Friday, September 11, 2009

A lot of Lemons

Ask any athlete, and they will tell you that the most important meet after the Championships is the World Athletic Final. You make it into this meet by competing all year long at the highest tiered meets and earning points based on your finish. By the end of the year, 8 people are awarded entry into the meet…the first 7 are guaranteed their spot, and the 8th can be a wildcard if they (meet promoter) so choose and have a good reason to not just take the 8th place finisher. I struggled a little towards the latter part of my season, but thanks to my early competing on 6 different continents, I still was able to secure 7th place. Well, actually I tied for 7th place when it was all said and done. But how you get here doesn’t really matter because once you’re here, it’s anybody’s ball game. And I truly needed for it to be my day to play ball. This meet pays well and everybody makes money…better than any other meet I could possibly go to and I need that more than anything when I am about to cease making money until next season rolls around. I have no guaranteed base salary, I finished 9th when they pay top 8 at World Championships, and my bank account is in some serious need of a little security. I don’t do this for the money (obviously), but I can’t survive without it either.

Which is why I almost did a low scale freak out when I found out yesterday, the day I was flying to Greece, that I wasn’t on the start list. I have planned for this meet all year long, adjusted my schedule and competed all over the world so that I could give myself the best opportunity to make it here, and now, 48 hours before I’m supposed to compete, I’m told I might as well be flying home. Meets are fickle, that’s just part of the business, but this meet is supposed to purely be based on your performance throughout the year, and by performing well you are rewarded with the opportunity to end your season with a bang. But instead, my season will now end with a whimper, and a fairly broke whimper at that. Somehow they found a way to take the other top 7, leave me out, and use the wildcard on the girl in 9th, a well-deserving silver medalist and one of the top jumpers in the world for many years. Still…it’s not my fault she wasn’t top 8.

I try very hard not to complain because at the end of the day, I know I’m still blessed. But for so long I’ve been waiting to feel like I’ve made it far enough so that it seems like I’m not gasping for air, barely able to hold my head above water. But yet, here I am at the end of the season…without a coach, without a contract, and without this last big meet to try and make next year just a little bit more comfortable. I know it doesn’t overshadow all the bright spots, but right now the immediate future looks a little bleak. No matter what I do, I seem to be a day late and a dollar short. But sometimes that’s life, right? You just have to constantly find new ways to make lemonade.

14 comments:

WAYNE HOBLEY said...

THAT SUX GLENN....I HATE TO HEAR THAT ESPECIALLY SEEING HOW HARD YOU HAVE WORKED....USE IT AS A STEPPING STONE TO MOTIVATE U TO JUMP EVEN FARTHER AND RUN EVEN FASTER NEXT SEASON...MAYBE U SHOULD MOVE TOO...ARIZONA IS NOT CHEAP

WAYNE HOBLEY said...

I MEANT SAN DIEGO OOPS

Jackie E. said...

Hey Brianna, that REALLY REALLY sucks!!! The people who make the decisions at World Athletic Finals are SO subjective when it comes down to picking that 8th person. Like you said, you EARNED your spot being tied 7th!! They did David dirty a couple years ago too and he just swore to himself that he would take that decision out of their hands the following year and last year, I think he qualified in the top two spots, if I'm not mistaken and won the Finals. I KNOW that doesn't help for the immediate, forseeable future< but perhaps you can just use it as motivation for next year!!

Don't know if you're doing the Asian meets, if so good luck...if not, travel safely back to the US and just pray and know that God hasn't brought you this far to leave you:-)

Bodies By Joice said...

Join the club sweetie I got bumped too.

They even had the nerve to send an invitation letter and then 2 hours later retract it.

Shit happens. Like Jack said we have to make sure they dont have the power to do this too us in future.

Chin up

Jx

t.v. said...

Long time ago, barely making the team or barely qualifying was enough. Apparently not anymore. Sorry about the disappointment. However, no one can take away the achievemnts you've accomplished this year..

