Personal Narrative: Running For The Track Team

Life’s as usual in my life until a date appeared on the calendar. March 9th: Track Team Tryouts. I thought about trying out for the team; and after a silent debate in my head featuring the pros and cons of being on the team, I decided to I’d run again this year. Although I knew I was capable of making the team , I also knew I had to get back in shape. “Let’s turn theses flabs into abdominis then.” I told myself.

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. But I guess the most important thing about Cross Country is never give up. And that 's exactly what I did. Have faith in yourself, and keep it going. I didn 't miss any of the practises, I always try my best during the

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.

Do you know how to help a girl overcome her shyness and build confidence? Suggest she tries out for a travel team of her sport of choice that she excels at while doing. This is what helped me when I became a player many travel softball teams I have became a part of; becoming a member of the teams made tremendous impacts on my life.

Describe a circumstance, obstacle or conflict in your life and the skills and resources you used to resolve it. Did it change you? If so, how?

It was the spring of 7th grade, and a young and naive Jackson Lampley was training to become a Tennessee Future Star. The Tennessee Future Stars is an all star football team for 7th graders, and there is also one for 8th graders. After trying out for the seventh grade team in the 6th grade, and not making it. 13 year old Jackson Lampley was determined to make the 7th grade team. I was so determined like Rocky Balboa in Rocky VI (the best movie of the series), you could 've probably made a pretty epic training montage for me. I started running up and down the massive hill that I have for a backyard, and I also bought a rope agility ladder to improve my footwork. I would do about 100 push ups and sit ups a night, and yes at the time I thought

“You talk so white, I would’ve never guessed you were actually black!” said everyone at my high school. “Is that your dad or just your mom’s boyfriend?” asked numerous of my classmates. Or my personal favorite: “what are you?” To answer this overly common and inherently rude question, I’m a first-generation biracial, meaning that I am a product of a direct interracial relationship. Yes, my dad is black - Haitian to be exact - and yes, he is my actual dad. Coming up in a predominately black neighborhood while simultaneously being raised mostly by my white mother makes for an enthralling experience. My racial ambiguity has brought me both joy and sorrow, which have come together to make me the unique individual I am today.

. Race has always been a big controversial topic around the world. We always hear on the news of situations involving race, and lets face it, if it’s on the news it’s probably something more negative than positive. But, being a young adult causes me to be exposed to many more things on my own without the news or outside influences distorting my own point of view. I can say that I’ve formed my own beliefs solely on what I’ve experienced. This is why we all think of race as this idea of “bad” and “different”. We label things based off of what we hear and we don 't want to think of it any other way. I have had bad experiences with other races, but I’ve also had those same experiences with mine. So who am I to judge? I think we try to label our

During my high school year, I had joined the color guard team. Trying out for and being on the team had taught me a lot about myself and what I expect from myself. I had tried out for the team twice.

Whites have always been viewed as the more superior and intellectual race. This was also the case for sports for a long time too. They based their achievements off of hard work and meritocracy, which states that you the rewards go to the people due to their abilities qualifications. When the do good in sports it is based on their character, hard working ethic and the fundamental skill they possess. You hear a lot in other sports this person is very fundamentally sound and that they see the games two steps ahead because even though they may not be as athletic as the other players they find a way to out beat them and it is through their mind. Then if you see that they are athletic then it is said that even though they were not born with that gene to be athletic it took a lot of hard work to be able to achieve

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.

It was only two days before the game. Everyone was nervous, yet fired up about the upcoming game. I was at school during practice, and all I can concentrate on is the game. I heard a lot of people were gonna be there. I was on fire at practice, I didn’t miss a single shot. It was Lanier, which was my middle school, verses stone

Failure is an opportunity for some to improve and build upon themselves so they have a better chance to succeed in the future. My junior year at Western Branch was an exciting one with a lot of surprises and disappointments. That year my track team came close to winning the state championship, but with a lot bad performances by the team, myself included, we were not able to overcome the competition. It was an even greater blow when the girls’ side of the team won, despite the boys’ team having more naturally talented athletes. The work that we put in during the summer, fall, and winter felt like it was for nothing more than to lose some weight and get in shape.

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”.

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.