Is Cross Country considered the "hufflepuff" of Sports? Should I be in this sport anymore?

[Crazy Ninja]

On Twitter, people were saying how Cross country is the Hufflepuff of sports. I didn't know what that meant so I checked it up. It is a comparison to Harry Potter. It means that it just takes "anyone." The traits are modest, loyal, etc.. but cast off to the side and while the other sports takes in the great players, cross country just takes "the others."

I'm in cross country and I had a really big meet yesterday to where about 213 schools came and I improved my time by another minute and what I saw on Twitter really hurt my feelings and I almost feel as if I am just "another person" that needed to be on a sport so out of pity, my coach just let me be in it.

This is my second year in Cross Country. The first year, I didn't train and I was really bad with times of 20 minutes for a 4k. Last year, I trained too much before the season that I got a stress fracture and couldn't run for the season. This year, I'm good enough for our school to be on Varsity level but for some reason the coach let a slower new girl than me be on Varsity and 2 girls including me are on JV. We are getting time of 17 minutes. The time isn't that great but it's better than the new girl on Varsity that is getting 20 minutes. I'm not going to complain to the coach because maybe he sees that she's best friends with another girl on varsity and doesn't want to separate them. I'm going to be in Varsity next year and I'm thinking that what if I really am just an "add-on" to cross country? I don't think the coach would care if I'm in it or not. I feel like I shouldn't be apart of this.

Any advice, information or help?

[PhoenixCharm180]

Oh, dear.
Thing is, in any sport, club, group, any clump of people that are together for whatever reason, there's going to be unfairnesses like that. It seems to be human nature. And yes, it's not nice if you are the one being pushed aside. But believe me, it happens in the hardest sports, even at Olympic levels, and to the best sports(wo)men sometimes.

As for your problem. As long as you enjoy the sport, you shouldn't worry about other people's opinion of it, and just keep doing it.

Remember that your coach is a human too, and he/she gets stuff wrong, just like anybody else. If you still like your sport, but not the team, you can think about looking out for another team to join or changing to a sport that is very similar to yours (I don't know enough about cross country, to know if there is one). Or even something totally different.

I would advice you to talk to your coach, if only to inform him/her of your feelings; it's possible they don't have a clue that you feel like that and it's possible that you're mistaken in how they feel about you as a team member.

Just remember, sports are supposed to be fun too, apart from being healthy, and if your not having fun, you should think about how it can be made fun again. And sometimes the best way to happiness is just ignoring other people's boo-ing.

Saying something is stupid is easy, any idiot can do it; making something is fun and fulfilling is hard, that's when you can show your dedication and sportsmanship.

Have fun in what ever kind of sport you end up!