University of New Hampshire Athletics
Senior Reflections-Joseph Hook
4/22/2020 11:32:00 AM | Men's Track & Field, Academics
By Will Sirbono
Special to UNHWildcats.com
Senior, multi-event track and field member Joseph Hook (Rockaway, N.J.) came to UNH with one goal in mind and left with many more accomplished. Joseph will leave UNH with friendships and experiences that will last a lifetime all thanks to his time as a UNH student-athlete on the track and field team.
GRATEFUL TO BE A PART OF THE UNH COMMUNITY
"When I first stepped on UNH's campus, my goals were simple. Walk on to the track team and get good grades. That's it. And that is all I did my freshman year and it was somewhat unfulfilling. Those goals stayed the same throughout college, but I didn't realize that there could be so much more to UNH. The relationships I have with teammates, classmates and professors are ones that I will always cherish and I am overall grateful that I was a part of the UNH community."
UNH took Hook by surprise, yet, as his time at UNH went on, he found his niche and developed connections that will last long after his time at UNH.
"Everyone I have met at UNH has a tight knit group of friends that you would never find anywhere else. Everyone has someone else that would go above and beyond for them and it is great that UNH is a place where you can find someone that you connect with."
Hook identified where all those connections were made.
"My favorite place on campus is HOCO because I have spent countless hours in there building relationships that will last a lifetime, with both teammates and friends that were not on the team. Though we all built relationships on the track and in the classroom, dinner at HOCO is where friendships that will last a lifetime are born."
Hook also mentioned what he will miss most about UNH.
"I will miss when it starts to get warm out after a long winter and everyone grabs their friends and their hammocks and enjoy the weather. It was always cool to see such a quick change in atmosphere at UNH."
BELIEVING IN OTHERS AND HAVING OTHERS BELIEVE IN YOU
"My favorite moment as a student-athlete at UNH was seeing one of my teammates grow and get better throughout college to finally place at conference in his senior year. This teammate would always be right outside of making the finals in conference, but I could always see the fire in his eyes and knew he would get there one day. The day that he finally did was amazing."
"My favorite thing about being on my team was the belief that my coaches and teammates had in me. To me, there is no feeling better than people that are close to you, not expecting, but believing in you and believing that you can do great things every time you step on the track."
Hook highlighted the best road trip during his time at UNH.
"The best road trip that we had was our conference championship my sophomore year when we went to UMBC. It was a complete change in atmosphere because the weather was so much warmer than the usual cool New England Spring and all of the teams had to travel further than usual to compete at conference. It led to a fun weekend for the team and a lot of PR's on the track."
RELENTLESS ATTITUDE
"The biggest thing that I learned was under poor circumstances, do everything you can do to get better. From tearing tendons to stress fractures to studying abroad and not being able to find a track, I often found myself unable to train and compete how I wanted to. Despite this, I knew that if I just let myself go, then I would be letting my coaches, team and parents down. Every time I ended up in one of these situations, I had to change the ways I practiced, ate, slept and so on, but in the end it payed off because I always came back ready to compete.
"I think that relentless is the best word to describe what being a student-athlete has made me. Never stop going after what you want."
That relentless attitude is something Hook learned from the beginning of his track and field career at UNH.
"Something that I learned early on is to always do a little bit extra on top of what the coaches give you. Every athlete is different and needs to work on different things and taking 10 to 20 minutes after practice to work on them will go a long way."
SUCCESS IN THE 4X400
Hook had several first-place finishes in his career and five of those came in the 4x400 meter relay. Hook explained what led to that.
"Every time I got on the line for the 4x400, especially at bigger meets, I knew that it was time to perform. Whether I was feeling run down or hurt, it all went out the window when the baton was in my hands."
Hook spoke about how finishing in first is a good feeling, but it's not his favorite.
"It definitely feels good to come in first in an event, but the best feeling is PR'ing, going out on the track and knowing that you competed and gave everything you had, win or lose."
A STUDENT FIRST
"For me, being a student always came first, but would also never get in the way of track. I took the same passion that I had for track and carried it into being a student and that's why I've had so much success as a student."
Though Hook's time at UNH has come to an end, he has a bright future ahead him, that does still include some competitive running.
"Since my final spring season was cancelled due to COVID-19, athletically, I plan to continue training to run the 200 meter and 400 meter until next spring where I will compete unattached in some meets to get closure on the sport that gave me the dedication and drive that I have today. As a career I am looking to get into fraud prevention."
The unfortunate circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak cut Hook's last outdoor season short, but he still had some positive words for his fellow seniors and other teammates who are all suffering the same consequences.
"I would say that I'm sorry that we had to finish our track careers earlier than we were expecting to, but we made the most of the time we had and although I'm pretty quiet I am happy to have had the ability to compete with you all in the past four years."
Please check back to UNHWildcats.com as we continue our Senior Reflections series.
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