Sacrifice is a part of sport that gets undermined until it’s taken from you. To achieve greatness, sacrifice will always be a companion. It’s difficult to accept, learn, and understand the reasoning behind it until you reap the rewards. You convince yourself, “It’s all leading up to becoming the better version of me,” even though the relentless efforts you put in haven’t amounted to anything yet.

What does sacrifice look like? It’s losing parts of yourself you didn’t plan to give up. It’s the early mornings and the late nights of pure grind. It’s stepping away from friendships in the hopes that they understand your pursuit of greatness. It’s letting go of the hobbies that once humanised you because the distractions could eventually lead you astray.

Over time, that sacrifice alters your personality, becoming colder, quieter, sharper and reserved. To the outside world, they may think you are going through hardship. But what they don’t know is that hardship will transform you into someone unrecognisable.

Athletes carry the weight of their aspirations through performances. They’ll be their own harshest critics as they set their standards so high that anything less than perfect is unacceptable.

People seem to forget that sacrifices are not just a choice; it’s a cost. Every athlete pays it regardless of whether the world is watching.

However, sacrifice is relatable, no matter the career path you’re going down, no matter your passion. Nothing in this life is handed out for free. You understand that something must be left behind to achieve anything.

It’s the dark reality of life. One day, you may think you’ll have everyone by your side when you come up, until you face the lonely nights and tireless hours, something you need to feel comfortable with to appreciate the success once it comes.

The sacrifice that rarely gets addressed by athletes is the grief of letting go of your former self.

No one prepares you for the moment of realisation that you have completely changed. When the joy you once had for the sport you played becomes a routine. When friendships that you once cherished fade because they didn’t see the picture you envisioned for yourself. When your ambitions make you so tunnel-visioned that nothing in the outside world matters to you anymore. That is when you start to see that who you were before is just a distant memory.

People will only show up once you’ve achieved the success that you put endless effort into, not understanding the process of what led to it. They don’t know the nights spent wondering whether “all of this is worth it.” Self-doubt tests your mentality and whether you are prepared to accept that nothing will be given to you.

Sacrifice is something that will sharpen you, forge you into someone who cannot be broken, no matter what obstacles are thrown at you. It opens your eyes to the people who truly mean something to you. And reveals the ones who quietly fade from your life. The teaching of resilience is more powerful than what comfort will give you.

In life, we never really want to go through challenging times. The teachings have always been that pain builds character, that tiredness is a sign of growth, and that loss teaches us strength. When living through it all, reality hits, and you struggle to see the benefits that come from the pain. But once you’ve lived in it for long enough, pieces of yourself get replaced with discipline, perspective and resilience.

Not everyone is capable of facing moments like this. Knowing that failure is not an option, that sort of pressure is capable of sending someone over the edge. The loneliness can cause such mental strain to someone to the point where they cannot articulate the feelings running through their mind.

If you make it through all of this, you will realise that the life you always prayed for was earned and deserved.

When you look at professional athletes living their dreams, you’re only seeing a fraction of the picture. You see the celebrations after achievements, not knowing the amount of weight they hold in their hands.

Sacrifice is the cost of who you’ve always wanted to become. The question is, are you ready to embark on that journey? No matter the profession, the truth will always remain the same.

Greatness is never free. But once the rewards come, every sacrifice becomes worth it.