Throughout my life, I had always received recognition for being very agile and quick. My first day of Middle School consisted of the track and field coach attempting to persuade me to join the school’s athletics program. I had previously never been apart of an athletics team, and was willing to take advantage of the opportunity. Throughout my three years of middle school, I was the one consistent member of the school’s track and field team and had an overall successful personal record. Coaches from opposing school would praise me leaving me feeling very confident about myself. This past spring, was my first year running track and field at a high school level. I had spent my freshman year on the lacrosse team and had therefore missed out on track and field. From the other sports I had participated in at school, both coaches and fellow teammates had acknowledged my speed, this kept my confidence alive and made me believe I would strive in high school track …show more content…
The 100 meter dash was left as the last event, and was exclusive to the runners who had achieved the fastest times from each of the previous events. Upon hearing this information, I immediately became worried that I had not even qualified for the last race of the season, and felt instantly defeated. To my surprise, I had managed to qualify, but was placed in the slowest heat. If I managed to win this heat, I would be moved to the final race overall that would determine the medal winners. I managed achieve second place in my heat, preventing me from qualifying for the final race. I felt extremely disappointed with myself, and knew that I had failed my team and myself overall. Due to my overconfidence from the start of the season, I had not achieved any of the goals I had set for myself and had not received a medal either. For these reasons, I consider my first year of high school track and field as a
Both on an off the field, my enthusiasm and motivation to obtain a goal is a trait that I am very proud of. I have faced many tasks where a leader had needed to step up and I am always willing to do so. I am also willing to get help when I need it. If I can’t complete a task by myself I do not mind asking a classmate, teammate, friend or a teacher for guidance. By bringing that openness and leadership to University of Charleston’s Athletic Training Program I believe that I can also attribute to the University of Charleston’s Mission Statement “to educate each student for a life of productive work, enlightened living, and community involvement.” By bettering the Athletic Training community by providing care to our Athletes I believe that I will be a great addition to the Athletic Training
Growing up, I played just about every sport our small town provided: soccer, basketball, baseball, football, boxing, golf, you name it. There was only one sport that I had yet to embark upon: running; however, during my seventh grade year, I decided to try it out, and it ended up being a great decision. From the beginning, the one thing that drew me in was the atmosphere. All of the older runners on the team really embraced us younger runners, despite our youth and immaturity. As a seventh grade kid not really knowing what to expect participating in a varsity sport, this gesture really meant a lot, and it is one of the main reasons that I fell in love with the sport. I stayed with this sport throughout my high school career, and now that I am older, I have the opportunity of being on the other side of the spectrum. My teammates and I love having the middle school kids on the team, and I try my best to ensure that they have a similar experience to the one I had just five short years ago.
Saying that every day at practice I would drive to finish the workout in order to get much better from where I started. When I began, I ran my mile in 11 minutes and 54 seconds, last year my fastest mile was 5 minutes 58 seconds. I like telling people that I weigh 190 pounds and can run a mile in six minutes. I use it as a way to try to inspire people, that they can improve whatever they want to about themselves just by putting in the time. With getting a varsity track and field award for perseverance, dedication, and commitment shows that I devote myself to working hard and continuing on a good path being an example for
The tryout was intense, seventy people showed up, but only forty made the team. It consisted of a 300m run, a 30m run, a med ball toss, a long jump, and a standing triple jump. I out performed my fellow sophomores in almost all the events. This made me realize I might actually have a future in track. I wanted to be great. I wanted to compete at state.
Athletics has made a difference in my life through its redefining of the word “success.” Before I got involved with track and cross country, success was measured by goals I set and achieved for myself that made me happy. Since then, I have realized that success is much more gratifying when it is dependent on making those around me proud. In track, success is when I have trained hard enough so that I am able to help my relay team win a race or break the school record. In cross country, success is when I have built up enough endurance to contribute to the team score and help my team move on to the state meet. This mentality has translated to my daily life, as I am constantly working hard to please those around me. At school, I always do my homework and get good grades so that my teachers do not have to focus extra energy on getting me to do my work. At work, I strive to go above and beyond my typical duties so that I can lessen the responsibilities of my co-workers. At home, I help out with chores without being asked so that my parents can have one less thing
When I was in middle school I thought life was just full of joy and I really did not have
Joining the High School Cross Country team was a huge risk for me because I am quite shy and didn’t have friends on the team. I was the fastest girl on the team, but very slow in comparison to other schools. I was disappointed, and although I gave it a good effort, I knew that I could try much harder. I didn’t quit that year or the next because I knew that people expected me to keep running and I hate giving up, but there were many times when I wanted to quit. However, I decided that if I was going to keep running, I might as well give it more than just a good effort, I would give it my best effort and see if I could shave five minutes off of my 5k time. I started to work much harder and learned to persevere when it was hard and I wanted to
Annually in middle school, we were required to run a mile in gym class. Although many of my classmates hated it, I loved running the mile. In sixth grade, after completing the mile, the grandfather of my classmate, Sam, approached me to ask, “Do you run track?” Since I had always thought myself an excellent athlete, I was flattered, yet having never run on a team before I replied, “No”. Even so, I cherished the idea of racing and I pondered his question all day. Nevertheless, our school did not have a team, so I was sadly unable to run track in Junior High. However, three years later, when the opportunity arose for me to join the Grand Ledge track and field team, I didn't hesitate to take advantage of it.
