How Football Changed My Life

Everyone has different experiences that shape them into who they are as a person. Some are negative and some are positive, but that is how life goes. I first started participating in sports at the age of three years old, when my mother put me in gymnastics. Growing up an athlete I learned many life lessons and how to get over the hurdles life puts in front of you.

Being involved in all activities that I have been in, I have got to meet many people. Some of my earliest of my friends that I met through gymnastics are still my good friends. I also have former teammates that are from neighboring towns that I still keep in contact with. Sports give you the opportunity to be introduced to so many different types of people. Being apart of a team gives you and your fellow teammates a special bond. I know I can always count on them to have my back and cheer me on, whether I am having a great day or a terrible day. We are so close that I would consider more of a family than a team. The feeling of being apart of something like that is irreplaceable. Learning to get along with all those people can be difficult at times. Having learned to work with groups of people at young age made my life easier now. In school and in the

I have learned to accept failure and to keep moving forward. Falling my face, back, knees and every other possibly body part gets tiring after I do it time and time again, but I have learned to just keep pushing through it. The mind can make or break you in sports. It is hard to find the motivation to continue dancing, tumbling and leaping on a four inch wide piece after you have already fallen 3 times, but all you can do is shake it off and finish it out. I have learned to face fears. From the fear of doing a new skill or pole vaulting for the first time, to getting back on the bars after I broke my arm practicing bars. Overcoming those difficulties has taught not to let fear get in the way of your