Keep your head held high...

I'm finding out new ways to make lemonade and I'm actually liking the variations. :)

wildpitch said...

Hi ,I have only seen and heard of you from this spring,you are a deicated World Class athelete,you did your very best,so whos to say a change in the selection,cant change,you will find a way ,there is always a way,this is to solidify your commitment ,its rough at times ,all things will work out for the better!!!I have seen the peaks and valleys ,they are rough and steep,keep on believing and growing!!!!

Juliet said...

Bri, can be it would not help you but you must know that numerous persons support you like me.
I often say " do the best of yourself, and the others will do the best of themselves for you " i don't know if you understand this sentence... i'm sorry, this is a French expression

Anonymous said...

hi brianna
why not contract?
courage
I am wholeheartedly with you
if you d need a shoulder to comfort you
im here

and if you became professor of sport?
you could make the competition and earn money
or write a book of life
courage
bisou kiss
sam the french

j buck said...

It is a shame that in life we all constantly have to fight for every, every, every, everything!

I suppose that, that is the way its always been. Animals always throughout time have had to fight over food, mating rights, shelter, survival. Why would humans be any different!

.......Humans should be different because we have evolved into arguably the most intelligent animals on the planet. Unfortunately it is this intelligence which makes us the cruelest animals on the planet.

Sometimes, I wish I didn't have to deal with humans. They are very mean.

#2 Fan said...

I'm sorry to hear that Brianna...like most things in life it's bitter sweet, but you'll get through because you're YOU :)

Bianca said...

I'm so sorry Breezy. I don't know what do say other than Korea is looking better and better everyday...

j buck said...

Is there any place in this world where people are nice? Are Koreans nice? Not the ones I've experienced in the USA. Are we talking North or South?

The people of this world are so messed up. How did we get this way? Why are people so mean to each other? How did this happen?

Has no one ever heard of "treat others as you would want and expect to be treated"?

To be on topic, who really cares about 1 event! While every event counts in the little bubble of track star's life, there are so many other things in life which are more important. All it takes is perspective!

** What if you lost your job as many Americans have, and didn't have any money for food for yourself, wife/husband and kids? What are you going to tell your little 4 year old daughter as she looks up at you saying mommy, when will dinner be ready? (And there won't be any dinner tonight).

** What if you are cruising though life and go for a routine annual physical. Do the blood tests. Get a call from your doctor to come back in and are told you have Cancer and won't live much longer? (Everything you have ever worked towards is now gone, including yourself).

** What if for all of your life you have dreamed of finding that special love of your life, finally do, marry, start living the rest of your life together, and you catch him/her having sex in your bed with another? (Can you feel the pain)

** What if you are a 16 year old boy, getting on the school bus in the morning, but no one will let you sit down next to them. They are calling you names, pushing you off the seats onto the dirty floor. You find one more in the back and push your way on to the seat and the boy in the seat starts throwing punches. Hitting you in the face, over and over and over until your bloody. You sit on the floor scared, confused, and powerless. You stumble up, and then another boy also attacks you, hitting you over and over and over in the face until your a bloody mess, and seriously hurt. You then have to go home and tell your dad about what happened. The entire school laughs at you. You forever after have to live with what someone did to you? (On the news today, real story)

** What if you were raped? (enough said)

** What if you got drunk and said some really hurtful things to another person that once they left your mouth you knew you could never take them back and wished you hadn't said them? Forever after this person has to live with your words echoing in their head? You just changed their life forever in a bad way and can never take it back or make it better?

See, so Fuck Greece! Who cares! It is a shame that there is no place on this earth where kindness and happiness is the way of life. Such a shame!

Jennie Finch said...

Lots of LOVE & PRAYERS!
Praying for direction & guidance for you Bri, maybe even some cash flow too! God has always provided you the strength to endure! You are tougher than tough!
Love & Prayers,

Anonymous said...

You are incredible everybody knows this. Keep squeezing those lemons. Neil W.