Open letter to Team USA

Before giving my message to this years Team USA, I want to give a little backstory.

Being raised in the United States in the sport of inline speed skating usually means that you start by competing at indoor competitions in roller rinks around the country and slowly, as you get older, you are introduced to outdoor racing. For me, that was not the case. I grew up in a roller rink where I was surrounded with some of the greatest athletes in the history of our sport. I was introduced to Outdoor at the age of four in a HQ parking lot. I was just a tiny thing, doing laps and learning how to skate beside (more than a few) World Champions. Names that may not hold as much relevance to young skaters today (but you should really take a pause to look them up) - Theresa Cliff and Jessica Smith - fueled my future dreams. I was completely enamored with how they would leave for weeks on end and come back with these giant medals from strange places and having added another World Champion title, whatever that meant. Still, to this day, I have an old Verducci World Champion uniform hanging on my childhood bedroom wall, signed by Theresa reading “follow your dreams”. And with that little gift ladies and gentlemen, at the age of seven, I had created this giant shiny dream of making Team USA, wearing the stars and stripes and racing for my country.

Before moving on, I want to take a moment to thoroughly thank every woman who took the time and that was a mentor to me growing up. Specifically Theresa and Jessica - I might have never become the athlete I am today without having you to look up to and chase through my childhood. Thank you. Athletes of today, keep that in mind every time you show up to practice, your impact could be beyond imaginable.

Now, back to the story.

In 2009, at the age of thirteen, I traveled to Colorado Springs in the hopes of qualifying for what would be my first Team USA. I had trained, what I thought at the time, extremely hard and I had sacrificed more than what a young teenager had thought was necessary. My childhood dream was finally going to come true. I was ready.

Now, I will spare you the dramatics and give you the simple version of what happened that year.

I did not make the team, I was assigned a alternate position, and my big shiny dream had shattered right in front of my eyes as I sat on the curb of the road course crying my eyes out. I was absolutely devastated. On top of all of this, after my position was given, they announced that the 2009 World Team would not be allowing the alternates to train with the team at the two week residency at the Olympic Training Center. I’m not going to lie, writing this I can still feel the pain in my chest that I had felt that day. At thirteen - I was angry, that not one of my teammates had helped me make the team, that I wasn’t going to get to train with them, but probably more than anything, I was angry that I had been so close but it wasn’t enough.

That day, while my reasoning and anger was completely misdirected, my emotions were valid. It is understandable and even expected for you to be upset when a dream does not come to fruition, especially one that you have worked hard and sacrificed for. What matters the most is what you decide to do after that day.

With time, I began to understand that I had no right to hold anger towards my teammates - if I was not able to make the US team by myself how could I hope to achieve my actual goal of becoming a World Champion? I decided that I may not be able to train with the team at the Olympic Training Center, but that was not going to stop me from training just as hard, if not harder, than the team. And most importantly, I understood that while I hadn’t been enough to qualify this year, I made the conscious decision that I was going to be more than enough next year.

I spent the next ten months with that aching pain in my chest, pushing myself harder than I ever had thought was possible. Lots of days I wanted to rest, sometimes I wanted to quit, but more than anything else, I wanted to compete at World Championships for my country.

The following season, in 2010, I returned to Colorado Springs and qualified for Team USA as the Junior woman with the most overall points. In less than a year, I had gone from not being good enough to being one of the best. I went to World Championships and placed fourth in the 10k points that first year. Which led me to the next twelve years of representing Team USA and multiple World Championship and Pan American placements.

My message to this years’ Team USA, the alternates, and everyone with the dream of representing our country on the world stage: In your athletic career, in your life, you are going to encounter plenty of adversity, hardship and just plain bad days. It is your decision to continue through, carry on and overcome that will decide if you achieve the goals that you make.

Your bright and shiny dream that may seem so far away, is achievable. Just know that when you finally arrive at the finish line and your dream comes true, it may not be bright and shiny anymore. It may have some dings and scratches from the sacrifice and pain that you had to go through to get there. But I can promise, those scratches and dents will only make it that much more valuable to you.