The Challenges

There was a time when I'd romanticise
The mud, the rain, the hours of running,
The effort, the passion and sacrifice,
The drawn games, painful defeats, sweet winning,
Arriving home exhausted all those nights,
Going without sleep for morning training,
The challenges, the teamwork and the fights,
Home or away, walking or miles of driving,

Til this year and it changed and wasn't fun,
And things that once came easy all went wrong,
Encouragement drowned out behind complaint,
Those once our guiding lights no longer shone.

Next week two more will follow those who went
Through airport gates to lands of brighter suns.