Whether it is a preseason game or the final seconds of a rivalry playoff, high school student athletes are expected to perform at their best. Regardless of the sport or team, athletes still have their own individual goals for success as well as ones put upon them by their fans. With these goals and expectations comes the sweet taste of victory but also the possibility of its bitter counterpart: defeat.

Often times these expectations are based on a team’s past victories, which is not how these expectations should be set, as every year introduces new athletes to the team. These expectations, which are sometimes set too high, can either drive a team to greatness or make defeat that much tougher for the team to swallow.

The ultimate goal for any sports team is to win a championship or give their best effort. However, the task of becoming CIF champions is not easy. This success has come to several teams at CHS in recent years in sports such as both boys and girls soccer and cross country teams. Although these teams achieved success, that does not mean that future teams will receive the same degree of achievement, as they may experience many changes.

There was an expectation for this year’s girls cross country team because of the hard work they put in and talent the team had. However, the team tried their best to utilize their skills in order to meet these expectations.

“The expectations were high but that was because people knew that with the work the team put in, we were capable of have an amazing season,” varsity cross country runner and sophomore Kiana Cavanaugh said.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some teams have high expectations for success and are unable to meet them. A team’s failure could come from many different sources, perhaps the calls were not going their way or the opponents were much better than anticipated. It is not fair to judge the quality of a team solely on how well their season goes because there are other factors that must be taken into consideration. However, with defeat comes a drive to work harder the next year which help show areas where the team can improve.

“The record [of this year’s team] is influencing our team to work harder in the offseason to be able to win those close games next year,” varsity football player and junior Tyler Roebuck said.

One challenge with achieving success is that it brings with it more expectations that are going to be put on future teams in the sport. Fans must understand that teams are not the same season after season, and they should judge a team based on the current athletes rather than past successes or losses.

Though there is nothing more satisfying than victory, expectations that are put on teams can lead to even tougher defeat. Students must congratulate their victors as well as be there to support the teams that did not perform as well in order to help encourage them to put in more work for the next game or season.