Never Too Late to Start
By Dimitri Nicholson
While my peers were beginning their recruitment process to play in college, I was just beginning to realize my own potential. I began running track my junior year of high school, both extremely late and without much intention to.
Before making this switch, I was a baseball player and was known for being fast and stealing bases. My school was relatively good at baseball, so although I would’ve been on varsity, I would have mainly been a pinch runner. I wanted to be more than this, achieve at a higher level, and see how far I could push myself. I figured I was a decent runner and decided to give track a try.
I decided to talk to the track coach and commit to my decision. Deciding between the two sports to dedicate my time and energy came relatively easily, and so I decided to go for track. My first year in, I placed 8th in the state in the 100 meter dash and started a new chapter of my life as a short sprinter, running the 100 and 200 meter races.
By nature, I’m very competitive and I absolutely love being able to give my all. Being able to control my own destiny in track was something I liked and particularly favored. There’s no excuses for your track time because it depends on how you prepare and how you train. Unlike baseball in many regards, track brought and continues to bring out my competitive edge progressively over time. Being so new to it, it’s additionally so fresh, giving me so much room to explore, learn, and be excited.
I am a rising sophomore in Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania. Penn was always my dream school since middle school, but I started to realize quickly that Penn would be hard to get into, so it fell off of my list freshman year. Being from Indiana, I decided to shift my attention to Notre Dame. This was my family’s favorite college.
Once I started putting up respectable times out of nowhere in my first season, I contacted the head coach from Notre Dame, along with Ivies like Penn. Receiving a lightning-fast response from Penn was one thing, but eventually hearing back again with even greater news was another.
Upon receiving an offer from Penn, I struggled to process it. It didn’t make any sense to me. It had always been a dream to compete in D1 athletics while prioritizing academics. Overnight, it became a reality. Randomly switching sports 5 months prior changed my whole future. The first email I received felt like I was already on the team.
My first “season” in college was humbling yet motivating. My setback in general was my lack of training. Although I quickly learned about my weaknesses on the track, I was accompanied by the encouragement of my teammates. My appreciation for track swelled after seeing them make sprinting look like an art form. At this point, for the most part everyone else was immensely experienced. However, I view this as an opportunity to learn from each and every one of my teammates. Their experiences and actions will help me form the habits I need to maximize my potential. I now view my lack of experience as a strength rather than a weakness. Even with the COVID-shortened season, I still felt like my understanding for track and field grew immensely.
It’s never too late to try something new.
From my own experience, my main message is this: it’s never too late to try something new. I’m living proof of that. Just randomly trying a foreign sport ended up changing the trajectory of my future completely. If something is moderately interesting to you, just go out and pursue it.
In addition, try to just have fun. Don’t get too stressed out and reach out to those around you. I feel like people shy away from help sometimes, but we really are all here for each other. That works for track too. I love my team and wouldn’t be able to get anything done without them. Everything that I do is a result of what we can do together.