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For most of my life, soccer has ruled my life. Every Friday night after elementary school, I would travel to the Danvers arena and play with my friends. This experience lasted up until my sophomore year of high school when, I met a man you changed everything.
When the fall soccer season of 10th grade came to an end, I realized that I was grotesquely out of shape and needed to do something productive in the off season. A lot of my friends did cross country and encouraged me to do indoor track with them. With a little encouragement from my parents I was signed up. On the first day I got to meet the head coach, Steve Sawyer. As he was listing off the events I decided that I wanted to the 300 meter dash, and never do the hurdles. Accordingly Sawyer looked at my long legs and pointed at the hurdles, I marched over with fear in my stomach. The 6’5” captain of the hurdles, August Kawski, welcomed me with open arms and immediately got me going. It was difficult work, hurdling required great flexibility, and I was as flexible as rebar. But with Sawyers help combined with the encouragem...
I remember, freshman year, I was scared, none of my middle school friends went to my new high school, and I didn’t know anyone. I was a shy girl and had been shoved out of my comfort zone. So as the weeks and months went on I made only "school friends", basically just acquaintances you meet and only talk to in school. Eventually soccer season came around, and of course my dad convinced me to continue playing as I definitely did not plan on putting myself out there like that. Not only did playing soccer on my high school's team introduce me to my best friend, but I've met some of the best people, made memories I'll never forget, and learned extraordinary lessons I couldn’t have learned any
I had gone to practice, and was proud of my determination. That day, it was bitter cold and the players of all the teams were huddled together, shivering. I remember this day so vividly because it was the first time I placed in a competition. The sky was cloudy and you could sense the humidity. The ground was wet from the night before, everyone despised this setting. The booster club had brought Gatorade, water and protein bars for us and placed them in front of the bleachers. Athletes were already warming up, their faces getting red from the cold. Anxiety starts to set in but it feels good. I started killing time and hung out in the restrooms because it was warm in there. It was time. I started getting ready, put on my spikes, and ran two laps around the track. I stretched and was ready. The announcers broadcasted that the pole vaulters needed to get in place and I quickly met up with my team. I took off my sweats and revealed the skin tight uniform underneath. I was organized to be the fifth person to go. When they were ready for me, I started my routine and was impervious. I set a personal record of five feet, six inches. While that might be a small victory to others, I was on top of the world. My next goal was to beat it and eventually I
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.
Over the years, soccer has changed me as a person. I love thinking back at the great memories I had playing soccer. I plan to never stop playing soccer. Hopefully, I will play on the club team at Shippensburg and never give it up. This was one of my most memorable moments in my life playing soccer. Through soccer I made friends, learned how to be a team player and helped me bring my family closer together. If it wasn’t for soccer I wouldn’t be who I am today and I am very grateful for this.
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
While I have developed my soccer skills over the years, the relationships I have built with people are treasured more than my ability to play the game. Playing soccer has granted me the opportunity to be surrounded by an extensive family of people who truly love me. I am forever indebted to the sport for bringing me into love-filled relationships with players and coaches alike.
Soccer has always been a part of my life since I was four years old, it has also been in my family for a very long time. My father played soccer all his life and also in college, the same thing goes for my sister she also played in college. So soccer is in my blood and because of that reason and because I have been playing since I was four years old it has taught me some very important lessons that will benefit me greatly through the rest of my life.
Soccer has guided me in many ways to become the person I am. Especially in high school, the sport has showed me how to be much more cooperative and open with others. Before high school, I isolated myself from others and had only a few close friends. Rather than being a sociable, I acted as though I was the only person in the world and had the outlook that as long as I do what is right individually, there is no need for me to work with others. This outlook changed when I joined the soccer team at Holy Spirit, my high school. With the way soccer is at the high school level, I had no choice but to cooperate and associate my selves with others. Once on the field, instead of introducing myself as "me" I had to introduce myself as a part of the team. You win as a team and you lose as a team. Sometimes I wanted to drive to games myself, and I was not allowed to because we are supposed to travel together and it would be wrong to the team for me to separate myself from the group.
Growing up, I always tried to be one of the boys. I wanted to play any sport possible. I wasn’t scared to play tackle football in the backyard with the neighbor boys, I ran around right alongside them. My parents never really helped me pursue any sports, and being just a kid and not able to drive, I couldn’t sign myself up for anything. I began running cross country in seventh grade. It was really my first chance to get myself involved in something. I had never even heard of cross country before, until a book I read involved the main character being involved in the sport. When I began running, I never imagined that I’d still be running my senior year. Not only did I think I’d still be running, I never even considered the idea of running varsity. I believe that my six years of running has proven, at the very least, my commitment to things
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.
My most meaningful accomplishment was making it through my first year of high school. However, it wasn’t the schooling that proved difficult. It wasn’t a social anxiety problem or having to eat the cardboard they served for lunch daily. It was the running. Literally running. My school had joined the state initiative to make sure that every student completed at least one year of an athletic program before graduation. Yet, I failed to think of a sport where being underweight and lanky helped at all. So I ran track, specifically the 1600 meter race thinking, “What the hell at least if I collapse it won’t be because I got tackled by Ray Lewis’s cousin right?” I remember always walking up to the starting line with my heart in my throat and the track
Over the summer before my freshman year of high school, I decided that I wanted to participate in a sport. Preceding freshman year, I went to a small-scale private school which was devoid of many extracurricular activities. Transferring to Jefferson High School was a large adjustment that would take me out of my comfort zone. I first decided to run distance in track & field in the spring of 2012 to help branch out in order to make this
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
I love to run hurdles, but unfortunately last year, little pulls and strains prevented me from running to my full potential. One Thursday, we had a home track meet against Lake Stevens. For the first time I was in pretty good shape for my race, the 100-meter hurdles. I began jumping up and down partially to stay warm, and partially to let out some of my excitement. By this time, I had butterflies in my stomach and the adrenaline was pumping. The starter asked us to 'Take your sweats off and stand behind your blocks.' 'Runners take your marks.' Hands shaking, I crouched into the starting blocks. The gun was up. 'Set!' 'Bang!' I bolted out of the blocks. I was way ahead of the other girls when suddenly, I realized I didn't have enough speed to carry me over the next hurdle. Gathering all of the strength I could, I grabbed at the air in hopes of guaranteeing clearance. I had just brushed over the wood when my foot hit the ground and my ankle gave out. I fell. I heard a gasp from the crowd and the other racers' feet pounding past me. I got back up. I had never gone over a hurdle with my right leg first, but I did after that fall. Sprinting as fast as I could in between hurdles, I found myself basically bunny hopping over the rest of them. My goal was to cross that finish line and to be able to say that I did the very best that I could, even if I didn't look very graceful along the way. Although it might have seemed like a bad day, I was proud. It was the first time I had ever fallen in a race, and not only did I get back up and keep running, I managed to place second.
Running hurdles has proved to be one of my greatest passions in life. I love the fear, unpredictability, and brief feeling of flying over the hurdles, just barely hovering over the top of each one. Most importantly, I am infatuated with the feeling after each race: my heart beating intensely in my chest and the feeling of relief and accomplishment washing over me. Although I cannot say running hurdles has been the greatest adversity I have faced in life, I have found that my life has always been like a race, running from one hurdle to the next, always having to figure out how to get up after each fall or to overcome each obstacle in front of me.