Graduation Speech : High School Sports

Stephanie was a 14 year old girl in the eighth grade. In her earlier years Stephanie was described as a very good student. During fourth grade, Stephanie’s parents split up and she went through some hardships in her home. Over the next few years her grades began to drop and it wasn’t getting better. When she was in seventh grade her brother suggested that she try out for sports. Stephanie enjoyed basketball and she became the captain of her basketball team. As she became active in sports her grades began to improve. Stephanie was asked what was different between her sixth and seventh grade years, she responded, “playing basketball and being the team captain.” Stephanie intends to keep playing basketball because it has a positive influence in her life. As a result of her commitment to play basketball, Stephanie has made a conscious effort to not let her problems at home interfere with her grades and schoolwork (Massoni). Stephanie is a great example to other students with problems in their home, and her story shows how sports and extracurricular activities can help to motivate and improve school

I walked into school to be greeted by a janitor vacuuming the floors. It was time to start thinking about the game and getting my focus level up. My pregame ritual wasn’t always the same beside for one thing, be the first to the locker room to have time to think to myself. Walking into the light blue and worn-down locker room it was almost like I could feel the emotion from all the players who had been there before myself. I was greeted by a wave of smell, the smell of victory, defeat, and pure hard work. It was quite musty but I was used to it and had grown accustomed to it. I sat myself down and began to think about how I would perform tonight and what I had to do in order to be victorious. I pictured myself going out onto the court and seeing all the fans packed into our old wooden bleachers. All I wanted to do was make them proud of the team they came to watch. I looked out the window to see the vehicles of my fellow teammates driving into our dirt parking lot. Soon, the locker room would no longer be quite and it would be filled with the shrieks, laughs, and giggles of my

I have been going to school since I was four years old and, that means that I have been attending school twenty to twenty two years, including kindergarten, middle school, high school and now college. As every student, I had my ups and downs in school; I had some failures and some successes. One of the failures that affected me the most and that I will always remember was the time that I was in high school during my junior year. I failed almost all my classes and, I only passed two classes and with a C. In the other hand I had some really good success. The most recent one and the one that I am still happy about is getting my Family Development Credential. We learn from our mistakes and also from our successes, these two times in my life

I’m a fourth year varsity soccer player at an all-boys private school of less than 550 students. Despite our small enrollment, for athletics we play in the division of the largest schools, mainly ones with enrollments over 2000 students. We can argue the fairness of our placement as long as we like, but it won’t change our position. We have to accept the challenge of playing larger schools.

Emerson once wrote that "Unless you do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." By stating this quote, Emerson is trying to help us understand that doing more than what we are comfortable with doing, will help us grow more as an individual. Going above and beyond in school, our work, and sports will help us grow, because we are pushing our brain, and body to do more than it has always done. How often do we say that we do not understand a topic, just because we do not want to actually think about it? Many times in the past, high school students will whine and fuss about not understanding the material within the class because they simply just do not care to push themselves to think past what they know. If we do not understand the material, nor do we ask for help, this will

Stars: I attended Lee High School in Huntsville, AL for 4 years. As a general, I participated in many varsity sports, but anyone who knows me knows my favorite is football. Looking in as an 8th grader the varsity team at Lee was pretty good under head coach Kinte Welch; however, finally graduating and becoming a part of the team my freshman through junior year was pretty awful. Our program was awful because of many reasons, but you can 't blame it all on the head coach. Ending my junior season, we 'd maybe won 4 games in 3 seasons. At the beginning of baseball season my junior year the athletic department decided to release him from his head coach position. After many potential coaches filled out for the position our principle filled the spot. He was familiar with the football in our area and he also coaches at a rival school Huntsville High School. Coach Woods has been around football all his life also playing linebacker at the University of Arkansas. Woods taking over and hiring a new staff made our life so much easier. The senior class who came in as a freshman, and stuck through the tough times help lead the team to the 6A playoffs after not being a contender for the last 10 years. I played a huge role as a defensive captain and we were ranked one of the top defenses in our region. As a three-year starter for the Generals, we turned the whole program around my senior season and made it to the second round of the playoffs where we lost to a power house.

The main idea of this paper is to introduce you to what really happens as a high school athlete and the things you learn along the way. High school sports is way more than just playing the sport, it shows you what you are really made of and how to handle problems life is going to throw at you. The adversity you face as an athlete carries over to real world problems and you have been there and done that, so handling adversity is second nature. This information comes from all my coaches, myself and Friday Night Lights. I feel I have already grown as a person by competing in athletics and calling other people my brothers. Not only does high school athletics help you in the long run, but it helps you with problems you have now.

