Personal Narrative: My Participation In Cross Country

Participating in sports highlights my ability to work with teammates and focus in difficult situations. I have been captain on my volleyball team since seventh grade and captain on my club volleyball team for the last two years. Each year

Rodeo has helped me grow up. Since third grade I went from going to rodeos with my family to chasing the white lines on my own. I have had numerous opportunities presented to me from rodeo such as being on tv for qualifying for Worlds, traveling all the way to New Mexico and Wyoming to compete, and being rodeo queen for Southern Indiana Junior Rodeo Association. My parents took care of my horses for me. They cleaned stalls, fed them day and night, and packed the trailer for each rodeo.

When football season finally arrived, I found myself on the varsity team. I thought it was going to be a repeat of my past two seasons of me just being another benched player. But I actually started for more than half the season as defensive linemen. Even on games where I didn’t start, I was getting a lot of playing time. That really pushed me to be even better for my senior season.

Summer was at full blast, Sunday league was starting and I was playing soccer every single day. I was ready for the next season of high school soccer to come and I was training myself to the limit because I wanted to be one of the best players on the field and to possibly be captain for varsity this year. This year was also the year our new coach, coach Jay was in charge of us because Olivier had left last year to to go to Michigan with his wife. Jay had already seen how well of a player I was because I played in his soccer club and immediately placed me in the varsity roster but as a defender and not a striker. The transition was difficult but I learned fast.

First off, I am humbled to be considered for membership of the National Honor Society. In my opinion on the foundation of the four pillars of NHS the FPC NHS chapter will benefit from my membership because I will bring intellect, drive, leadership, character, dedication to serve my community, honesty, respect, pride, discipline, compassion and among many other qualities a sense of humor. As an active member of my school and community I work hard to serve not just myself but those around me. I am an active volunteer throughout Flagler County as previously stated. I am a teenage volunteer at the Florida Hospital Flagler.

My friendship with my brother and dad became even stronger. I never went a day without talking to either of them. I became a stronger person and this has helped me take on other challenges in my life. Now whenever problems come my way, I am able to conquer them. Not only did I gain from this move, but my brother, sister and mom as well.

I was not supposed to be on varsity, but since I was at every summer workout and studied the sport for the upcoming season I earned a spot. When we went to start practice I was starting on both defense and offense and I felt unstoppable. Two weeks went by and we had our first scrimmage against the hale center. I

All things in life can be enjoyable but also unexpected. Everyone has their own natural high. My natural high is riding my dirt bike. Even though riding my dirt bike is fun, it can also be very dangerous. It is very important to always wear safety gear while operating an off-road vehicle.

I wish I could include a picture of me playing soccer with this essay because that was all I did from age five to fifteen. Soccer was life for ten years so most people are surprised to hear that the fall of my senior year in high school I will Captain of my high school Cross Country team. How I became Captain of a running sport is an accomplishment I never saw coming. If you had asked me in elementary school, middle school, or even my first two years of high school if I would do anything but play soccer I would have said never. I am the youngest of three boys.

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.

Ski This was my first time going skiing in 2010. I felt nauseous stepping onto skis and riding down the huge snowy mountain. When we were there I saw on the top of the snowy mountain a surge of people. Also, I felt pretty scared that I might crash and break a leg or two. Then we went onto the lift and snow started falling little by little.

My passion for track and field began with a Nike advertisement. At age ten, I opened the newspaper to a two-page spread of the hometown distance running legend Steve Prefontaine overlaid by a paragraph of inspirational copy. It concluded asking, “Where is the Next Pre?” The story of his small town Oregon roots, gutsy racing style, and ambition to be the best resonated with me like nothing ever had before. I told myself I was the next Pre, and then tore off for my first run through the streets of Eugene, Oregon – “Tracktown USA”.

Throughout the past six years I’ve been horse riding, I would often fall off, but the one pony that discouraged me the most was Jordan. He is a small, dark brown pony with white markings, a scruffy black mane and tail, and tons of personality. He barely listens when you ask him to go over a certain jump and will randomly run off. That day, he bolted off while I was getting on and I was not able to get my feet in the stirrups to stop him. I tried to stay on, as he galloped and kicked the sand and dirt around the arena, while everyone tried to help me stop him by going near him and using the other horses to corner him.

The people from my neighborhood were poverty stricken, of the same ethnic background, and class that we were and being surrounded by others we mirrored a great sense of belongings and togetherness amongst the community members. Furthermore, the children played together, the parents partied together, and a sense of togetherness and family was installed and created. Hence, my brother’s closes friends were referred to as our cousins and if anyone bullied me, they quickly apologized once they found out who I was related to. This safety net made me feel proud and pleased to be part of this extended family.

I would help encourage my classmen to do the same and this pointer allowed two other freshmen make the team. My sophmore year I transferred to a different school and this caused me to start over on another basketball team. I made the varsity squad as a starter because I would help motivate and teach the other girls how to do drills and basic fundamentals. My coaches assigned me as a team