The start of my freshman year was a thrilling experience for me. To start out my freshman year I made the schools Varsity soccer team, a huge accomplishment for me. However, I was naïve to the coming situation to myself. I was on the path to continuous harassment from teammates as I was surrounded by seniors. Many of the seniors had egos, full of themselves in every aspect possible. It was a rude awakening to the reality of high school to be apart of this team as a freshman. In retrospect, I believe that my transition into high school would have been smoother if I would’ve asked to be on the Junior varsity. Although this would have hindered my growth as a player, it’s a sacrifice I realize now that would have been worth it.
Born and raised in Philadelphia I had that competitive city kid attitude. I was different though which made me more competitive from the rest. If it was as simply as someone walking next to me on the sidewalk towards the street I would still wanna beat them there. I never lost that instinct and I am proud of it. Being the best at anything and everything is my goal. I've been playing baseball since I was four and I don't take the sport lightly. I've led many teams to championships, winning awards also to go along with it. My teammates and I both look at me as the captain of the team. If we lose I look at myself and what I could have done better to help the team. Baseball is my life and my passion and I want to play the sport as long
One year ago I confidently tried out for a travel soccer team, only to be disappointed, now I 've learned that hard work always beats talent.
A difficult or challenging situation that I have faced is trying to become a starter on the football team. Every year I start the season as second string, next to sub in. However, I have always worked hard and gave all my effort every day at practice. Many days I have come home so exhausted I have no desire to eat, but if I did not then I also would not grow stronger. Now my senior year all my hard work has payed off as I am a starter on the defense and special teams. I know that just as I did, the underclassmen are struggling with all their might so they can snatch the starting spot from under me. Understanding that I must begin every practice as if my job were on the line I go out onto the field every day with a fiery passion. Although I
This was a critical and meaningful accomplishment for me at the time and still is. I always avoided conflict because I was afraid to step on anyone’s toes, and I especially feared change. Removing competitive soccer from my life was an immense change and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for it. I’m proud of myself for accepting that I needed an adjustment in my life and being courageous enough to voice that desire. This was a turning point in my emotional self-awareness and being gentle with my stress load. I’m grateful to have had a support system of Mack and my mom during this
One incident I can recount when I experienced failure was when I joined Cross Country. Since, I can remember I have always excelled at everything I did, from my academics to dance class to music lessons. When I entered into my freshman year of high school, I decided I would to join an athletic team in order to keep myself occupied outside of academics. I figured joining a sport would be another good attribute to add to my resume. Initially, my mind was set to join the soccer team. However, I found out there weren’t any openings available. The only team that had an opening was The Cross Country Team. I was terrified…my parents encouraged me to join as there wasn’t an option not to.
When I was in eighth grade i was the star of my recreational soccer league, so going into highschool I was not only expecting great things, but I was expected by others to do great things. My coaches, my teammates, and my friends all knew me as a great player which put a lot of pressure on me walking into high school tryouts. I did not know anyone there but I quickly saw that the level of skill I was competing with was something that I had never experienced before. With that I went from being the best player in the league to not making the team my freshman year. A lot of people would have taken this one of two ways: some would have used it as a reason to quit and
As an in-coming freshman who hadn’t played on a school team in middle school, I was at a disadvantage because I was behind in skills and didn’t know many of the tricks. Fortunately, the coach saw my potential and I made the varsity team. My coaches and teammates continually pushed me and helped me become an even better player than I was before. Over the course of my four years on the team, I faced several obstacles that made me feel weak and inadequate, but to overcome them I reminded myself that I loved soccer. The biggest obstacle I faced was getting a concussion my junior year. The ironic part is it sparked something in me; I was determined to heal quickly and push myself past my limits. In the end, I became more aggressive on the field and one of the best players on my team. The coaches noticed this huge change and awarded me the Coaches’ Award at the end of the season. Knowing I had more potential, I pushed myself even further and my talents were recognized by the new coach my senior year. I achieved my goal of starting every game and played a majority of the eighty minutes of regulation time. My determination to get better and overcome my obstacles paid off my senior year when I awarded second-team
People in this magnificent, ever changing, and complexity of a world seeks to find out who they are in this life. Not all are capable of understanding what they love; their passion. There is something in this world that I would never replace and that is soccer. Without this sport, I believe I would be a nobody in this world. Soccer is my identity;I honestly feel I can connect to the world through it.
