Childhood Skate Boarder

Sports has always been a huge part of my life. I would be the one team player who took the sports season a little bit too seriously. I was the number 1 doubles player on my school's JV tennis team. Unfortunately, I fractured my ankle during my junior year and wasn't able to play with my team. I was devastated, but I didn’t allow myself to become disconnected from my team. I became the team manager to allow myself to still play a role in my team, despite my injury. I would record scores to my division leaders and take pictures to post on the website I created for my team. After the season was over, my doctor told me my ankles required surgery to become fully healed. I knew that meant I couldn’t continue to play tennis, but I didn’t want to give

Went to St. Patrick High School, was ranked the number two player in high school. Grew up in the Bronx. The first time he dunked he was a junior, he was a McDonald's all American. He skateboarded when he was a teen. He got a full ride, and he beat his dad one on one.

Summary of Shema Khan's "I Was a Teenage Hijabi Hockey Player " In her expository essay "I Was a Teenage Hijabi Hockey Player," Shema Khan uses a humorous approach to dismantle stereotypical views towards Muslim women in sports. She opens her essay with a recount of a personal experience that opened her eyes to the general population's somewhat biased perception of the conventional image of Muslim women. Then, she declares that those preconceived standards do not apply to her.

career through my high school years until an injury brought my dreams of being a competitive gymnast

I did not realize how much of an impact little injuries would have to my competitive drive. These incidents not only affected me physically, I strove to plow through the pain and mount the summit. Winning taught me what hard work can

Cutting bits of me that cannot handle the pressure and stress; developing pieces of the more disciplined me; testing my concentration; forcing my mentality to be flexible; enlarging the best of me: my determination, integrity, confidence, ingenuity, independence. Ultimately, skating leaves me more focused, more disciplined and more confident. It shapes my character, reminding me that success only feels worthwhile if it has a bit of blood behind it; skating tells me to try again, to keep working. Perseverance has been my grace. And as my skating career comes to a close, I have taken the time to teach those around me. The young skaters I teach think I am inspiring them, but they change who I am, altering me into a more caring, compassionate person.

At the age of six I began my journey into the sport of Ringette. From age 3 I had been skating with girls figure skates and

Roller derby training was tough, mentally and physically. As I skated around the roller rink on the first day, for seemingly the 100th time, and I thought, “What the

It was my first year playing lacrosse and most of the other girls on my team had played for two to three years. Going into our first game, I had practiced with my stick and was fairly confident in my ability. However, when I stepped onto the field of my first lacrosse game, I was mistaken. The girls were much stronger than me and had obviously practiced much longer than I had. In one of the plays, I had the ball in my stick and was running down the field. I was so excited that I had actually touched the ball, I had forgotten to cradle. My defender quickly checked my stick and brought the ball all the way down the field to score. I was so mortified after my first game that I used my embarrassment as fuel to my fire. I practiced as much as possible and tried to always have my stick with me. Annoyed, my mother would always complain when I bounced the ball against the house to practice catching. I set the goal of score one goal in my season and leading up the championship game, I had still not netted one. In the car, my dad made me close my eyes and visualize myself scoring a goal. At the time, I thought this was silly and that it would not work! However, as I ran down the field with the ball in my stick, I cut to the center and beat my defender, just like I had envisioned. Frustrated, the defender slashed my stick in the 8 meter and I got a free shot. I could not believe that this was happening. I had a

My defining moment came very recently. In the spring of my Junior year, I decided to join the school tennis team. I had never played tennis before, but I am always willing to learn new skills, and I wanted to prepare physically for the upcoming golf season. Less than two months into the tennis season, I was playing in a doubles match when I cut to my right and my knee jerked outward, sending me to the ground. I was hopeful my knee had just dislocated, but later discovered major knee surgery was required to ultimately reconstruct my kneecap, tendons, and even realign my tibia.

Tony Hawk, arguably the biggest name in skateboarding. In his career he has developed numerous unique tricks and brought skateboarding into the mainstream light. He is also a great philanthropist and entrepreneur who has helped the world around him with an unmatched passion for his sport.

This experience allowed me the ability to not only step out of the box, but my comfort zone as well. It gave me the courage needed to succeed in other aspects of my life. I knew that I would not become the best lacrosse goalie overnight. I had a tremendous amount to learn within a short period of time. This statistic allowed me to stay positive and keep my head up even when a shot went in.

I felt my heart racing as I imagined making the top team in the club. I knew right then and there that I was going to try out for the team as soon as I discussed it with my parents. After my parents’ approval, I went to the first tryout with high expectations and aspirations. The tryout was going well at first; my skill was evident on the ice. I was making quick passes and skating hard. I will never forget the fateful pass that happened next. I remember the play in slow motion. I passed the puck through the center ice, a precarious move, but it was intercepted by the opposing team and as a result they scored a swift goal. Groans from the other players could be heard and my heart sank. That pass would determine my fate. After the tryout, I undressed slowly replaying the pass repeatedly in my head. Coach Ruben walked out of his office with the list of players who made the team in his hand. As he posted the list on the bulletin board, all the eager players ran over, examining the list of names. I stared at at the list for what seemed like an eternity searching for my name, but it was not there. I stifled my disappointment and followed my parents out to the car. To my ten year old self, my dreams were crushed and I assumed my hockey career was over before it even

Later that day I went home, I was so mad at myself that I told my parents and sisters that I won't do it ever again and that it was just a waist of my time, but to my surprise the next day I found myself at the bowling alley still struggling. During the practice the JV 1 coach came up to me and told me the most important thing in bowling “don't look at the pins, look at the second arrow”. It seems like nothing helpful but in reality it is. It's a small thing but it makes the game perfect. Thinking back I was close to quitting bowling but with one help from the coach my life changed completely. After two weeks of practice came the first match I was really nervous because I thought that other girls will make fun of me because I didn't get past 100, but in reality none of us did because we were starters first year bowlers we had a lot of things to learn to become better. In the middle of the season was another time where I was considering quitting, being a freshman I was asked to play with the JV team which mean the there are girls who are more experienced and have bowl for a year or even more. I was so nervous about again the judging me that I did really bad that math but the coach didn't give up on me yet, he wanted me to play for the rest of the season with his section, and that was the place where I learned the

Over the next couple years, I had no interest in anything that had to do with baseball or the Red Sox as it would remind me ever so much of my grandfather who I had experienced so much of this game with. Skateboarding became my main focus, giving up all my skills I had acquired in my youth as a ball player, missing the most crucial years of baseball development as a pre-teen.  Once in a while I would hear from old coaches, but still had no interest. In October of 2003, I decided I would watch the Red Sox once again considering they were in the playoffs, only to be heartbroken by their dramatic extra inning loss to the Yankees in the American League Championship Series.  Once again, I could only think of my grandfather who I had such an attachment with over the Red Sox and the game of baseball.