Failures in sports have not happened here this fall.
Sure, Newton High’s football team and others in the area are not playing in Friday’s quarterfinals of the playoffs. Yes, Newton High’s volleyball team had a tough season and the Cardinals along with Lynnville-Sully, Collins-Maxwell/Baxter, Prairie City-Monroe and Colfax-Mingo are not in the state volleyball tournament.
Not all the Newton High cross country runners ran in last weekend’s state meet, nor did all the runners from the four area high school cross country teams. Seven out of 40 swimmers for NCMP qualified for state, but no, not all the girls advanced.
That doesn’t mean they failed. Sometimes the other team is just better, the runner or swimmer next to you was just faster.
Not giving a maximum effort would be a fail. Not working hard in practices and in games would be a fail. Not leaving it all out there in the final competition you had would be a fail.
There were no fails this fall.
You all kept trying, moving forward with each practice and each competition. That’s progress. That’s success.
“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” — Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels.
None of the area high school athletes quit. Learn from the mistakes and keep moving forward.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at 641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com.