Personal Narrative: My Last Journal Entry
I just finished my morning YAP program, which is going amazing and I will do another journal about my final outcome for my last journal entry. So, I am now about to head over to one of the biggest events of the year; with over 1,100 athletes in participation and my adrenaline is racing and I’m not even the one competing. This is such a big day for these athletes and I cannot wait to see their faces light up, this is going to be exciting! I have just arrived and holy moly are there a lot of athletes here! I walked in and instantly got goosebumps on how amazing it felt to be in this room. I signed up to be a coach, which means I will be given two lanes at a time with 6-8 bowlers to work with. My job is to cheer them on and really get them as
excited and focused as can be. Only the coaches and athletes are allowed on to the lanes and the parents and families all had to stay back. My first team of the day was six older gentlemen I would say in their 40s-50s. This was a big difference from what I had become familiar with over the previous weeks of working with young athletes. I was pretty nervous at first because these guys were really intimidating, like they really knew everything about bowling and I felt like the total newbie here. To my surprise they ended up showing me a few tricks here and there and shocked me with how well they bowled. To be honest, I never would have known they were disabled. This time around I didn’t get to do too much and they wanted to do their own thing and just bowl out the tournament. It wasn’t until my second round of coaching that made me tear up twice with how amazing the experience was. This time around I was given a group of young women, roughly 20-30 whom could not have been more excited to have me as their coach. They were full of high fives and yelling “Kyle did you see that!” after each time they bowled. I had so much fun with this group. They hugged me after every bowl and thanked me for being there. This group had a few girls with down syndrome and it was so sad, a few times they got gutter balls and would start crying and ran to me for a hug. They didn’t want to disappoint me they kept saying and I would always tell them they are doing perfect and they would just smile. It was the moment one of the girls got her first strike and lit up so big that she started running around the entire bowling alley cheering that I cried the first time of the day. However, when it came to award time and that group got on stage and were presented their awards and wanted to take pictures with me that I turned into a water faucet. It was such an amazing moment that I will always cherish. My experience with this event was something truly unforgettable. I got to be a part of something that means the world to these athletes. So far, this intern has allowed me to be a part of such amazing and awarding experiences. I never saw myself actually using my major and strictly want to pursue arts and music, but for the first time, I am seeing a possibility of wanting to specialize in working with athletes strictly with disabilities.
excited and focused as can be. Only the coaches and athletes are allowed on to the lanes and the parents and families all had to stay back. My first team of the day was six older gentlemen I would say in their 40s-50s. This was a big difference from what I had become familiar with over the previous weeks of working with young athletes. I was pretty nervous at first because these guys were really intimidating, like they really knew everything about bowling and I felt like the total newbie here. To my surprise they ended up showing me a few tricks here and there and shocked me with how well they bowled. To be honest, I never would have known they were disabled. This time around I didn’t get to do too much and they wanted to do their own thing and just bowl out the tournament. It wasn’t until my second round of coaching that made me tear up twice with how amazing the experience was. This time around I was given a group of young women, roughly 20-30 whom could not have been more excited to have me as their coach. They were full of high fives and yelling “Kyle did you see that!” after each time they bowled. I had so much fun with this group. They hugged me after every bowl and thanked me for being there. This group had a few girls with down syndrome and it was so sad, a few times they got gutter balls and would start crying and ran to me for a hug. They didn’t want to disappoint me they kept saying and I would always tell them they are doing perfect and they would just smile. It was the moment one of the girls got her first strike and lit up so big that she started running around the entire bowling alley cheering that I cried the first time of the day. However, when it came to award time and that group got on stage and were presented their awards and wanted to take pictures with me that I turned into a water faucet. It was such an amazing moment that I will always cherish. My experience with this event was something truly unforgettable. I got to be a part of something that means the world to these athletes. So far, this intern has allowed me to be a part of such amazing and awarding experiences. I never saw myself actually using my major and strictly want to pursue arts and music, but for the first time, I am seeing a possibility of wanting to specialize in working with athletes strictly with disabilities.