A Myth Brought to Life:
It’s after school on a Wednesday afternoon and the weight room is alive with noise. Loud music blasts throughout the room, bars are loaded up with plates for lifting and every athlete pushes themselves to give their best effort, to give 100%. On the wall outside the weight room, a man with a much different story struggles for eternity, pushing a heavy boulder up a steep hill. He’s not a football player or a wrestler. In fact, he’s not an athlete at all; he’s a Greek myth named Sisyphus.
Sisyphus is a legend immortalized in tales from Greek mythology. At LHS, he’s become a tool for teaching and inspiration, an icon that warns us not to take shortcuts and encourages us to give our all every time.
Complacency and Failure:
To Mr. John Woods, who’s serving in his sixth year as athletic director, the story of Sisyphus is about “staying in the moment, controlling the controllables and never being satisfied. So when you think about Sisyphus, pushing the rock to the top of the hill and the rock goes back down the hill, what does Sisyphus do? Push the rock.”
While the legend of Sisyphus is just that, a legend, it can relate to just about anybody’s daily life. It encourages a life of honesty and hard work, one that avoids shortcuts. It also illustrates an important idea of never being complacent and never being satisfied with what you have attained.
“If we ever become complacent, it sets us up for failure,” said Mr. Woods. “Complacency occurs because of something that happened in the past. Provided we remain in the present and focus on what’s important now, we then greatly reduce the likelihood that complacency will ever set in. Sisyphus pushing the rock to the top, he must focus on one step at a time. If he focuses on the top of the hill, he’s likely to have the boulder crush him. He must put all of his energy into the next step. What’s important now?”
The Man Behind the Myth:
Sisyphus is more than a myth. It serves as a story of a man who falls into the same traps that Woods warns of: traps of complacency, satisfaction and shortcuts.
In the myth, Sisyphus is a king of Corinth who is known for his trickery and deceit, and pulls off the renowned feat of cheating death and the underworld twice. This makes Sisyphus a clear opportunist who, rather than accepting death, chooses to shortcut the system to try and get the best deal for himself. This means that he gets his comeuppance in the end, pushing the rock up a hill only for it to fall back down at the top. This is the image most commonly used to identify Sisyphus and it’s the same one displayed outside the weight room.
The Illusion of Choice:
The story of Sisyphus and his principles, or lack of them, has found a place at LHS, especially in such programs as football. With the varsity football team coming off a 2022-23 season ending in a first-round playoff loss, the team started the 2023-24 season working harder and getting stronger.
“We talked a lot about this idea of the illusion of choice and how every game we play this year is going to be predetermined by how much preparation we had and how well we were prepared,” said senior and football team captain Boyd Hunt, who, now in his second year on varsity, has been playing football since third grade.
“That started all the way back in January, when we were in the weight room four times a week in the morning,” explained Hunt. “It was tough. But we had to keep pushing the rock. We knew there were no shortcuts where we were headed. If we took the shortcut, we weren’t going to win the games we wanted to.”
Punishment or Opportunity?
For senior and four-year varsity swimmer Sofija Tijunelis, who has been swimming since the age of five and has also spoken at Wildcats Will, the story of Sisyphus is interpreted many different ways.
“To me, when I think of Sisyphus, I think that it was a punishment and it was meant to be cruel,” said Tijunelis. “When I think of it, I think of it as an opportunity. He’s going to get stronger. He’s going to build himself mentally and physically. And I think, honestly, being able to do that work can be an opportunity.”
Sisyphus was forever at home in the ancient history books long ago, but because of people like Woods and student athletes, he has found a home at LHS too. From the mural outside the weight room, to a statue on Woods’ desk, to tie-ins to the core principles of Libertyville athletics, Sisyphus serves as less of an entertaining Greek story and more of a motivational tool.
Give it Your All:
According to senior and football captain Jake Richter, a lesson taken from the story of Sisyphus is “whenever you have a challenge in front of you, you always have to give it your all and make sure you never cheat anything and give it your full 100% no matter what.” Richter, who has been playing football for eight years, has spent the last two on varsity alongside Hunt.
Sisyphus represents not only punishment, but interestingly enough, positivity as well.
Push the Rock:
“Everything in life is a mindset and Sisyphus could view it as a punishment or as an opportunity,” explained Tijunelis. “I think a growth mindset is the most important thing in athletics and knowing that there are going to be setbacks, you are going to have to push that rock back down the hill but at some point, you’ll get back up there and honestly, if you put your mind to it, you can do it.”
While Sisyphus continues to struggle in the underworld for eternity, Libertyville’s athletics continue to grow from learning his story. According to Richter, Libertyville’s offensive coordinator and speed and strength coach Danny Schaechter has “gotten us so much better with the consistency and showing up every day to prepare for the season, every single day of the offseason.”
All in all, there can be a lot to learn from Sisyphus. His name, however fictional, continues to drive LHS athletics along, inspiring athletes to push the rock.