The start of the 2002 track season found me concerned with how I would perform. After a disastrous bout with mononucleosis ended my freshmen track season, the fear of failure weighed heavily on my mind. I set a goal for myself in order to maintain focus and to push myself like nothing else would. My goal for my sophomore track season was to become a state champion in the 100 meter hurdles. I worked hard everyday at practice and went the extra mile, like running every Sunday, to be just that much closer to reaching my goal. The thought of standing highest on the podium in the center of the field, surrounded by hundreds of spectators, overcame my thoughts of complaining every time we had a hard workout. When I closed my eyes, I pictured myself waiting in anticipation as other competitors names were called out, one by one, until finally, the booming voice announced over the loudspeaker, "...and in first place, your 2002 100 meter hurdle champion, from Hotchkiss, Connie Dawson." It was visions like these that drove me to work harder everyday.
Frequently during my track seasons, I anticipate the groans of my peers when they hear my average weekly mileage during a summer. One mile can seem such a daunting task, to them, let alone twenty five.When alk to a runner about mileage, immediately they will understand why you enjoy it yet, my peers are horrified at my commitment. Our school’s sports program originated the school year of 2014. I was part of the first track and Cross Country teams in the school. As a sophomore, my team and I quickly grew from non-existent to one of the best in CREC ( Capitol Region Education Council). My team won our first track championship that year. Being this the first year, we were profusely congratulated. However, there is nothing more frustrating than being questioned, how do you run so long? Or, why do you put yourself through this? I often wanna yell, I just do! I don’t know why or how, it’s just a part of me! Yet when reflecting upon this, I realise any non-runner won’t comprehend the type of dedication which I put towards my sport. Countless hours of training and at least a month worth of injuries. This is where I
“You b****!” said the 8th grader standing in front of me. I stood there shocked. It was the first day of middle school, and it was the first time I had heard someone swear like that. It was one of the words forbidden by my parents and something I would never think of saying. That was the day that I started to realize I was in my own little bubble, naive about the world.
On the first day of conditioning, a plentiful amount people attended. I was sure that I was in shape until we did our first workout and I was out of breath. During the season, I was not perform that well. Many other kids were much faster than I was. I sometimes would think I wasn’t good enough. After tryouts, I was so anxious to find out if I got on the team or not.
The camp was strenuous and more intense than my previous training. We trained five days a week, running about 7 miles per day. By the end of summer, I felt confident and ready to begin the season. I enjoyed the days when we trained in the forest preserve and running with others pushed me to become faster. As the season proceeded, I still wasn't competitive enough to attend the first invitational meet. My speed placed me at about the 12th or 13th fastest on the team, and I needed to crack the top ten to qualify. Shortly after the first invitational, my coach asked me to start running with the varsity team during practice. This opportunity excited me, and I made it my goal to qualify for the next invitational meet. I struggled to keep up with the varsity runners at first, but after several weeks, it became more manageable. Two weeks before the next invitational my coach told me that I qualified to run with the varsity
When the time came around for track season to start, I began practice everyday for at least an hour and a half. The time was here to finally show everyone my hard work over the last month. The first track meet was horrible. My coach made me run hurdles and I didn’t want to do it. The cause of that was, I fell. How would you feel if you were a seventh grader running against eighth and ninth graders and you fall? It was very hard decision to make or whether if I wanted to continue running hurdles. After a long talk with
Finally, following what seemed like an eternity, Friday arrived. After dwelling on the race, I had butterflies the size of pelicans waiting for the opportunity to take me away. While running a warm-up lap, I realized I had let my tension get the best of me. My leg muscles felt like rocks. All you need to do is focus and put things in place. Just then, coach tapped me on the shoulder. He had been informed that I had the third fastest time in my heat, and I would be running in lane five. "Run the best race of your life, and you have a great chance at going to state," he said. I was relieved to know I only needed to recover one place to advance. My fears slowly and gently began to subside, and my confidence started to build. While I was engrossed in my wind sprints, I heard, "Second call, all 100-meter low hurdles.