Carrying the Weight

The complete athlete is someone that is willing to sell out all for the benefit of the team. A person that is already good enough to succeed, but they still give their absolute best effort to get better is a complete athlete. I am talking about a person that is only satisfied with being the best. Here is a story about one individual that I would consider a complete athlete. In 2010, the Alden Bulldogs had the best season in school history. They went up against a tough Hornell opponent who was just a bit stronger in the end. Alden finished second in the state right behind Hornell. Now most high school athletes would be content with that alone, but not this athlete. Mike Steffan was a defensive lineman for the Bulldogs as a junior. He did not start, but he would play a good amount in the games and he played a key role on the defense. At that time, Michael weighed around roughly 275 pounds. The loss to Hornell really motivated Mike for his senior season. He decided to not play any other sports in his junior year, and he would just focus on football. He felt one way he would get better would be by losing weight. He wanted to be quicker. Now usually when people talk about losing weight, it is usually around 20 pounds. Mike Steffan didn’t lose 20 pounds, it was more like 70! Just imagine for a second how difficult it must be for someone to lose 70 pounds. Mike did this to become a better football player so he could be a state champ one day. He would tell me stories how every night when he went to sleep, he would be staring at a picture of the Hornell football team. This picture said “State Champs” on it. That right there is motivation. Not only that, but he would also bike around 7 miles a day. That is a hard worker right there. That is someone who did everything they could to be successful. Mike Steffan was very successful this year, and he will continue to be in the future. This is one example of a complete athlete.