How an Unsupportive Coach Can Ruin the Sport You Love.

It was my senior year of high school which means it was my final year of cross country. I was also on the soccer team for my school and as you know cross country and soccer are in the same season. All throughout high school my cross country coach did not like the fact that i also played soccer because i was the best girl runner on the team but i loved both and there was no way i could chose one. Until my senior year. It was only the begining of the season when everything went down. 

During one of our very first soccer games of the season i got taken out and sprained my ankle pretty bad. I had a cross country meet the next day so i was obviously upset when it all happened. I told my coach and he was not happy either. At the time i thought oh just a few days of rest and i just have to miss this one meet and i should be good to go for the invitational the following weekend. So i took a few days off from everything. The following week i took it light not only because of my ankle but because of the invitational we had that weekend. i wanted to make sure i didnt over do it before the meet. The weekend came and i felt good. I had a brace on my ankle and i felt ready to go. Then the race started. After the first mile i was ahead of my time from previous years and I was with the lead pack but when i hit the 1.5 mile mark my ankle landed wrong in a gutter we had to go over and thats when it all went down hill. The pain was unreal. I was limping while running and i was trying to not put as much weight on it so it wouldnt hurt as bad. It was still early in the season so i didnt push it and at that point I was just trying to finsih the race. After the race my coach didnt talk to me. I knew he was disappointed and that was the worst part.

Little did i know that would be my last cross country race ever. After that race my coach told another runner on the team that there was no way i was going to make it to states (something i have been working for since my freshman year). i was already in a tough situation and after hearing that it destroyed me. I didnt see the point in running when my coach didnt believe in me. So i quit. It was my senior season and I quit. I hated running for months after that and i even debated on not running track in the spring. The only reason i did was because of my friends and another coach on the track team told me i cant quit and that i cant give up. 

Im telling my story because i hope people see how bad a coach not supporting a runner can destoy something they love. This is not the whole story and things were said to me that should never be said to any athlete by their coach. I also do want to tell all the runners out there to never give up. Even if your coach doesnt support you, run for yourself and prove them wrong. Just whatever you do...

Dont. Give. Up.

- Megan Downey ( @mdowney26 )