College Admissions Essay: My Junior Year Of My Life

My Junior Year Born and raised in Mississippi, I grew up playing tennis when my father introduced the sport to me at age four. It was a slow process in the beginning while I played several other sports including basketball, soccer, and swimming. At some point, I chose to give up the other activities to put all of my focus on one sport: the sport I enjoyed the most, tennis. I played around the city with everyone up until my junior year, when I realized my resources in Mississippi were limited compared to other people living in different states. I elected to give up my life, friends, and family to jump out of my comfort zone and see if I could reach my full potential at a tennis academy called Randy Pate Tennis Academy in Winston-Salem, North

Being away from my family and living with another made me appreciate the comfort of being with my friends and family in Mississippi. Not knowing many people in the area and meeting all new faces was a blast and changed my life entirely. I met some of the most genuine, encouraging, and loyal friends that made an impact on me in a positive manner. I learned to live every day with gratitude and was thankful for the opportunity my parents gave me to train at this elite academy. The academy I attended was often compared to the military in several ways. There was absolutely zero tolerance for nonsense. Randy Pate, the owner of this academy, built the academy under the philosophy of hard work, leadership, and high morals. Everything we did was a team effort. If one person misbehaved, the whole group was punished. Period. Another aspect I thought I gained from this experience was discipline and time management. Tennis was from two to seven every day after school, and once I got home, I immediately had dinner, shower, and began homework. There was not much idle time and most of the time was all business. In many ways, I got over several mental hurdles that I placed in my mind prior to junior year without realizing it. There were many times during fitness, practice, or even at home doing the loads of homework given that night where I thought “I cannot do this” but when I saw the other twenty people around me doing it I