Trinity Women's Squash Captain's Blog by Kate Wymard'12: Entry #5
Ultimate Inspiration Comes From Within
During our team meeting on Monday afternoon before practice Chanel Erasmus, a freshman on our team, gave each of us a piece of paper with this quote on it: “When a gifted team dedicates itself to unselfish trust and combines instinct with boldness and effort, it is ready to climb.” This was a fitting beginning to the week after falling to Princeton over the weekend. While we have inspirational quotes, coaches, and teammates, the ultimate inspiration needs to come from within. When we play from our hearts, it is apparent. We are confident on court, energized, and run down every ball that our opponents hit. As I have previously said in another post, anyone can win on any day. It comes down to who wants it more. Princeton wanted to beat us and they did.
One important component of sports is perseverance. If you’re playing a squash match and suddenly start losing, 0-5, in a game or the team in trailing, 1-3, you can either get discouraged and give up, or use it as inspiration to push further and beat your opponent. Catalina Pelaez, our notorious No. 1, is known for her determination on court. She plays with a poker face and never shouts on court, which is intimidating for her opponents. Her confidence and athleticism glow during her matches. I have never seen anyone dive for so many balls in a point. I got excited when I did a split once on court. Cata has done three splits in one rally. She is an inspiration for me and the rest of the team to never stop pushing ourselves on court.
Following Chanel’s quote and Cata’s motivational match, we have been having an incredible week of practices. All of our thoughts are focused on the Howe Cup. We are trusting in our sisters to be fighting as hard as us on the other side of the wooden walls of the courts. We will be playing with a killer instinct to correctly attack every shot our opponents throw at us.