Student+Athlete Highlight: Reese Dragovich
Welcome back to The Plus, a blog series I began a few weeks ago featuring Christian student-athletes.
Like a dash, The Plus has a horizontal bar that represents the school-sport balance, but there is also a vertical line that represents the relationship between the athlete and God. Because Christ laid down his life for them, the athlete lives their life for Him. In this blog series, I feature student+athletes who thrive in school and sport while pursuing the true prize.
Today's student+athlete is a friend and former teammate of mine, Reese Dragovich! Reese and I became teammates in middle school (lets just say we haven't always gotten along as good as we do now) and went to Valor together, where we set a state record in the 4x4 together! As a fellow 400m runner together, we did almost every hard workout together and would always cross the finish line in pain together. Talk about bonding! Now, she runs for Hillsdale College, where she was a USTFCCCA All-Academic Athlete for her 2:14 800m and academic performance. She has served God's people in Ethiopia many times and uses her poetry to advance His kingdom.
I was moved by her sports testimony because, as her teammate, I saw her battle injuries. After each one, she came back as not only a stronger athlete, but as a stronger woman of faith. Here's Reese's version of the story!
Hi everyone, my name is Reese! I run the 400 and 800 for Hillsdale College. There have been many highs and many more lows in my running career but I would not change any of it because through it all God has refined me and revealed His character to me.
When I started running in 7th grade, track quickly became the most important thing in my life. Through many injuries and trials, God has, thankfully, become the most important thing in my life. In the midst of these same trials, He has also revealed key characteristics of Himself namely His love, joy, and trustworthiness.
Throughout my running career I have strained, pulled, and torn muscles, battled plantar fasciitis and shin splints, and fought through a stress reaction. Oddly enough I also had to get through a significant concussion from an accident in the weight room with a med ball. The week of the state cross country championship my junior year of high school I spent quality time with an IV in urgent care because I got so sick from a stomach bug. My freshman year of college, I had a bad reaction to an asthma medication which left me hypoglycemia in the middle of track season. Not to mention, I’ve had covid twice in the past 6 months. Each of these trials has showed me how fickle running is. It, like every other worldly thing, is an unstable and unreliable source of identity. Unfortunately, though I learned this lesson with my first injury, I have had to learn it again and again and again. But each time God showed up.
One of my favorite books is “Run the Mile You’re In” by Ryan Hall. In it he talks about love and 1 Corinthians 13:8 which says, “Love never fails.” When we run and live out of love we never fail. This does not ensure success but it ensures nothing we do is done in vain. The love of God is overflowing and will be poured out on us if we allow Him to do so. God has shown me that in sickness and in health if I do all things in His love, I do not fail. And His love is abundant. Even sitting in PT coming back from an injury or running a terrible time is not a failure when I do it in God’s love and out of love for Him.
Hillsdale’s motto is “Strength rejoices in the challenge.” While this motto can be annoying at times, God has used this sport to teach me the truth of this statement. His love and sacrifice on the cross gives me reason for immense joy in the midst of any and all situations. No matter what happens Jesus has already won. And thus, if we are in Him, so have we. Lately, every time I step to the line, before painfully difficult races, this phrase has been ringing in my ears, “You’ve already won.” Jesus made sure of that on the cross. And this fact leaves me with so much joy. Every race is simply an act of worship and an opportunity to reach my limitations and, thus, God’s power. As 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Because of these two things I can run and live in love with joy and since God has proven His faithfulness in the past, I know I can trust Him with the future. Even when life gets hard or I’m not running as I want to be, I trust God’s perfect plan. This plan has already resulted in the salvation of the world—I do not need to worry about my next race. The best place to live and run is in God’s hands and the best thing I can do while there is worship and glorify Him. When I run for times, coaches, or myself I am left with nothing but anxiety. But when I run with Christ in an effort to experience His power, share His love, and glorify His name, I am left with incredible joy and freedom. I fully expect that I will have to relearn this lesson again and again, probably through more injuries and trials, but it is a lesson of God’s love, joy, and trustworthiness—a lesson I forget because of my sin but a lesson He never stops teaching me because of His love. I never would have learned these truths without track and I am so thankful to continue experiencing them through the sport of track and field. Now the most important thing in my life is Christ, running is just something I do—I am a child of God not a runner.
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