After last week’s hardships of conditioning and weights, this week was the time for me to showcase how I grew from each practice month after month with testing.

I was very excited for the first day of testing because I tested my speed with the 30-meter run. Getting a quick first step was essential for me throughout testing because I spent the majority of the summer focused on how I can be faster. Each drill I did helped me with being explosive such as box jumps, medicine ball throws and 100-meter runs. 

We only get two opportunities to run the 30-meter for the sake of us saving our energy, but I made each one count. As each muscle in my body strengthened and with my legs feeling fluid, I ran like I never ran before running past the lasers marking our times. Despite the main objective for the test being to run as fast as possible, posture and pose played a major contribution in my doing well on the running aspect of testing. 

Keeping my posture upright will forever be a work in progress because I can always get better at it. Coach Derick Hinch emphasized the more time I spend perfecting each drill such as high knees or A skips while focusing on my posture, the better I will be as an athlete. 

Time and time again, he reminds our team about running the right way which is something that takes time as well. This will improve our speed and times. 

We also had testing in weight training, but my favorite portion of the test was when we had the opportunity to test our squat. I did not understand until later in life the importance of weight training, everything is mental.

I never had the opportunity to be consistent in the weight room through high school because I wanted to focus on the mechanics behind high jump. In college, I learned how important weight training is because I grew mentally. 

I was able to squat 325 as my personal best for the day, but I felt as if I was could lift heavier because of how much power I had in my legs and how much determination I had in my mind.

As my legs caved in after dropping low due to the amount of weight on the bar, I pushed myself beyond my limits and used my power to lift the bar up explosively. My energy on that Friday afternoon was radiant as I was not only able to lift heavier, but I found myself smiling throughout the workout.

Sometimes, I forget that I need to cut myself a break from time to time because being a student-athlete is a blessing in disguise. There are not a lot of people who have the opportunity to do the things I do and that’s one of the main reasons I focus on pushing myself to be the best I can be because it is a blessing that is sent down upon me.