Growing Up In Sport

Instead of writing about which sport or activity that meant the most to me, I am going to share the reason why I didn’t play sports in high school. I am part of a church called The Apostolic Christian Church. One of things we do when we join the church is to separate ourselves from the worldly environment and one of the ways we do this is not participating in sports. The reason for this is to work on being a humble example. When playing sports or even watching sports we tend to lean toward a proud spirit. Some examples are booing the other team, or even cheering on your team saying they are the best. This has helped shaped my life in the way of focusing on things that are more important to me like my religion, family,

Youth sports have taken on a whole different identity, thus changing the sporting experience for youth athletes. Today this is what we have, “Children are playing fewer sports, and the less talented are left behind in recreational leagues with poor coaching, uneven play and the message that they aren’t good enough” (Rosenwald). Youth sports used to be much more relaxed and focused on creating an environment for kids to develop socially more than athletically. Yes, skills were still taught during practice, but not with such an intensity that exists today. Today, some youth teams take training and winning very seriously. It has become customary for kids to play on elite teams from a very young age. This creates a gap between the more talented

I began to play tennis roughly three years ago solely, because my dad thought I was not doing anything constructive during the summer. At that point I believed in the same single story most people today do, tennis players are not real athletes, their sport is very wimpy, and mostly

Sports have been a huge part of my life ever since I was about five years old. It has impacted my life so much. The biggest challenge that I faced was with my injuries during basketball and soccer season. I recently had to quit soccer and basketball, which was difficult for me.

Attention Getting Statement: Have any of you ever played tennis for your high school team or even just for fun?

Growing up in Louisiana I was surrounded by all kinds of different physical activities. All of my siblings were involved in sports and it was only natural that I developed a love for them too. As a child I remember going to the park to play basketball with my cousins or just playing football with everybody from the neighborhood. Sports became a huge part of my life, and I surrounded myself with people who loved them just as much as me. Things began to change when my family and I moved to Georgia. I noticed that I wasn’t playing football in the neighborhood anymore. The kids were different they would rather sit in the house and play video games instead of being outside. My love for sports was always there I just needed a spark to bring my passion back to life.

A few years ago I was training to be professional tennis player at one of India’s top tennis academies. I had been playing tennis only for ten months when my tennis coach suggested I participate in the upcoming national level fastest serve tennis tournament. There was a fear in me, a fear of facing the more skilled, experienced, and accomplished competition, yet my mind wanted to overcome that fear and trust my coach and ten months of training. My coach had immense faith in my abilities to perform well, but being the underdog, I lacked the confidence to compete alongside top ranked players. As the tournament date grew closer, I found myself battling between two paths - give in to my fear and surrender any chance of winning, or escape my comfort

Starting out just testing the water, Cross Country and Tennis as has a profound effect on my life. Cross Country has taught me that getting first place is not as important as the effort put into the race. Not all races can be won but giving it your best is a reward itself. Tennis was not as simple of a sport that expected it to be at all. From hitting the ball to weather tennis was an incredibly complex sport. I found it fascinating that changing the angle of the tennis racquet from 30 degrees would be a difference of almost half the court. Also power was never a key factor of any competition. It was all about strategy and consistency. During my junior year we were runner-up the Ohio Valley Cross Country League and during my senior year won Ohio Valley Athletic Conference in

Sports and child development have a lot in common with each other, they counter cross and when a child is in a sport they have to monitor them to make sure they are learning and doing things correctly. Being a child that is in sports is hard because they have short attention spans and therefore having a child in sports will not only teach them great teamwork but it will also teach them to listen a follow instructions.

For most of my life (about 14 years), I have been an avid tennis player. I have great admiration for the sport because it facilitates the development of leadership, self-discipline and problem-solving skills. When I am on the tennis court, it

Most I can’t remember, but some I do have a pretty good idea about, I have done gymnastics, don’t remember the years though, I have golfed before, again don’t remember the years, played soccer, way before middle school, and played volleyball, throughout third or fourth grade to eighth grade. Soccer wasn’t my sport never liked the sport wasn’t good at it either, golf was just way to boring and I hated that you literally had to be quieter than a mouse, gymnastics the couch was quite not nice if you weren’t good then you shouldn’t be there, however, though volleyball was my absolute favorite sport to play throughout elementary and middle school. That was the sport to play nothing else mattered as long as I was able to play volleyball I was a happy camper, even if i was completely awful at it. Course, even then if you weren’t good no one paid attention to you, all that mattered was A team. So being that and all that high school was about I stopped playing volleyball and all those other sports and to this day I really wish I stuck with

I never really had a distinct like for physical sports. I don’t find it as interesting as others say when they watch it on TV or go to the actual games. I’m more of a spectator standing behind the sidelines and observing. I remember back when my mother bought me my first video game console. I spent most of my time playing it while others outside playing sports. Thus, this is what evoked my alteration from my love for sports to video game E-sports.

Many people do not consider athletics as anything more than an outlet for energy or a social activity, but from my personal experience of how sports have impacted my life I can not help but disagree. As a diver, I feel there is no better piece of me to share than the identity I have taken on from the sport. What started as a summer activity to stay in shape, diving has changed the course of life forever and made me the person I am today.

Character development is not something that can be gained or developed over night. Character development is the multiple life skills that an individual builds within themself throughout their lifespan. When a person develops good character in their early years of life, they will benefit in the long run because they used the life skills they gained and put them to use, becoming a successful individual in all aspects of life.

I love sport, I try to do as regularly as possible, but it was hard to find a sport that I will be passionate about.