Rolling green hills swarming with white-thighed, polo-shirted adolescents. A crazed anime fanatic in need of therapy. A year and a half of tedium and resentment. In a meeting with my counselor before my freshman year, I was told that colleges wanted me to be smart and well rounded, and so I tried to be. Being smart was mostly nature, but my athleticism desperately needed nurturing. I joined the sport I thought would be the least torturous. I thought if I was truly terrible, my performance wouldn’t affect the team like in other sports. I reached varsity as a freshman. There were only three girls on the whole team. I tried to be the renaissance girl, the athletic academic. I was still the worst— even the least demanding sport around wasn’t for me. In three seasons, I never shot below 140; I was thankful for the handicap that allowed us to stop hitting once we reached 10 on a hole, and I used it often. …show more content…
Also placed in this ragtag troop of 10-hitters was Mary. Mary loved anime and talked casually and continually about suicide. As Mary’s joie de vivre deteriorated through the weeks, she grew more and more tempermental. She would yell and scream and kick her clubs if she shot badly. When she had a particularly rough day, she missed a putt and threw her club at my head. I didn’t get a concussion, just a bruised egg. Her aggression became a problem, and her coach was assigned to our group to keep her calm. Her aggression turned into incessant raving over her favorite anime, Attack on Titan. Spending 18 holes with her almost every weekend resulted in a metaphorical cyst of bitterness at my own susceptibility to well-meaning
Most student-athletes grow up as very innocent lads bedecked with tremendous talents and become very promising in sports. Thus, they become rays of hope for their families, neighborhoods, and schools yet to be determined. Like the lamb in William Blake’s poem The Lamb, they are fed “by the stream & o’er the mead; gave…clothing of delight, softest clothing, wooly, bright…making all the vales rejoice.” (Smith 24) Then they are exposed to the life of hard work in which only the fittest survives. This makes them ready for the different challenges in the sports scene.
Sports play a large part of an athletic student’s life, weighing heavily on one’s identity. In his essay, “Cut”, Bob Greene relays how he and several others are cut from their middle school sports team because “[they weren’t] good enough” (Greene 58). Because of this cut, Greene and his peers end up pushing harder than ever in other areas of their life. He notes, “an inordinately large proportion of successful men share… the memory
Throughout school I was never really athletic. While I excelled in all my academic and artistic classes, I barely scraped by in gym class. My parents forced me to join soccer and cheerleading as a child, in hopes that I would find something I was good at, but I would complain about it until, ultimately, they’d allow me to quit. Needless to say, I never really understood the fuss about high school sports. In Amanda Ripley’s article, “The Case Against High School Sports,” she argues that the craze over high school sports may actually be harming American school systems.
Mercedes Pacheco is the youngest member of a group of family-oriented athletes. Athletics are nothing rare in the Pacheco family; from her father who swam for the Lobos, to her brother, Nathanael, who played soccer at Gonzaga. Mercedes herself entered into the athletic world at a young age, however, her first sport wasn’t the sport that she stuck with. At a young age, she started as a dancer and gymnast without giving any attention to other sports. It was in 8th grade though that she had the opportunity to try out for sports and so she gave volleyball a chance. She fell in love with the game, quit dance and gymnastics and “from then on, it’s just been volleyball.”
There is never enough of anything in the life of a college student. there is never enough time to study, or enough food, or enough money, or enough time to sleep. But, if that student becomes a college athlete then all of the “or’s” change to “and’s”. Even though there are many struggles of a college athlete they are not going away. As the youth of America watches their older counterparts excel in many college sports, a dream to become an athlete at the collegiate level is sparked. This dream is fueled through high school sports and then disseminated by high school counselors. Counselors who are quick to remind that sports do not bring home a paycheck. Neverless, this dream of college sports thrives and is present in the mind of every high
Marissa has many hobbies, but just like most high school kids, she is very active in sports. For seven years, Marissa competed in gymnastics. Gymnastics has impacted her life by making her work hard and challenge herself. Unfortunately, her time competing in gymnastics is over. From the way she talks about it you know a large part of her life is missing. It was a way of connecting with herself, challenging herself, and becoming friends with new people. Although gymnastics was a large factor is Marissa’s life, she has also played varsity volleyball in three out of the four years she has attended high school. Volleyball was great opportunity for Marissa to get out of her shell and learn many
High school sports are approached with clashing opinions. Some of these opinions are positive, and supportive of athletics. “Athleticism, among many activities, offers teens a physical outlet to exert their troubles, anger, emotions, and other feelings” (Chen 1). This can be observed in nearly all of the football players in Friday Night Lights. This can also be noticed in the world today. “Athletics help high school students understand their own abilities and talents” (Chen 1). This piece of evidence is very accurate when describing high school athletes. Sports can make a high school student humble. As can be seen by the preceding information, high school athletics can have a positive impact on a student’s life.
