What Does Sport Mean To Me Essay

The world of sports continues to bring about more inspirational stories of perseverance than the people can keep up with. Just about every week, it seems like there are multiple new stories of how someone overcame adversity or beat the odds of fulfilling their biggest dream. Some stories as simple as facing a bully who attempted to hold someone back from meeting their full potential, or becoming someone of great wealth when they came from a place where in this materialistic world you would have been considered to come from nothing. Even though I did not come from a home that lacked wealth or from any noticeable city, that doesn’t make my story worth nothing.
I grew up as what society would call a “nerd” because of my lack of interest in sports
Not many things make you feel more bad than if someone you greatly respect says they are disappointed in you. I did not want that to happen to me so I knew there needed to be a change. Every two to three weeks, my coach would come to practice with a new story of how some sports figure, who had failed as a kid, became a great athlete. For example, Michael Jordan did not make his high school basketball team, but later became the best basketball player to ever live. He later went onto win six championships with the Chicago Bulls. One day coach pulled me aside from practice and asked me,”Have you ever started in any football game?” I replied,“No sir.” He later went on to tell me that I had tons of potential, and I had many chances to prove that I had what it takes to be a starter. Sometimes all a kid needs is a little of encouragement, and that is exactly what i needed. I knew I have had many chances before but I just didn’t give them my
From that moment on, I was pushing myself harder than ever before. From the fall of seventh grade to the fall of eighth grade, I grew seven inches taller and did not gain any weight. My bench press went from 80 pounds to 115, and my squat went from 145 pounds to 195. During my 8th grade football season, I finally played more than a half of a football game. Week 7, we played Beebe who had been one of our conference rivals for quite some time. Beebe runs an offense where they do not pass the ball. They like to run the ball at you as hard as possible. They played so hard that each play you got beat up and had new bruises added to each limb of your body. From my previous years, I knew that football with an abundance of physical contact was not my thing. When it was time for me to go in, I took a quick glance up in the stands. The first person I saw was my dad. I thought to myself “He was there for me in the past pushing me to be the best I could be, and I let him down. I failed. I am not letting that happen again!” That moment, there was a spark inside me, and I came out on the field with more energy than ever before. That night, I was the leader in tackles and had won my starting position for the next