I was a Freshman on the Salem Varsity Gymnastics team, and practice consisted of preparing the team for regionals. An unknown pain in my back wound me up in the trainer's office for an hour of the two and a half hour practice. After finishing the season strong, even though I wanted to give up countless times, pushing myself to work through the pain paid off at regionals. Even though I should have stopped because I made the pain and recovery time longer, I refused to give up on my team the week before regionals. The minute season ended, I decided to go see my doctor, he said I pulled a muscle, and the solution was rest, heat, and ice.…
“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of detrimination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort (Jesse Owens, Olympic Trackstar),” I do not fear the unknown; I fear the day I stop trying to be the best. I cannot change that currently, people are faster than me, but that shouldn’t stop me from taking lead and becoming the best. Each time I race, I think of the pride I will feel afterwards if I give it my all, to take home a win, but also I think of the shame and humiliation I will feel if I don’t. Even if I am not currently the best, I know one day my hard work and mental toughness will pay off in some way, because it’s how badly I want to be the champion, and that is what I work for everyday of…
In ninth-grade, I was on the C team and my basketball coach explained to me that it was because he wanted to keep me and my sister together. However, my tenth-grade season came and I was again on the C team, while my younger sister was on the JV team. I was devastated. I had never felt like so much of a failure. My younger sister was better than me and I just wanted to quit. But, how could I give up on something I had put so many years into? Then I realized that I am not my sister and her talents are not my talents. I could contribute differently from her. So, I continued to work hard and my efforts paid off. Junior year I was starting for the JV team and it was clear that my improvements are what I truly cared…
Have you ever felt the need to improve your life? I joined the cross country team in sixth grade to do just that. Cross country requires tremendous amounts of hard work, dedication, and never giving up to succeed in.…
I attempted to run longer before I stopped and began walking. I paced myself and even endeavored to keep up with some of the faster people on the team. Gradually, week after week, I could see myself progressing from a time in the mid-forties, to the low-forties, and finally into the thirties range. Between the first meet and regionals, we had about six more races, and regrettably, I came in last place in three of them. However, I refused to let my losses stand in the way of my motivation to get better. I kept training and before I knew it, it was the day of the regional…
To express his believe about stretching one’s limit, the great Guy Finley had once stated, “The limit of your present understanding is not the limit of your possibilities.” Inspired by his quote, I, Giang Pham, believe that I would be a valuable member of McGarvin’s Academic Pentathlon team. Based on my personal knowledge of Pentathlon, I have first-handedly experience the soul of a Pentathlete through various study sessions at Ethan Allen. Because of this, I have developed a deep insight of the components necessary to be a true Pentathlete. In addition to having first-hand experience, I also have extremely high expectations for both myself and other students, for it is essential in my academic growth. With this, one like myself could ultimately…
It was a frigid, windy, Friday night in October. The only light was the bright and beaming illumination of the stadium lights projecting over the soccer field. The bleachers were full, it seemed as if the whole school was there, and as a freshman with anxiety, it made it hard to cope with the fact, that I was going to be a starter for the varsity soccer team.…
Participating on the Sutton High School cross country team has been one of the most rewarding yet stressful experiences of my life. For the past five years the Sutton cross country team has been a second home to me and season after season I return thirsting to vanquish a competitive fire. Although I'm ecstatic about competing this year, I was not always this happy about running. Five years ago I decided to try out for a sports team that involved less hand eye coordination (seeing how I have none) and tried out for the cross country team at my school. Almost immediately did I find out that a simple task like running could become much more strenuous not only on my legs and lungs but on the mind. While my body adjusts to the challenges of dirt…
I have experienced many failures in my life but one stuck out to me more than others. I have wrestled since I was 8 years old. Through all my matches I have wrestled in my life, something hit me. My sophomore year I worked really hard to make it to the state tournament. Going into the sectional tournament, my record was 19-3. I had a by the first round which put me in the semi-finals. After winning my semi-finals match 12-4, that put me in the finals against a kid I wrestled 3 times before this. He pinned me the first time we wrestled and the next 2 times we wrestled I pinned him. Going into this match I had a lot of confidence because I knew I could win. I underestimated the want he had to win. He surprised me and came out strong. My sectional…
Sports has always been a passion of mine. It has developed friendships and has kept me in great shape. However, I have had unexpected events in my life that have restricted athletics for me. In this essay, I will describe these obstacles and the roadblocks they have created in my road to success. I started having trouble with my knee dislocating during my 5th grade year and it escalated very quickly. I knew every time I went on the basketball court, I was going to dislocate my knee.…
Life’s as usual in my life until a date appeared on the calendar. March 9th: Track Team Tryouts. I thought about trying out for the team; and after a silent debate in my head featuring the pros and cons of being on the team, I decided to I’d run again this year. Although I knew I was capable of making the team , I also knew I had to get back in shape. “Let’s turn theses flabs into abs then.” I told myself.…
For the past six years of my life, I ran for the Eureka Springs High School cross country team. After graduation, I was given the opportunity to run for the Golden Suns cross country team at Arkansas Tech University. In a matter of six months, my cross country experiences and habits were changed. Often times, there are similarities between two subjects such as these, but in this case, only the differences are obvious. There are changes in not only the way that I run, but the team I ran with, the coach I ran under, and the person I am when I run. These changes have caused me to see what I can do as a runner and a college student.…
It was a scorching hot October day in Palatine, Illinois. As my team and I warmed up for our cross country race we could feel the sun fry us. The Palatine Meet of Champions is always a competitive meet and this was the last time I would toe the line there. I was nervous. Thoughts started rushing through my head and I tried to stay calm. As the day went on, it was time to go to the line and start the race. Right before the gun went off;, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I visualized success. The gun went off and I bolted for the bottleneck. As we came to the last mile, I was in great position. I started making my way to the front and I felt like I was flying. Although I did not win, I placed fifth against many nationally ranked runners. I felt like I was on top of the world. At that moment I knew I wanted to pursue the dream of running collegiately. Later that week, I received a call from Coach Chorny from Miami University telling me that he would like me to run as a RedHawk. I was hooked after my official visit and later that month, I signed my letter of intent. My journey was set to continue.…
Throughout my life, I’ve experienced both competence and incompetence. One of the times that I experienced incompetence was when I began to run in my freshmen year of High School. Having played other sports which were less tiring and fatiguing, I was met with an instant fatigue inducing and enervating sport, with no half-times or breaks. The obstacles I faced made it harder for me to be a good and capable runner, and I lagged behind the…
Have you ever been in a sport you love, and gotten an injury that causes you not to be able to play that sport? Well, I have and I must say it wasn’t a good day when I found out I couldn’t run a whole season. I’m now running again and here is just a little on my running life crisis.…