Being a college athlete is very tiring. College athletes have to endure a ton of things. From six AM practices, to midnight study sessions, being a college athlete is hard. To be a college athlete, the athlete has to be prepared to get used to getting little to no sleep. With early morning practices, class and then studying, with possibly a lifting session, a college athlete needs to be prepared to be pushed not only physically, but also mentally. To be a college athlete it takes a lot of mental toughness. A college athlete has to find it in them to do whatever it takes to study for all of their classes, meaning staying up until necessary, and then waking up the next morning to get up and practice. This is one of the hardest things for college athletes. Mental toughness is a whole other level when it involves sleep. Where one would say, “No. It is fine. I will just wing the test. I am too tired to study.” Or, “I will just study in the morning.” Athletes have to be prepared to break mental boundaries and drive themselves to success. They have to realize that other things are more important and that sleep will have to wait. Megan, a
As most children did, I had the choice to play whatever sport I wanted. Considering my height, 5’10, most would assume that I played either basketball or volleyball. No one expected me to play tennis, and was surprised when I said that I did. During my elementary years, I played softball for seven years, and when I hit eighth grade, I decided to play tennis. My decision came about because of my sister. I had always followed closely in her footsteps because I looked up to her a lot, so when I saw she was playing; I wanted to try it out too. I had never really thought about what it would be like to play tennis. I didn’t hate it, or really know what it would be like to play it. And little did I know that playing would demand so much time, energy, and effort.
Sports play a very important role in my life ever since I could walk. My interests in playing sports began at the age of three as my parents signed me up for soccer, flag football, basketball, and lacrosse. First grade started my competitive edge as I began to play for travel teams in various sport tournaments. This competitive edge transferred from the sports field to the classroom having teachers and coaches helping me be the best I can be. Sports have continually well-shaped and defined my character by teaching me how to accept a win from working hard, also how a loss is an opportunity to learn and fix mistakes.
After-school athletics is typically presented as a productive outlet for students to engage with one another and learn within a team environment. However, through an intersectional lens it should be taken into question whether playing sports is enjoyable or even possible without reaping the benefits of gender, heteronormative, and numerous other privileges. Reflecting on my own personal experience of playing high school basketball, I take a closer look as to how it was shaped by the many facets of intersectionality and privilege. In analyzing my experience, I will argue why sports is a constant force in reproducing gender binaries and oftentimes baneful to those who do not conform to heteronormativity.
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
College is a time for young people to develop and grow not only in their education, but social aspects as well. One of the biggest social scenes found around college campuses are athletic events, but where would these college sports be without their dedicated athletes? Student athletes get a lot of praise for their achievements on the field, but tend to disregard the work they accomplish in the classroom. Living in a college environment as a student athlete has a great deal of advantages as well as disadvantages that affect education and anti-intellectualism.
What's going on in my life right now is I have a freshman football game tonight. I'm the quarterback and linebacker. We have a game on 9/11 which is a little bit weird because it's such a sad day in America. But we gotta play through adversity and come home with the win. We're playing Iowa falls @ Iowa falls so a little bit of a drive a little over an hour. The game starts at 5. This is our first conference game and I think we're well prepared and ready to go.We put in some new running plays this week that hopefully throw off the Iowa falls defense.
“I knew this was bliss, knew it at the time.” These words of Eudora Welty, although expressing her feeling from devouring book after book, can also be applied to my life. While not relating to my literacy, Welty’s lexis nonetheless conveys my own feelings after learning the significance of hard work. I’ve put excess effort in performing the roles of a student, an athlete, and a Christian. Success and growth in each component of my life has taught me the value and necessity of a strong work ethic.