Last year, I played in a club team for field hockey at my school. This year the team decided to advance to a JV level. I decided to go ahead and join the new team.
The problem is conditioning. I'm a terrible runner, I've never been able to run for a mile straight in my whole life. I can barely make one lap around the field without stopping, and we're supposed to do 2-3 every day. I've always dismissed my running problem as being out of shape, but I'm starting to think I really have asthma. (I'm not going to go into my symptoms here, I'm seeing a doctor soon about it.)
I can do every single drill or skill practice the coach asks us to do. I can do suicides, grape vines, any short interval running at all if I just have a minute to catch my breath in between. Its just running for a distance that gets me.
The coach really isn't thrilled by me. He made a comment to me that I probably shouldn't be playing if I wasn't able to run like everyone else. Its just a JV team, we don't even have tryouts or anything. I play well in games, and I can do all of the drills just fine.
Its embarrassing and frustrating to have to hold everyone else up. What can I do about this? Should I quit? Should I just do my best and not worry about it? Am I being unfair to the team by being out of condition?
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