Personal Narrative: It's Been A Ride

Hi I’m Luke Skewis. I’m a 5’7, Sophomore at Negaunee High School. The stories you are about to read and very important lessons I learned from my friends, family, and coaches. I hope you enjoy The True Diary of Luke Skewis.

Failure for Moorestown girls lacrosse is not an option. This powerhouse lacrosse program had a winning streak of eighty-eight consecutive games. My sophomore year the program experienced their first loss in what seemed like forever. Continuously, the timer on the scoreboard got closer to triple zeros, everyone’s hearts went into their throats anticipating the end. The opposing team was up by one and were stalling the ball. Possession was the one thing on everyone’s mind. Time was evaporating, the other team and their fans started to get optimistic. The buzzer announced the end of the competition and the roar from our opponents deafened cries from our team and our fans. We had lost the first game for our program in fourteen years.

When I was younger, I always wanted to be someone famous like a singer, an actress, or even an astronaut. But one day I came across a sport, but this was not just any boring sport to me, it was a sport that I knew I wanted to do for a career or even until I grew old. It might just be a ball and bat to some people but to me it felt more than a sport. It felt like an endless vacation from everything going bad in my life. That sport is softball. But I knew something that felt so wonderful has to have some challenges.

As we approached the red and black car, I got into the car and noticed how roomy the car was. I was very exuberated to go to Minnesota. I packed 3 very stuffy bags.One of my bags was filled with clothes. The second one was filled with all my basketball stuff. The final bags were filled with extras ( toothbrush, toothpaste, food, etc.).The car was very empty on the way there.My dad was driving. My mom was in the passenger seat and I was in the back with my sister.

The June 27th, 2015 championship game for our local West Hanover baseball team, it was a beautiful day Central PA perfect for the great game of baseball. Looking back it was a day I will never forget, possibly one of the most important days of my life. We were playing our rival team the undefeated Hershey teams, us only having one lose in our regular season to the one and only Hershey team. This team was loaded with athletes their cocky attitudes. They were like the Yankees and we were the Phillies, we were the underdogs but we had a motive we had an inspiration for the win.

December 3 2015 was the Newton Railers seventh grade basketball team second away game. I was waiting all day for the basketball game it seemed like the day was endless. Finally 2:50 came up on the clock to let me know it was time to leave class and get ready to get on the bus. I got all my gear and got on the bus.

Being a captain in soccer whether it's professional soccer or high school soccer is an honor to be. Professional players such as Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos, and the player that inspired me to play soccer Paolo Maldini have all shown why being a captain is such an honor to be. Now I have been given the honor to be varsity captain for My high school soccer team but I wasn't just given to me because I was a senior no, it was given to me because of my hard work and dedication to become a better soccer player and to become a leader.

“I have to work.” Four words. But they flipped my world upside down. My baseball coach looked at me, annoyed and slightly shocked. He responded and said, “If you choose work, don’t bother coming back to baseball again.” That response left me with a difficult decision, since Chris, my boss, needed me to work. I’ve worked under Chris as a caddie at a golf course. Over the years we have built a strong relationship. Chris is writing my letter of recommendation and endorsing me for scholarships. Do I go to practice and blow off Chris and a job that I’ve had for more than four years or do I go to work and give up the sport that I’ve played for twelve?

I have been waiting since the start of summer for this day, the day to go against Topeka West the school that have been talking stuff for the longest. There was so much hype about this game and it was finally here, when the bell ringed at the end of the day i rushed out of class and got on the bus to head over to chandler our practice field. When we got there we all the football players loaded off the bus and when we got off there was a table of chips,water,gatorade,PB & J and fruit snacks so we didn’t play on an empty stomach. After we ate and got ready coach talk to us for a little bit and then we got on the bus to head to Hummer sports park, it was a loud bus but i don 't think coach cared because we was hype going to play t-west. Topeka high and Topeka west have been rivals for ever in almost every sport but mainly football. So we got drop off by our bus driver at Hummer sports park.We go in the locker room to get dress to go do our stretches so we don’t pull anything and to get ready for our game so

“Come on make your lay-up, Lewis!” Coach Marshall yells. Obviously not at me though, considering I am always sitting on the bench.

“If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven’t done anything today.” – Lou Holtz. This has always been my mindset from when I was in little league until now. Although, I have faced some adversity along the way, this quote always pushes me to do better and better each and every day.

we drove down on the bus too go too the game and i told all the kids about my life in africa cause i painted myself black. they thought my stories were so cool even though they were all bull shit. we ate lunch and had a great time on the bus then we arrived and the middle school field``.

The worst day of my senior year all started one cold November morning, I was sitting at the breakfast table in silence. It was not because I had just woken up, but because I was focused. Extremely focused, the type of focus a person experiences from wanting something more than anything. There was one thing I was not expecting from that day, and that was feeling what it felt like to play my last high school football game.

We took a five-minute water break to try and regather our thoughts and to try and come back from this awful game against a group of social rejects. My hand had stopped bleeding by now and I was able to sign autographs for all the fans that had come out to see me play, but my hand was not well enough for me to start playing just yet.

The Speech felt like all the knowledge of basketball was flowing through my mind at that very moment. I remember his exact words, “This team hasn't worked as hard as us, they haven't come as far as us, and they certainly don't deserve this trophy more than us.” That speech flow like the ocean's wave on a warm morning in Hawaii. Coach Luke had always been that coach that expects the best from you and well that actually paid off for him sometimes. But this was the championship there was no guarantee of an easy win, it probably was going to be one of our hardest games all season.