Matthew Drane

For as long as I can remember, playing sports has been an important part of my life and identity. Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of going to the baseball fields with my dad and sisters to hit or to catch fly balls. Over the years, I played a few different sports including baseball, basketball, and soccer, but it was baseball that I found to be the most enjoyable and rewarding. I played for the vast majority of my childhood and loved spending my weekends at tournaments and competing. This continued up until around 8th grade when I began to feel a great deal of stress when playing and found the atmosphere around me to be far less enjoyable and much more of a burden on my life.

A teacher of mine at the time coincidentally asked me if I would be interested in joining the cross country team that they were planning to form at the school. Running has always been a strength of mine so I thought I would give it a shot. This turned out to be one of the best and most impactful decisions of my life. After a few years of consistent running, I was able to make a great deal of friends in the sport and ran in multiple state championships in both cross country and track. Running helped me to adapt at a time when I felt lost, and it gave me the opportunity to still compete in sports at a high level. Now that I am in college, I have been able to join the rowing team, which has once again allowed me to compete and better myself in a variety of ways. If nothing else, I have learned that it is important to adapt and approach new situations with an open mind and a willingness to work hard.