I realized that I will fit in, it will just take courage and commitment. If Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier by becoming the first black athlete to play Major League Baseball, I could figure out a way to refute any doubts and make my mark on the team. I was determined to prove that an eighth grader could fit in with tenth graders and be a significant contributor to the team. In the beginning of the season, my own teammates were hesitant. During the first several games, the times I received passes from my teammates was significantly lower than the number of times I passed to them. Following this experience, I applied some of Jackie Robinson’s nine values. I was determined to let my teammates know I was there to play the game with my team. In order to win games, we needed to work together, and that means everyone receiving the ball and passing to each other. Teamwork is the key to success when playing the sport of field hockey. We all share this passion for the sport we love which brings us closer together. I was set on helping my teammates realize that I could be a valuable asset to this team. As the season progressed, my teammates started trusting my decisions on the court and were confident I would try my best to make the right play. I earned their respect as a teammate and made some great news
Right before I went out onto the field to play catch with two kids my dad nodded, "Good luck!" After we had warmed up the coaches had us catch pop ups. They hit the pop ups with a tennis racket. Next they had a hit. If we were not hitting we were in the field catching the balls that the other kids hit.
“Fhweeoooo! Halftime” , yelled the referee.Coming back from the field I knew that we were about to get a mouthful of yelling from Coach Vernon. Starting the game 0-2 in a championship game was not pleasant. “
I was certain I was bound to play a great amount because I was sure the coach was not insane by playing the same players all three games. It was Tuesday night and the coach gave the starting line up before the referee blew the whistle. Yet again, my name was not mentioned, I was going to be sitting on the bench with my sweater on. The referee blew the final whistle. I was going to all the practices, giving it my all and once again I did not play in the game. I was dishearten and I began to question myself. If I was not playing because I’m not experienced like the rest or If it was because I’m much shorter than everyone else. I was self doubting myself If I was even good enough to be on the team.I was not going to quit and the next game came faster than I expected. Thursday night and for the third time in a row I was not mentioned in the starting line up. I was completely dishearten at this point. 65 minutes in the game, my coach told me to warm up. I was thrilled and nervous, but ready to play. At minute 70, ten minutes before the game to end the ball went out of bounds, the referee stopped the game as my coach signaled for a substitution, and I entered the pitch. I played my first ten minutes of High School varsity soccer and I made the most of them. After the match I was not sure to be happy or discouraged. I only played ten minutes out of
Six years of pee wee, four years of travel, roughly 10,000 dollars of my parents hard earned money spent in payments, numerous nights of practice, countless days consumed by games and I did not make the team. An entire summer of early mornings dedicated to workouts, and I did not make the team. My freshman year I tried out for the Brentwood High School soccer team and didn’t make the cut. I will never forgot waiting anxiously for that email, opening it and not seeing my name on that roster. I was devastated, embarrassed and simply sad. I had failed.
Growing up, I spent most of my time playing sports and trying to stay active as much as possible. As I got older, I became more serious with field hockey, and I was determined to make the varsity team my junior year of high school. All summer I spent working on my stick skills on the field, and my endurance in the gym in order to do everything I could to make the varsity squad. When tryouts started in the end of August, I hadn’t performed the way I wanted to, and girls I thought had no chance of making the team, played so well over the three days. However, I was hopeful I still had a shot on the varsity roster. On the last day of tryouts, all fifty of us were to find out what team we had made, or for the few girls, that they were getting cut