As a child, I would always stare down the hall at the park district pool towards the gymnastics room, hoping to watch little girls walk on their hands and bounce around, longing to be just like them. My parents did not know what gymnastics was or that it even existed. I cannot really blame them for this because our Hispanic culture revolves around soccer, and that is the sport that I was steered into instead, headshots replacing handstands. I was the girl on the team that made boys not underestimate girls in this sport; I was even given a nickname: the terminator, but it wasn't what I wanted to do; my heart was not fully into it. I remember when a friend of mine taught me how to do a pullover on the playground bars during recess at school. I was instantly hooked; I practiced that skill over and over because I had never seen the world upside down before then. It brought me more joy than I had ever had on the soccer field--terminating or not. …show more content…
I have never circled something so quickly before. I was finally going to be a gymnast, and I knew that I had to start preparing as soon as I could. The summer before walking into Rolling Meadows High School as a freshman, I did a lot of handstands at home. Sometimes I would ty to hold the handstands for a minute without leaning on the wall. I was scared of kicking up too hard and landing on my back at first, but I had already landed on my back and falling was not that bad. By the time the school year began, I was no longer afraid to push my kick-ups harder knowing that even if I pushed too hard, I would get back up and try
In fourth grade I took gymnastics. I really like it, and had a lot of
From the time that I could walk I had sports on my mind, walking around with a little baseball and bat or even a football. But as I grew up I found out there are even better sports than just your basic everyday high school events. The first one I seen was snocross, racing snowmobiles at high speeds with only one thing on your mind and that is to win. Soon after though came the introduction to the X-Games and it became my childhood dream to perform there with everyone screaming my name.
By universal definition, "sport" is listed as "an activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively." Football, basketball, baseball, soccer and other primary activities have always been concretely defined as sports in society. However, one of the most physically demanding activities is constantly forgotten when it comes to the realm of sports- dance. Dance requires a tremendous amount of training and creates an aura of competition in which people compete to be the best, win, and take home the trophy- just like in traditionally accepted sports. These sports, however, do not possess an element of psychological health threats that some competitive dancers unfortunately must account for due to the emphasis placed on physical appearance.
After being mesmerized by figure skating at the age of eight, I became a member of the Markham Skating Club. As a competitive figure skater, I must perform various jumps and spins in a choreographed program. I have participated in numerous competitions in Central Ontario and have received multiple medals for my achievements. Yet, my achievement as a figure skater stem from the adversity that I faced throughout my skating journey. This sport has imposed challenges to both my mental and physical strength that have ultimately constructed the qualities of dedication and humility within myself.
I had a strange childhood most people would think. I had always been very serious about gymnastics so I had been homeschooled sense the age of 8 to help give me more time in the gym, this meant I spent monday through sunday 8am to 5pm in the gym. It took over my whole
Since the age of two, I have been dancing. I have been involved in lyrical and classical ballet, contemporary, pointe, hiphop, jazz and tap. When I turned 6 I also took up gymnastics. Through middle school I danced, and did gymanstics as well as softball and soccer. I loved these sports but when high school hit, I had to pick one and I chose cheerleading. I chose this sport because it was not only a extraordinary team athletically but they were extremely involved with the community. We had fundraisers for less fortunate children multiple times and even got to interact with them every winter. The leadership role on the cheer team taught me so much, we lead the entire student body to have school spirit and respect at the football games every friday night. My senior year I decided to switch back to dance and tried out for my high school dance team, and made it! It has been such a blessing to me by showing me even more leadership and how to serve others at our school and in the community.
I started gymnastics when I was very young, just a short while after I started walking. Which I don’t hardly remember much from when I started. Although I know I loved everything about it, especially tumbling (flipping around) that was my favorite part. I would
Movies portray cheerleaders as the popular girls that everyone likes and aspires to be. But when reality hits at Salem High School, it’s a completely different story. Cheerleading was taken as a joke by the other athletes and even students. It was considered a hobby, but to me it was a passion and something I worked hard to be. Being on the cheer squad in high school was difficult to deal with in school because we were constantly being snubbed by the other athletes and students in our school ever since we were kids in junior high which should not happen because everyone has the right to do what they love and they should not be judged for it being different than everyone else. It was always us versus them up until my junior year of high school when we finally earned the respect of our peers.
As a 29-year-old medical school applicant for which I have spent 23 of them in the world of competitive figure skating. For 19 years I was a competitive figure skater, competing at both the local and national level. Figure skating was my way of life, it guided every decision I made, whether I could go hang out with friends, go on family vacations, or what types of activities I could do so that I would not become injured, hampering my skating career. In the middle of my season in 2009 such injury occurred, I was diagnosed with a bulging disc partially caused by a grade one spondylolisthesis between my lumbar and sacral vertebrae. I was told that this was the end of my skating career, I would never be able to compete on that sheet of ice that
Even if it’s just one practice, I have a hard time with it; sitting at practice watching my teammates tumble always gets to me. It always makes me question if the sacrifice I make is still worth it. As soon as I come back and get moving again, I get a fresh reminder of all the love I have for tumbling and cheer.
It’s a time out, all of those Friday night lights, shining in your face as you toss your best friend into the air as she kicks and twists and lands right back in your arms. Football season, every high school cheerleaders favorite season. Down on the track, lined in perfect lines, they yell at the crowd, “Are you proud to be a Tiger?” and the immediate reaction from the football fans in unison was, “Yes we are!” Most people say they’re at the games for the attention during school, but if you’d take the time to ask the cheerleaders why they do what they do, you’d get the same answer that I got from my sister when I interviewed her. She took the time to explain to me why she became a cheerleader and then progressed into saying, “I stick with it [cheerleading] because
Gymnastics is the physical activity that create and show quality, parity, and nimbleness performed on or with specific device. Cheerleading is one who drives the cheering of observers, as at a games challenge. On the off chance that you haven't saw yet, the definitions are totally distinctive. Gymnastics is the superior sport to cheerleading, which is not in any case considered a sport. Gymnastics is an overall better, including cost and the numerous advantages aerobatic offers.
Imagine walking on a four-inch piece of wood that is four feet off the ground, or flying through the air performing skills people only dream of doing. Gymnastics is a sport that taught me many things including how to preserve through difficult situations and how to overcome my fears. I did gymnastics for ten years before I decided that the sport was too stressful and time consuming. A week before I decided to quit gymnastics I was discussing with my family and friends that I wanted to join cross country.
Many parents are unsure as to when they should enroll their children in enrichment activities and which activities to select. "How soon is too soon?" "There are so many choices, where do we start?" These are just a couple of questions interested parents ask themselves as their children enter the toddler years. A great activity to get your child involved at an early age is gymnastics for toddlers.
I continue gymnastics for a year after but it becomes miserable for me. I no longer have a passion for spending hours with my team doing flips. I come up with every excuse I can possibly think of to get out of going to gymnastics. During this year I have not yet admitted to myself that I am scared. After a year of tears, fear and exhaustion I approach my mom and explain my feelings to her. I decide to leave with all the amazing memories I have and leave a winner rather than being resentful and hating the thing I love the most.