Chasing Dreams

Isabella Harrison, S10, uncovers the realities of life as a teenage athlete.

Being a teenage athlete sounds like a dream—competing at a high level, traveling the country, achieving things most people only watch from the sidelines. But behind the medals and personal bests, there’s a side of sport is rarely talked about. The pressure, the sacrifices, the constant battle with body image, and the fear that no matter how hard you try, you might never be enough.

Balancing national-level competition with school and everyday life is exhausting. My days are packed with training, studying, and racing, leaving little time for anything else. While my friends hang out on weekends, I’m usually traveling to yet another competition, sometimes in the middle of nowhere. I see their posts, their inside jokes, and I wonder what it would be like to have a “normal” teenage life. But at the same time, skipping a session or missing a race feels impossible. The drive to get faster, to improve, to prove myself never stops. The fear of falling behind is always there, making it hard to know if I’m making valuable sacrifices or just losing balance.

Then there’s the issue no one warns you about—your body changing in ways you can’t control. Sport has made me strong, fast, and capable, but it has also made me question everything I see in the mirror. Girls develop at different times, yet I find myself comparing my body to my competitors, my teammates, even my younger self. One day my uniform feels too loose, the next it’s too tight. Sometimes I wonder if I’m too big for my sport, if my body looks wrong compared to those of others on the start line or whether I fit the mold of what an athlete “should” look like.

I know I’m not alone. Studies show that over 30% of female athletes struggle with disordered eating (Journal of Eating Disorders, 2022), and among teenage girls in sports, one in three will experience body image issues that affect both their performance and mental health (Women’s Sport Foundation, 2023). We train to be stronger, yet so many of us feel weaker under the weight of unrealistic expectations. It’s no surprise that teenage girls are leaving sports at alarming rates. By age 14, girls quit sports at twice the rate of boys (Women’s Sports Foundation, 2023). The pressure to be perfect, to win, to balance school, to fit into a body type that may not even be natural – it all builds up until quitting feels like the only escape. Some days, I wonder what it would be like to just stop – to sleep in instead of waking up for training, to go out on weekends instead of traveling to races, to let go of the constant stress and anxiety of race day. But then I remember why I started - I love running. The rush of the race, the feeling of crossing the finish line, the new places I have been to and amazing people I have met in my journey keeps me going.

The truth is, no athlete’s journey is ever smooth. Injuries happen; illness happens. Setbacks hit when you least expect them. Progress isn’t linear, and no matter how hard you train, you can’t always control what comes next. But you can control how you respond. You can choose to show up, even on the tough days. You can remind yourself that sport isn’t just about medals or rankings —it’s about passion, resilience, and trusting the process, even when the path feels uncertain. There’s one saying my mom has engraved in my head: ‘everything happens for a reason.’ It’s a reminder that setbacks aren’t failures – they’re part of the journey. Every challenge, every tough race, every disappointment teaches us lessons we wouldn’t have learned otherwise. Success isn’t about having a perfect, straight road to the top; it’s about the lessons we gain along the way, the experiences that shape us into stronger athletes and even stronger people.

So, to anyone who has ever felt pressure, self-doubt, or the fear of not being good enough—keep going because at the end of the day it’s you against yourself. Whether you’re an athlete, a student, or just someone chasing a goal, your struggles do not define you. What matters is that you keep showing up, pushing forward, and believing that you are enough. Because you are.