One of my favorite sayings is “hard work pays off.” This especially showed when I quit gymnastics to focus on tennis. This was one of the best decisions of my life along with playing high school tennis and playing in competitive tennis tournaments. My decision to quit gymnastics pretty much started my tennis “career.” It all started when I injured my knee during one practice, I couldn’t go to practice anymore, and after attempting one last time, I decided to quit. This ended up being one of the best decisions ever because it allowed me to expand my tennis abilities. I had always done tennis and did it while I did gymnastics, but I wasn’t very good. When I quit gymnastics about a year and half ago, I could focus on tennis. In that time, I have worked to gradually get better and the results are starting to show. One of the ways that I have gotten better is through being on the high school tennis team. This past summer, I trained to be able to make the high school tennis team. I ended up making the junior varsity team, which was just fine with me since I got to play singles at every match. Because we had about 18 matches in an ever-so-short two-month season, I got tons of experience playing every different type of player. Plus, it was so fun since two of my friends were on the team with me. I went …show more content…
When I started out, I was losing the majority of my matches and I wasn’t very good. So, after every match my dad would ask me what I did well and what I needed to work on. This helped him figure out what he needed to teach me. As the months have passed, my dad has helped me improve what I do well and work on what I don’t do well. I started gradually getting better and winning more and more matches, but the results have really showed in the past few months. I have now won 7 tournaments of varying levels, and I am even good enough to go to the state
I knew the choice between the two would come eventually, but I thought that it would be a much easier choice. I ended choosing to continue in wrestling, and cut my basketball career short. I soon became one of the best wrestlers in my class. I won all but a few matches throughout my junior high wrestling career. I felt like I was on top of the world.
I also decided to keep playing, as many people do quit, and I kept trying harder in Baseball, and instead of giving up; to push past that and to keep getting farther in the Sport. It changed what I do after school, it made me also think about what I like to do in my spare time, to what I should do in my spare time. Now, I do baseball whenever in my spare time, which helps me reach my overall goal in playing the sport. It used to be for fun, but now I am trying to go farther than just having fun in the sport. I have had to do many things to get where I am, but I do not want to be finished yet, I want to keep going throughout my life and keep succeeding. “Baseball is a good thing. Always was, always will be.” – Stephen
I earned a spot on varsity. Being on varsity gave me my first taste of truly competitive tennis. Usually during practices, we would be separated from the other girls not on varsity, and our coach would run special drills with us. Tennis is an energy demanding sport. Matches usually started around 8, although sometimes I had to wake up at 4 because of a long drive, and depending on how many teams were at the tournament, could end late in the evening, one day we didn’t finish until around 9pm. By this time in my tennis career, I knew all the rules of tennis inside and out. I would frequently help the players on the team newer to the sport with scoring, knowing where to stand to serve, and what grips to hold their rackets in. It was fun to teach them because they never would have guessed that there could be so many different ways to grip the racket, or angles to hit the
Having my dad as my coach was a great factor in my soccer career. Even though he was hard on me, he pushed me to do my best. Without him on the sidelines I wouldn’t have became the soccer player I am today. I found myself spending more time with my dad than I would have if I never played soccer. Playing soccer with him really brought us together and we have a great relationship because of it.
I’ve been involved with sports since I was 2 years old, participating in these taught me more than the sports themselves; they taught me who I am. I put in countless hours of gymnastics practice, so many that the majority of kids couldn’t imagine the dedication needed to become a state and national champion. It taught me a few of the most vital lessons that I will ever learn; to contribute 100 percent in everything I do and to balance various aspects of my life. Gymnastics also taught me perseverance, how to work harder to achieve a goal, no matter how difficult.
When I was eleven years old I made a decision that changed my life forever. Ever since I was three years old I did gymnastics and I loved it. My dream was to become really good and win the olympics and become a world medalist. But this dream quickly was changed. After my eleventh birthday, I was starting to realize I didn 't want to do gymnastics anymore. I told my mom and she was heartbroken but let me do what I wanted, so I quit. Once I quit I decided I wanted to try something else, cheerleading. My mom was thrilled and found a allstar gym in sumner called React.. She emailed the coach but I already missed tryouts. The coach said I could come to practice and see if they needed me and if I would like it. I instantly fell in love and wanted to join. The coach liked me and loved that I could tumble. I made the team that night and my life hasn 't been the same since.
