The year was 2002 and, at the time, I was going through my most challenging hardship as a high school student-athlete. My team had just been eliminated from the state playoffs in football and our season was over. Not only had our season ended, but also the hard work I had put in with my teammates over the course of our high school career had abruptly ended. This loss happened during my senior year, so there would not be an opportunity to avenge this loss.