By Maggie Foight This month, the Male Student Feature highlights a very important aspect of life for all high schoolers, but athletes in particular: competition. Competition comes in all sorts of forms, whether it be in academics, social life, or sports, but what does it mean to be competitive in general? Maxwell Valeriano, a sophomore at Wilson, deals with competition and all that comes with it on the daily. He is a swimmer, not only on the high school team, but for a club team as well. In the fall, he plays water polo. As is with every athlete of every sport, there have been obstacles and breakthroughs for Valeriano. “Breaking my wrist was a setback,” he says. “Winning the 200 [Individual Medley] at states was a success because of all the hard work I put into it.”
According to Dictionary.com, the definition of being competitive is to have a strong desire to compete or succeed. In order to compete and succeed, one must be physically prepared. Valeriano trains daily, sometimes twice daily, to push himself. In addition to aquatic workouts, he also works out in the weight room up to four times a week. All of that work and dedication is used to break new goals, targets, and objectives. When speaking about how competition ties into his own goals, Valeriano says, “It’s mental, me against myself… I’m competing against myself… to beat my own time.” In his mind, competition is more of working alone to touch the wall faster than the clock ticks, but he also says, “I know that having others to push me will make me better.” Continuing on the topic of competition, Valeriano touches on jealousy. “Competition within the team is letting others push you to do your best and pushing yourself harder while jealousy is, well, being jealous of them without actually wanting to do the work.” In the end, competition may be a part of every human being’s life, but the question is whether or not you work yourself harder in the face of it or not. Maxwell Valeriano, a sophomore at Wilson High School, has shown his decision to train hard and succeed.
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