My Michigan hero is Mr. Mike McSween who has been my Cross-Country coach at Our Lady of Good Counsel for four years. He has inspired me to become a better person in many different ways. The values he taught me from my many experiences in Cross-Country have encouraged me to become more than just a good runner.

Coach McSween taught me that hard work pays off and that you should always try your best. Through Cross-Country, he also helped teach me about the importance of commitment. Some of the other things that he taught me included the importance of setting goals and achieving them. Before each Cross-Country meet, coach McSween would ask us each to prepare a goal and sometimes he would talk to us about our goals and would make a goal for us. I feel that in life it is important to know how to set goals and achieve them and through doing this he taught me an important life lesson. Another thing that coach McSween taught me was to compete fairly. He always told us to try our best and to compete fairly and he would be proud of us. Coach McSween also taught us the importance of good sportsmanship. He constantly reminded us that, “there are no bad losers and no bad winners”; meaning that no matter if we won or lost he wanted us to exhibit good sportsmanship. I think that this is a good lesson to learn not only because it will help us in life but also because it will help us to exhibit our Catholic faith toward others.

Coach McSween encouraged us not only to become better runners, but also to be shining examples of our Catholic faith to others. He reminded us how to be good runners and taught us how to be good people. Throughout my four years of Cross-Country he taught me how to have confidence in myself and he had confidence in me. He constantly told us to believe in ourselves and to try our best. My coach constantly told of the importance of incorporating faith and athletics together. He instituted a daily prayer before each practice and before every meet. He also taught us the “Runner’s Prayer” from the Notre Dame Cross-Country team. Another thing that he did was he told us that before every meet he prays not for God to help us win but to help us deal with and push through the pain and adversity in the meet the next day and in life. I think that this is important because it teaches us how to pray correctly, not for victory but for help and intercession from God. These are some of the many ways that my Cross-Country coach Mike McSween has inspired me to become a better person and has positively influenced me throughout the past four years. This is also why I chose my Cross-Country coach Mike McSween as my hero, for all the guiding, teaching, mentoring and encouragement he has given me throughout the past four years.