Going into the start of the basketball season, I was ecstatic to finally bring the ball down the court as a varsity point guard, but my joy quickly turned to frustration when my role changed. I worked hard every single day in order to earn a position in that starting five; I put in extra effort before and during the season. After a few games, my hard work seemed to be insignificant because my playing time started to be cut. As time went on, I played on the court less and less until finally I didn’t play at all. Gretchen Wald, the power forward, received less playing time as well. We were both confused and frustrated. Despite the dissatisfaction, Gretchen encouraged me to continue to work hard and stay positive. She always kept a smile on my face during practice and games. Also, I would find notes in my locker from her that encouraged me to keep fighting through the difficult season. During games I would look at the other girls with jealousy because I longed to play the game I loved again, yet Gretchen still found ways to make me laugh throughout the game. Among the many people who have touched my life significantly, Gretchen Wald stands out. Although basketball season was filled with disappointments, I learned that friendships and a positive attitude can make a situation

Our school was never very good at sports and only about five girls would be cut. I was jittery the day that the varsity roster was to be posted; I wanted nothing more than to be part of the team. After classes ended, I walked to the athletic board, where the varsity roster would be posted. I anxiously scanned the list for my name. I scanned it again. As my eyes ran over the page a third time, my heart began to sink. I hadn’t made the team. I was one of five girls who were cut from the varsity team. In a daze, I went to practice. Instead of focusing like I usually did, I went through the motions. The five of us who made up the junior varsity team had a separate practice with the assistant coach. After the sting of failure finally faded, I began to work harder than before. I showed up early to practice and stayed late every day. Every weekend I spent at least two hours on the field practicing. I was determined to make the coaches regret putting me on the “JV” team. As the season ended, I didn’t stop working to become better. Any day that was not too cold, I could be found on the field. When spring came, I joined the soccer team, hoping to improve on my endurance and speed. Over the summer, I spent at least two hours every day running and practicing. When the field hockey season rolled back around, I was ready to show off my skills and make the varsity

Being on the school’s basketball team acts as one of life’s circumstances designed to teach her how to lead, follow, support, defend, take risks, experience wins, and loses. Also, the previous provides an opportunity to purge her character from attributes that may hinder or twist her perceptions. Bottom line, my daughter’s participation on the school’s basketball team comes with joys and pains designed to help her succeed in life; if I intervene every time her feelings are hurt I end up interrupting a process that promotes her success.

Hello everyone! My name is Tania Davis and I’m a sophomore majoring in Exercise Science. My favorite place on campus is the Gerdin Athletic Learning Center because I’m there almost all day everyday throughout the week. I am a member of the women’s basketball team. This is my first time taking an art history class so I’m pretty excited to see what I learn from it. This summer I will be spending most of my time on campus taking classes, and practicing for basketball.

So … snaps fingers … wow! This is a lot of people. Well, first off, congratulations everyone; you all made it this far. Hopefully you will be able to make through this speech. According to page ten of the Chisago Lakes High School Student Handbook, all of you have earned at least 28 credits in a variety of disciplines throughout the last four years. And for those English nerds out there, I do have a properly formatted works cited page if you would like to fact-check me. Don’t worry.

Before I head off to college, I want to personally thank you both for being coach, mentor, role model and a friend to me. There are no words that can describe how thankful I am to have had you be part of my life. How cool is it to have actual professional soccer players be your personal coaches?

I have represented Payette High School in volleyball all four years that i have attended school here, and have loved every minute of it. I have made some unforgettable memories with my teammates and have had so much fun. After high school I plan on attending college and majoring in Marriage and Family Counseling. I am excited for the future but I will definitely going to miss my family here at Payette High.

High school is supposed to be the place where you have fun and a time in your life you’re supposed to enjoy. Movies often trick you into believing that high school is an amazing time in your life and there is nothing but parties and fun. In Bring it on, they portrayed the fun and exciting part of high school cheer-leading, however they intentionally leave out the tough times high school students’ face in school and in their practices. In other popular movies, such as High School Musical the students have no pressures other than the next basketball game. In reality, this doesn 't happen. The constant pressure is affected by the grade level you are in. In high school, students can be classified based on the pressures that are faced in each grade level into the categories of freshman, sophomores/juniors, and seniors. I am here to help you make your high school experience less stressful.