Personal Narrative Analysis

5-7. It was the quarter finals at the Mississippi State Championships for individual singles, and I had just lost the first set.

6-3. We split sets. I still had a chance to win and move onto the next round – just one more set.

6-6. I had been down this whole set, but I fought through the heat and exhaustion to tie up the third set. We would go into yet another tie breaker.

11-9. After three hours of battling through the eighty-degree heat of Mississippi, I had finally won. I was moving onto the next round.

At the beginning of the tennis season of my junior year, I was playing doubles like I had been for the past four years on the varsity tennis team, but it did not stay that way for long. Our girls singles’ player had graduated the previous

When it came to my turn to play the singles position, I was nervous. I did not like singles. There was too much pressure. I had the mindset of “Play your game, and he’ll move on” because I did not expect to play singles again. I assumed he would just move on to the next girl or decide to play the number one girl on the team in that position, but I was wrong. He came up to me and asked me to play that position every match after that day. Though I did not prefer to play singles, I accepted the challenge because it was best for the team, and I fought hard. I went undefeated until state championships. The story above about the three-hour match was brutal, but I’m a fighter. For as long as I can remember, I have always loved a challenge whether it be academically or athletically. Whatever it may be, I would accept the challenge and do my best to succeed even if it pushed me out of my comfort zone. Over the years I have learned that the only way to grow as a person is when we are pushed out of our comfort zones. By accepting the role as girl singles on my tennis team, it helped me grow in leadership and responsibility as well as teaching me a few things about myself. It showed my perseverance – that