My heart was pounding. My closed fist was filling with sweat from my palm. We had not yet even lined up for formation, but still my nerves were all over the place. I was about to perform a nationals level inspection for the first time in drill. The drill team, yet again, made it to Army Drill Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. This would be my first year in drill and my first time going to nationals in anything. We had practiced many times before for this, but this time it was for real. CSM told the inspection team it was all up to us with the questions and studying. I studied the book given to us as much as I could to prepare for this. We were in our area and CSM gave us the go to change into our inspection uniforms. We all rushed to the restroom with shaving kits, toothbrushes, and our uniforms. We all changed, shaved, and …show more content…
began to line up in the inspection area. This was the moment I had been dreading since we arrived in Louisville. We were all waiting for the next team to go into the inspection area.
Our team was instructed to listen and see if we could identify any questions that might be asked during the inspection. I was terrified. We were all gathered up by our squad leaders. They told us to be confident and began to check our uniforms. My squad leader Binney was going over my uniform with a lint roller and began to ask me some questions. When was this, who is this, what are these. I knew the answer to most of them, but I was having trouble with the land navigation stuff. I could not remember for the life of me hill, valley, ridge, saddle, and depression. Luckily they were probably not going to ask me that. The other schools inspection had started and all I could hear was screaming. I could not tell whether it was the other cadets, or the Army Instructors. This did not help me calm down at all. Finally they were finished and Binney gave me and the other people in his squad a mint. We lined up and all I heard was, “PLATOON” from Dasha, and then “ATTENTION, PORT ARMS, FORWARD MARCH” from Greene. We all started marching in, and this was when the inspection
started. From here all I could do was march in and hope that I would not mess up. There was concrete floor so my marching would not be affected in any way luckily. Finally, I came to my pivot point and my foot connected with a loud smack and I turned to be right behind Binney. The easiest part was over. With my heart still racing I could see in my peripheral the Drill Sergeant moving in on Binney. He was first up to be inspected since he was squad leader and first. As I watched through my peripherals Binney introduced himself with perfection as he should have being a senior. “Good afternoon Drill Sergeant, Cadet Binney is ready for your inspection.” He then began to pull his rifle up and do inspection arms. Again with perfection he completed it. I could only hope to not mess up when he came to me. When the Drill Sergeant began asking questions I was slightly relieved because he was talking in a normal voice and not screaming at him as I expected. He was finished with Binney and the Drill Sergeant began to walk towards me. Binney completed his order arms again with perfection. This was the moment that could make or break this inspection for our squad. My legs were shaking, my palms were practically dripping with sweat, and my heart was pounding in my chest. As the Drill Sergeant walked towards me I took in a deep breath so my initial introduction would sound loud and confident. The Drill Sergeant finally reached me and turned to face me. All I could think about was if he saw my legs shaking in place. Luckily he seemed to not notice. I continued to introduce myself to him, “Good afternoon Drill Sergeant, Cadet Palacios is ready for your inspection.” My introduction sounded spot on and now all I had to do was nail the inspection arms, and answer any questions he had for me. I pulled my rifle up and into place and continued to do the movement. I completed it perfectly and now all that was left to be done was answer some hopefully questions. The Drill Sergeant smiled and said, “Who was the original author of the blue book on drill and ceremonies?” He figured I wouldn’t know the answer, but luckily in the booklets we had been given to study it had mentioned something in there about the drill and ceremonies book. I had to think hard but in a split second it came into my mind. “Drill Sergeant the person who originally wrote the book on drill and ceremonies was the Baron Frederick von Stuben Drill Sergeant.” He look at me surprised and said one thing that I will probably remember for the rest of my days in drill, “Fair play.” and continued onto the next person in my squad. To me this was my most terrifying drill moment turned into an easy and pleasant experience.
The reason for my nervousness was because it was the last rodeo of the High School Rodeo season. The last rodeo just so happened to be the short round of the state finals. The short round was the top 15 cowboys out of the entire state. I had qualified 15th out of about 45 other cowboys in the calf roping. That may sound like it was a great accomplishment, but it really wasn't because I knew I was better than at least ten of the other guys that qualified in front of me. I knew myself that I was someone to watch; even if no one else knew.
My middle school’s dean smiles while handing me my certificate. I gave her my best fake smile and stood in line with the rest of my classmates who made the honor roll. I put my medal around my neck, held my certificate in my left hand, and put my right arm behind my back. I can’t believe I left my jacket in my mom’s car.
...e bus and off we went. As soon as we arrived we were told that the kick off would be in ten minutes. After a quick warm up we were ready. My hands were shaking, heart pounding but I couldn’t wait to start. When the game started my nerves escaped from my head and I was focused on the match.
The time on the clock was 4:30 when the doorbell rang, fifteen minutes early. My three teamates were extremely anxious to get to the Center. I opened the front door and to my surprise the whole team was outside in their cars. They were all spiffed up in their shirts and ties, determined to win the game. As I threw my equipment in my friends car I was hoping that the next time I put it in there I would have a championship medal hanging around my neck.
