As an athlete I hold this quote true to everything I do, from lifting those last, painful few reps, running every suicide as if it were something I enjoyed doing, to putting every ounce of whatever’s left into those last crucial plays. I found this quote most profound last season, when I joined my first competitive volleyball team. From the first day, I could tell it wasn’t going to be easy, considering some of the nasty looks I got from a few of the girls who had been on the team for a couple of years now.

Countless practices went by. I would always try to outwork my teammates, always try to do what coach asked of me, and always put all of my effort in, yet it still was never good enough. Every tournament it was the same endless routine. Show up, warm-up as if I really had the chance to play, then stand on the sidelines. I felt as if I had no purpose at all. I would encourage my teammates, but everything I would say was meaningless. My coach rarely even gave me the chance to play and validate to him that I could compete with everyone else. I had never felt more frustrated and defeated before. I would tell myself this quote almost every day, in hopes that the last part, “victory is forever,” would eventually come true.

The summer and school season of 2012 couldn’t have come sooner. I trained as if there were no finish line because I was so sick of always having to put not only myself, but my parents through that much disappointment of never seeing me play. I hated facing the fact that my parents had invested so much money into my training, in hopes that I would be recruited, and all that I had done in return was stand on the sidelines.

Then everything changed. I literally put my blood, sweat and especially tears into my love for volleyball. I would go to every clinic, or camp, that I possibly could. I would somehow even convince or sometimes even force my setter and coach to stay an hour longer after practice just so I could work with my setter one on one, or improve on skills I knew I still needed to build upon. I came back this season, more hungry than ever to finally prove everyone wrong.

I’ve learned that this experience transcends the net to everyday life. From facing great losses of loved ones, to tough times between family and friends, and to just staying up longer to study for that test the next day.

The pain is temporary, it may last a few days, weeks, months or maybe even a year; but it will eventually diminish, and something else will take its place. However, if you don’t make anything of the situation, the pain it will last forever. When you look back, you’ll realize how far you have come, with a sense of pride that you got through the struggles, and that at the end of pain there truly is success.

You never really know what your limits are until they are truly pushed and tested, because if you always stay within your comfort zone, you’ll never actually know what you could achieve if you did work just a little bit harder. I eventually did achieve that victory that I desperately wanted when I finally got my spot as a starter this season, got recruited to University of Oregon on a full ride, proved everyone that doubted my abilities wrong, and when I finally earned some respect. All I can say is their disbelief-filled faces made all of that agony even more worthwhile and so much more rewarding in the end.