally. But even if those opportunities were taken away from him due to another injury or global pandemic, he\u2019s proud of his success and appreciates every part of the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the season ended today, I\u2019d say my biggest victory is that I got through the year. You know, I stayed mostly healthy, and I still ran a college best. that in itself, could be my biggest victory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGetting there is the hardest part\u2026 I was overextending myself trying to get back to where I was\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No man or woman in a SUNY Cortland uniform has pole vaulted higher than Zach Nyhart outdoors. He just took the record outdoors after tying the #2 all-time mark in indoors. He is safely qualified for his third nationals appearance and is fresh off an All-American finish at the national indoor meet this past March. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Zach didn\u2019t reach this run of form without failing first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After an average-at-best showing at nationals for the first time during his junior year indoor season, Zach struggled with the pressure of trying to stay at such a high level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that following outdoor season, I definitely held on to the performance at nationals, and I was just over-extending myself trying to get back to where I was, said Nyhart.  I put too much pressure on everything, \u2018I need to qualify now. Or do I have to do it by next week?  I need to have a good practice. I just put too much stress on my mind and my body.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nyhart would miss the national meet that junior outdoor season, which would motivate him for his senior year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nyhart\u2019s senior indoor went fantastic, winning a SUNYAC title and being seeded in the top ten in the nation. But even at NCAA\u2019s things weren\u2019t always smooth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nyhart, on multiple occasions, faced a height that he had failed to clear the previous attempt. Foul twice more, and he\u2019d be going home. The vaulter knew he couldn\u2019t look at those missed attempts as the end and had to learn from them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have three tries for a reason,\u201d the Hamburg native said. It\u2019s all about trusting your abilities and knowing how much work you\u2019ve put in. Your body knows what it has to do, just focus and try not to overwhelm yourself\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nyhart would successfully clear three separate heights after fouling his first attempt to earn seventh in the meet and All-American status. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now he\u2019s heading back to nationals and looking to improve his positioning among the nation\u2019s best. And he\u2019ll take every failure-turned-lesson he’s had with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few athletes in Division 3 have hit the athletic highs of Jones, Morse, Samuels, and Nyhart. We often see their medals and trophies and snap their photos as they cheese on the tops of podiums. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ask them about their great races but leave them to their own devices when they have one of those bad days \u2014 and in some cases \u2014the really bad days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 But what they\u2019ve taught me about their really bad days is that they are necessary. When used correctly, bad days are used as fuel to move forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those bad days are there to tame your hubris when it gets too big. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those bad days are there to check your grit and see how much something matters to you. Can you keep going even when you find another obstacle in your way every step of the way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those bad days are there to help you understand who you are. As an athlete, a person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those bad days are there as a reminder of how far you\u2019ve come.  Collector’s items of what not to do and how to correct those missteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So was Giannis right? Is there truly no failure in sports?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, Giannis was wrong\u2026 very, very wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disappointment exists. Losing exists. Realistic high expectations for athletes exist because they earn those high expectations. And when you fail to meet said expectations, it, by definition<\/a>, is a failure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Giannis\u2019 main point still stands. Some days you don\u2019t win, and it\u2019s not the end of the world. That is the nature of sports. That is why we love competition. There can only be one winner. You are only truly a loser if you let that loss, that bad day, that failure define you and your path forward. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEvery year you work, you work towards a goal. There are steps to success. There is no failure in sports. There are good days and bad days, Some days you are successful, some you are not. Some days it’s your turn, some days, it’s not your turn. And that’s what sports are about, you don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":2965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"entry"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/05\/ncaa.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2023\/05\/ncaa.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Jean-Andre Sassine","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/author\/jeanandre-sassine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}