Personal Narrative: Coach Jones As A Volleyball Player

"Let's go Blue Devils!", "Fire it up big blue!", "We're number one!", "Let's goooo!” All of those sayings are extremely familiar to just about anyone. You instantly are taken back to high school and being under those Friday night lights. You remember the smell of the grass, the sound of the band, and cheering along with everyone else in the stands. Then you see it, or her. The cheer captain. The "most perfect girl in school". You are either one of two things at this age: the guy wanting to be her boyfriend or the girl wanting to be her.

In the late 19th century, there were many influential women including Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and many others that were busy making their impact on society. This was the crucial time period for the reform and improvement of women’s rights. Along with this, it was also the time that Clara Barton pushed for the creation of the American Red Cross. Barton was one of the most influential, but often overlooked, woman of her time period because she pushed for the creation of one of the most relied on associations throughout the world.

After reading the article “You Can Grow Your Brain”, it made me feel more confident in myself and encouraged me to take on new tasks in the near future. By reading this article I have learned that the more you practice or exercise at something, the better you will be at whatever it is you chose.

Nevertheless, the sport is not just about playing it, but learning from it. The game has probably taught me fundamental concepts of life. There is no denying that people consider me a decent player, but that doesn’t mean that I’m the best. There is a vast amount of better players that are even younger than me training to the maximum of their capabilities. I discovered something new, and my drive to become a better player and person came with it. The sport has taught me that not everything will always be what I initially expected, but that shouldn’t stop me from reaching my goals. For example, my team and I had won three consecutive district titles for our school. The team came in Sophomore year of college into the Junior-Varsity team thinking everything would be ours.Nothing was the same as we let our heads

Throughout playing tennis for Creekside Middle School, I have faced lots of success. I played varsity all three years there, and during my sixth grade year, helped my team win the annual county tournament between middle schools. Though I was successful for many of my matches, I did met with failure at times. One of these times would be in my seventh grade year, when my doubles partner and I had lost in the final round of the tournament. This defeat would be one of the reasons that led the Creekside tennis team placing outside of the top three at the county tournament.

“Rodriguez, get off the field!”, these words stabbed through my heart like a dull knife through leather. Since the first practice I attended Softball has always been my life. I look back at my twelve years of experience there was one say that specifically stands out. Not even the the days where I hit my first home run or made my first diving play stand out. For many many years I was always seen as the player the team called on to pull the team out of a rut. To make things a bit more complicated my high school coach had been my coach my entire softball career. He knew how I thought, how i played, and really molded me into the player I am today. I soon graduated from my little league summer softball to the competitive nature of highschool ball. As a freshman I knew I was going to be overlooked. Too much of my surprise I was placed on varsity for my pitching abilities. This only fueled my passion. Not only was I on the team but I played! Can you imagine the other team looking at the roster and finding out then were going to let at thirteen year old freshman pitch to their nineteen year old senior batters? They laughed at me until they stepped in the batters box. The year passed and our senior pitcher graduated bumping me into the starting position. This is where we knew we would start a legacy. Yet again we were the powerhouse of the western slope.Our success was spreading quickly and more and more players and coaches wanted to join! My junior year was our strongest

When I was 7 years old I went to my first high school game with my mom, the teams that played were Roosevelt and Flower. I will never forget that day Sept 8th at 8PM friday night lights. My older cousin Brett Pierce was the starting Cornerback for flowers, I admired him because he the starting Corner and he was ranked #23 in the Nation for his position. My cousin ended the game with 18 tackles, 4 interceptions, and 3 forced fumbles that was one of the greatest days of my life. After the game was over I asked my mom could she sign me up to play football, she told me I wasn’t big enough. My mother is very over protective of me since I am her only son.

As I am quickly approaching the end of my senior, I am looking back at how far I have come since freshman year and everything that Henley High School has helped me accomplish in my life. In preparation for the life that every senior must experience after school, the senior capstone project was put in place to help seniors find out what they would suit them as career and give them some of the necessary tools in achieving that. Part of the capstone was earning service hours at a non profit organization, that can go on a resume. With serving came a facilitator, who guides one’s service, and also the challenges and success of the service itself. To Provide help on future careers, Henley High School also provided an opportunity to take the CIS test

West High School’s softball team has opened a new chapter in my life. If I could go back to my freshman year I would have played for West. All the rumors people have heard about Coach Saladino are not true, he is honestly such an inspiring person. Playing softball for West has given me friendships I will never forget, the ability to play with the most robust players, and the new skills I have learned from such an amazing coach. Playing for West High School’s softball team was one of the best decision I have ever made.

The guest speakers were very informative about their positions and the field of sports management. Both, Drew Watson and Anna Welsh, are in very high positions of authority within the Athletics department at Southeastern. This presentation emphasized the idea of passion; figuring out where your passion is and pursue it. Do not basing what you do on how much you make. In both positions, it is important to know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses in both a professional and relational sense. You don’t have to be good at everything, but listening is an important skill to master. It is essential to continue to build your resume; do not rest of what you have done well, continue the story.

For my Diverse Field Experience this semester, I spent fifteen hours at the Mclean County Juvenile Detention Center. This particular center was occupied by about 8-14 juveniles at a time, all depending on court dates and occupancy of other nearby detention centers. This center usually had 3 staff members working the shift every time I went, which was seven to nine on weekday afternoons. I was intrigued to go to at this time because I thought it would be the time of the day were the juveniles had no school work or other obligations to do while I was there. I wanted to see what they liked to do in the free time before bed, the only stipulation being mandatory snack time at eight pm. I have seen plenty of students in a classroom environment during my clinicals here at

Although tragic heroes are meant for the literary world, they can also be applied to reality. For example, Princess Diana(Diana Spencer), is a modern-day tragic hero. She was born Diana Spencer and soon became Lady Diana Spencer when her father inherited the title Earl Spencer. She later married to the British throne, had two children, divorced, started to date Dodi Fayed, then died in a car crash in a tunnel trying to get away from the paparazzi. Diana was born into one of Great Britain’s oldest and most important families-the Spencers-making her an elevated character from the start. When she marries Prince Charles, Diana gets a chance to show her noble character. She helped many people in need and became very loved around Great Britain.

I have been playing soccer since before I could even walk. In fact, I joined my first soccer team at the age of five. Soccer is something I have always loved and been passionate about. When I was on the co-ed recreation league teams I was one of the only girls on my team, so I had to compete with boys who doubted me and thought I was weak. I worked hard during practice and out of practice to become better and, eventually, I became more aggressive than them. My eighth-grade year, I tried out for the school’s co-ed soccer team and was confident that I would make the team. During the three hard days of try-outs, I pushed myself to improve each day and received several compliments from the coaches. On the last day, the head coach pulled me aside to tell me

The season started out like any other, one week of pain staking agony and push-ups. The constant workouts, sweat, and two hour practices were completely worth the outcome of my last volleyball season.

My experience as a reader isn 't as extraordinary as many, but I love to read. I had some great teachers throughout my education that taught me to enjoy reading challenge oneself and not be intimidated by it. Through college and today I do not have much time to read, other than school books speech, education ,and reading. Those are the sweet books I know read.