As a child I was not in to many sports or involved in school activities. Going through high school I figured out that being involved in a sport or a school club would make my high school experience better. The first and only sport I chose to do was track. Track changed my whole high school experience and life. I learned to never give up, and it kept me out of trouble throughout my four years of high school.
Naturally, I faced the competition of other gymnasts, however, meets were not where my most valuable lessons were learned. The impact was greater in times I wanted to quit, and didn’t. For instance, my flyway, a skill I acquired as a child, became impossible for me to execute as a teenager. Each time I attempted to perform it, I froze, fear lingering in my mind. Frustrated, I contemplated abandoning my passion, yet, due to my persistence, I overcame the obstacle. I found quitting would never provide me the satisfaction I hungered for. Gymnastics also challenged my body. I suffered more injuries than the average gymnast with broken feet, fingers, toes, and elbows, a concussion, and two stress fractures in two years. My final injury, a torn labrum, resulted in hip surgery, six months of physical therapy, and the death of my college gymnastics dream. Through disaster emerged strength to cope with every roadblock I encounter. All of my life I had worked towards that goal, and with the lift of a scalpel, it was shattered. Thankfully, the qualities gymnastics has given me has transferred to every aspect of my life including my academic career. I have put in just as much effort in the classroom as I have in the
I first joined my high school’s tennis team when I was a freshman. Although I had little knowledge of the sport due to the district’s lack of a tennis program at the junior high I attended, I still wanted to experience something new. However once tryouts came around, I was one of the unfortunate ones to be cut for no logical reason. The news devastated me and made me feel that I wasn’t good enough to do anything. On the other hand, my friends made the team and encouraged me to try again the following year because they knew I could improve and be great. I took their advice and practiced from days on end the rest of my freshman year to improve and tryout for the team my sophomore year. Through the hard work and determination, I found myself on the team my sophomore year and joining varsity my junior and senior years, which made me feel a lot better about myself.
Each game, my passion grew. Each team, new memories and lifelong friends were made. Sports sometimes make me feel disappointment and at loss; but it taught me to be resilient to a lot of things, like how to thrive under pressure and come out on top. Being the team captain of my high school’s football and lacrosse team showed me how having a big responsibility to bring a group together to work as one is compared to many situations in life. Currently playing varsity football, varsity lacrosse, and track I take great pride in the activities I do. Staying on top of my academics, being duel enrolled at Indian River State College, working three nights a week, and two different sport practices after school each day shaped my character to having a hard work
I was tired of going to practice almost every day and I felt like my entire childhood was being wasted at a place I did not want to be. It took three years for my parents to finally allow me to quit. From the twelve years of being a gymnast, I learned that whenever I am in a tough situation it is important to try to overcome it as best as I can and to keep living my life to the fullest. During gymnastics competitions, if I ever fell off the beam or stumbled on the floor, it was important to get back up and continue the routine as if nothing happened. There were several times where all I wanted to do was give up, but I overcame that, and I think it is a valuable lesson that I learned from being such an athletic
Tennis was not just a sport I played, it was an eye opener to who I wanted to be as a person and a player. My dad was once a professional tennis player back in the 1980s, so I was not surprised when I was only four years old to receive my first tennis racquet. God was that thing heavy! Even though it was too big for my little body, I swung it around anyway. I could not stop playing with this racquet.
The key to winning the floor title at the biggest gymnastics meet of the year is having passion for the sport, rhythm in the routine, and captivating the audience's attention. This is very similar to getting an “A” on a paper for school. First, when writing a paper, passion is a big key. When a writers write about something, they have to have some passion or the topic will be very bland. Authors show their passion by dedicating their time and attention to their writing.
The next season (my freshman year in high school), I trained with two different partners. When we started, we were determined to make the Senior National team in 2015 and the 2016 World Championships Team. We trained for eighteen hours each week in order for this dream to become a reality. However, two weeks before the first competition of the new season, one of my partners had a crisis which involved her dropping out of her high school and moving to Texas. While my remaining partner and I found a replacement for her, we were unable to build back up to the level that we had been before.
When I was about seven years old my dad wanted me to go out for basketball so I tried out, he is one of the most athletic people I know. Well ever since he had me go out for basketball I have been doing sports then when I want to give up when I can’t make that perfect lay up or when I can’t make that perfect over hand serve he will sit there and help me do it till I get it done and done right. My dad also taught me how to play half my spor...