The winter postseason is about to start for high school sports and all I can think about are the losing teams. How is a team with a losing record going to feel when it bows out of the first round of the sectional basketball tournament? How is a kid who went to state last year in wrestling going to feel when he loses his opening match? How is the gymnast who worked all year long to recover from an injury going to feel when she falls during her routine? It's going to happen. It always does. I have no idea who it will happen to. I have no idea which teams will be upset, but I know it will hurt. There is just so much importance placed on the postseason, how can a loss not hurt? It hurts more than it does during the regular season because the year is over. But I think the games during the regular season leading up to the postseason are just as important. Especially in high school. Sure winning is fun and it's everyone's goal to get as far as possible during the postseason. Coaches and players will tell you, "it's a new season," and I believe it's true. But I also believe the hard work learned in a hot sweaty gym at the start of the season is just as important, if not more important. That hard work will help later in life when a former athlete doesn't feeling like waking up and going to work one day. The long practices will remind a former athlete that nothing comes easy. They must work hard for what they want. So here's to the losing teams. Hopefully, athletes remember that they aren't losers. They won throughout the regular season just by showing up. Sometimes, that's what matters most. -Theresa Neuhoff Audia