The entire week was memorable but the last night we had for All-State was the most memorable to me. It was a Friday night in the big city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, when the stadium lights were shining down on Tulsa Union’s football field. The football players, trainers, and cheerleaders were at the stadium before anyone else. As I began to walk on the football field with my black Muller trainer bag around my body like a purse, I realized not everyone has had a chance like this. I was very proud to be able to stand on that field with other athletes from different high schools that were very vigorous in football. Before the game started, the west side trainers filled up the water and Gatorade coolers. Then we began preparing the football players by taping their ankles and wrists. The crowd started showing up in the stands and eventually we got introduced before the game started. By the end of the game there were no injuries in the game and the west side I had lost. When the trainers started packing the equipment we used during the game, there was an injury in the stands. The lady had broken her
With seconds to spare I arrived at batting practice and began to prepare for my game. I hear coach call out my name and as I he acknowledged that I was there he told me I was pitching. My brain shifted and went into a whole new mode, I was more focused and more determined than I have ever been. This was the biggest baseball game of my career and I 'm starting on the mound. Honestly it couldn 't have turned out any better, the fate of the pin and my team lied in my hands and I loved the pressure. The pressure made me thrive and before I knew it our team was marching onto the field for the national anthem. During the singing of the national anthem I peeked into the crowd and first row down the first base side was the little boy I met on the cart and his dad sitting right next to him. This game was for that little boy, I needed to impress him. I pitched six strong innings and my team ended up winning the game. It was the most exciting game of my career and the best part was being greeted with the best pin in the tournament after such a spectacular win. The little boy ran out into the middle of the field where we shook our opponents hands and in front of everyone in the stadium handed me the only thing I cared about besides winning. I was in the best mood for the rest of the day and I rewarded myself with a nice long sleep. I could only image what the next day had to
My team and I were warming up and shooting pucks. My friends and I were messing around while we were warming up. After about 5 minutes my coach blew the whistle, tweet! So then we all went over to the coach, and he told us all the drills we were going to do today. We were going to have to do six drills for the
To best understand how much pressure and stress can be caused by someone with authority, allow me to recount a personal experience. Sweating, I stood at attention in front of the flight Captain and my training instructor Staff Sergeant Garr. I wasn’t quite sure how I got here, and now I was being asked to lie to the highest ranking officer I had ever met. Two choices were available to me, lie and take ownership of the mistake, or stand by my principles and suffer the consequences. Let us start a little farther back in the story. I had joined the Air Force in May of 2004, and that same month I was sent to the Military Entrance Processing Station in Minneapolis, MN. This is where you are put through a battery of tests, ranging from tests measuring your physical capabilities to your ability to read aloud. It takes place over 2 days, and upon successful completion you are flown to San Antonio, TX to enter Basic Military Training.
Walking on the field for the first practice I was both nervous and excited. The thought of messing up was all I could think about because I did not want to disappoint the coaches. The practice was very difficult and I did not do as well as I hoped I would have done. Although I have played softball for three years I was still nervous the first few practice, but as the season went on I improved my softball skills and I learned more from my coaches
On the walk back one of our leaders wanted to make this a learning experience because in scouts we can’t do anything fun without out a moral. He asked us how we could relate this experience to a principle of life. Giving it thought I decided that my experience could be related to the story of the lion and the mouse. Nobody really wanted me on their team because I was not as skilled, but I was able to help
Try outs was just a little over half way done. We finally got a water break and I was a turtle walking over to my water bottle. After our break, we got right back to work and instantly I tasted the salty sweat in my mouth it was gross. I heard the whistles blow after the drill ended and everyone lined up again to get split into teams to scrimmage. I got put into a team with a bunch of girls that were older than me. I was scared because I was only in 6th grade and I was playing with 11th graders. It was like I was a leaf in the forest, I didn't want to be with
The nerves are raging, mainly in his stomach as the butterflies flutter till no end. "Is everything ok? Will everything go as planned?" He couldn't stop thinking about what might happen. Images were racing wild as he thought about his teammates going to battle without him. He couldn't comprehend why he had to let them handle it on their own. He has played with them since they were in eighth grade, and when they need him the most, all he can do is sit and cheer. He hates this feeling of helplessness, but at the same time he knows he has to do what little he can do, well.
I went to the first tryout pretty scared, I didn’t know how much competition there was going to be. Once I had arrived I met some new friends and I also met other people that I already had knew. Surprisingly, there was only 6 people that came to the first tryout… that wasn’t even enough for a full team. We still went on, we did some practicing with our dribbling and shooting, we spent about an hour and half doing the same thing over and over again. I was exhausted and it was time to go home. It was around 9pm and I was tired from all the running so I decided to take a nap on the car ride. After the car ride I went up to my room, changed, and
I took my shower and head to the school. At the school we had a little meeting and our parents group gave us chick fil a sandwiches. We loaded the bus and headed out to the Emporia State field. Once we got there all of the nervousness hit me. I had butterflies in my stomach. We had hours before the game so we went out and walked on the icy field. We had never played a game on this kind of conditions. In the locker room we had music blaring and people were getting pumped to play. We go out for pre-game and see thousands of people there. The butterflies come back, but I had so much adrenaline it equaled out the nervousness. We head back into the locker room and in just 15 minutes I would be playing in the State Championship
I was so excited yet so terrified at the thought of my first day in