Personal Narrative: Becoming Captain Of Soccer

I didn’t even know what cross country is before I came to this school. And by the end of the season, I was one of the best runners in the team. This transition didn 't come from nowhere. I was literally the slowest person in the whole team(including girls) when the season began. And I remembered what one of the girls in the team told me: Kenny, just go join another activity, there is not chance for you to make the APAC team.

Cross Country is an extremely mental sport, so I guess you can call me insane. Sure people always question me why I run, and sometimes, even I question myself. But the reason I run always comes to me during the race. Five-hundred people all crowded around each other, everyone anxious to hear the sound of the gun. As the gun fires, everyone takes off running.

Many students find that a difficult course load and after school activities are difficult to balance. However, student athletes perform the amazing task of combining the two. This feat involves staying up late to finish assignments after already completing a hard workout. I believe that I should receive the David Logan Scholarship because I am a competitor in the classroom and on the field.

My most memorable moment running track was track sectionals at Beaver Dam. If we would get 3rd place or better, we would move on to run state track. One of the most glorified events in track and field is the 4 by 400 meter relay. I was lucky enough to be a part of it. The reason the 4 by 4 race is the most glorified event is because it is the most intriguing to watch.

In 2014, I entered my freshman year of high school. One of best friends was on the cross country team and he convinced me to join. I never pictured myself as a runner let alone that I would wind up loving it. I had been in a rut for quite a while before that. I had been sick during the winter

I have not been able to participate in athletics nearly as much as I would have liked. I started running track in the spring of my seventh grade year. I performed surprisingly well and decided to participate in cross country the next fall. I spent the summer training and preparing for the season, and it definitely showed. I ran in the varsity race for my first cross country meet ever.

During my final year of Cross Country around Regionals at Oglethorpe, I ran my final race for my high school career. Banks County was nearly number one in the State, the furthest we had ever ranked in history, and spirit and hopes for State Championship were high. I was nervous, like nobody’s business, I had messed up during my senior night because I was upset for my parents for not showing up and escorting me. And I was scared that I was going to do horribly. But as I ran, I realized that if I let my past mistakes and failures hold me back or get in my way, so I ran, harder and better than I ever had before and apparently even beat a “skinny kid”.

There we were, in Houston Texas, Dejah, Aniya, and I were warming up, practicing handoffs in tent city. We had made it to the Houston Texas AAU National Junior Olympics. It was No Limits Track Club’s second to last day on our eight day trip. It was the most competitive day of them all. It was time for the four by one hundred meter relay.

Failure Failure has always been a part of my life. As a child, I fell short of minor goals such as riding a bicycle, doing a pull-up, or beating a difficult level on Super Mario Bros. Although these set backs were small, I constantly kepy trying untill I could accomplish the task at hand. In fact, I would say one of my most euphoric moments in my child hood was when I learned how to ride a bike. As I got older, failure got tougher.

The event that has stayed with me is joining the soccer team 2 years ago in Rocky Mount. That memory stays with me because it has changed my life. It changed my life because I lost weight and I also made new friends. Before I started playing soccer I was chubby and I was out of shape.

Beep Beep! Beep Beep! The alarm bell goes off. It is 6 am on the 1st of August, 2016. First day of tryouts for my school's soccer team.

My parents are from Guerrero and I am Chicano, born in the city of Rancho Mirage. Rancho Mirage is where I started my life and have remained locally in the valley. Although, for my parents this is where they decided to settle after giving up cherished belongings such as: their petite taco restaurant, a taxi, and their families. For the first few years my family, which consisted of: my mom, dad, two sisters, brother and me, shared a 2 bedroom apartment in Palm Desert among 2 other families. Shortly after first enrolling in school my family moved to a house in Cathedral City but my parents refused to give my siblings and me anything other than the best within their reach, Palm Desert’s reputation with their academics.

Sports were never my forte. I tried everything, from soccer to softball, with no luck being “good” by my definition or anyone else's. Then I found my happy place: track. Sure, I wasn't the best on the team but, for once, I was not the worst.

“There’s not much you can do here; if you want you can go home, that is completely fine with me.” Unable to compete and train, I was now useless to both the team and the coach. It would have been convenient for me to capitulate and indulge my laziness; to sit at home after practice every day while my teammates were hard at work, training to better themselves. I refused to accept my coach’s suggestion to surrender. I refused to throw in the towel.