How Sports Has Changed My Life

Thanks to my parents pushing me to do my best, I have an outstanding work ethic in school and on the field. Because of this effort and work put in, I have been a captain on basketball, football, and baseball teams. Not only were my parents important factors but, so were my coaches and teachers. Coaches and teachers have pushed me to do the best I could and told me when I did things wrong, but praised me when I did them right. They helped to slowly build my character, leadership, scholarship and dedication to everything and anything that I do so that when I had to do something it was done the right way instead of halfway.

Ask anyone who knows me about my childhood, and they will tell you that I was one of the shyest kids there ever was. It made my life difficult, talking to people was a struggle, and presentations were disastrous. If it wasn't for soccer, I would probably still be that way today. Soccer has had the most positive influence on my life. It has taught me how to be a leader, the importance of teamwork, communication, and all of the other cliche skills that participating on any sport team will teach young adolescents. Even though these important values are learned from every sport, soccer has taught me much more.

Without some of the things created by people we wouldn't be alive today.The greatest invention is baseball.Baseball changed my life.Baseball is a sport many Americans play today.

It was the ending of winter and the snow was vanishing. It kind of sucked because ski season was coming to an end. Although, that also meant that baseball season was right around the corner.

“Right guy, right time!” My dad blurts out, as I dig my left foot into the batter’s box. The count is now 2-2, a pitcher’s count, knowing that I need to be extremely cautious on the next pitch, because if I miss read the ball, I would let everyone down. By the time the pitcher starts his motion I couldn’t be more excited, but nervous at the same time. I’m able to quickly tell that the pitch was a fastball right down the pipe, I put everything I had into that swing, a rip the ball into deep right-center field. The ball takes one bounce and hits the fence. So I take off, like I was being chased by some lions in the African safari. I swing out wide, as my first base coach orders me to go two. As I approach second base I look to see where the ball

I woke up, and it was time to play baseball. Me and my Dad were getting ready to leave. I put my uniform on, grabbed my baseball bag, grabbed my cleats and left. We had to go to Fenton for the game. We stopped at the gas station, and got some snacks. We left and were on our way again. I checked my Instagram, and played games every now and then. I didn't know what position I was going to play, but I did know it was going to be catcher,pitcher, or 2nd base. It felt like the longest ride of my life, because I was ready to play baseball. We finally got to the baseball fields. We were walking trying to find what field I was playing at. I found my team (Dirt Dawgs) warming up. So I started warming up too. We still had a little bit before

I was faced with a challenge during baseball season my junior year in high school that changed the way that I look at life. As the starting shortstop for my varsity baseball team, I had this cocky swagger about me that let everyone know that I was the starter and that no one could take that honor from me. I believed that I didn’t need to put any effort into anything because everything came easy to me. My mistaken belief and cocky attitude flipped my baseball career upside down. I saw the two scariest words in my first class: “pop quiz.

I have been lucky enough to not have many major conflicts or negative circumstances in my life. As I have gotten older, however, I have had to make changes in my life and make decisions based on what I want to do in the future. The biggest change in my life came recently, with what I hoped would be a sports career. I have played sports, it seems, all of my life. I played three at a time when I was very young.

Athletics had not always been a flauntable aspect of my life as they are now. In grades 1-4, I was uncoordinated and far too lanky to produce and store any muscle. I often ponder about what changed in the fifth grade, for I became very agile and have exercised almost every day since the beginning of that year. I did not pick up the sport of swimming until the seventh grade and I cannot imagine myself not swimming, not only as a source of exercise but as a source of pure pleasure.

“McClure, you are a waste of oxygen and life”, my verbally abusive coach spit from him flaming mouth one last time as I walked out of his office. I was numb, and in shock, but relaxed, oddly feeling at peace with myself and my decision. Soccer had brought so much confidence, passion, work ethic, and pure joy to my life, it was something so stable and rewarding for 15 years. 15 years of endless passion enwrapped in pain and sweat, accompanied by life lessons I could not have gone on without, yet within 2 years, this wonderful aspect of my existence collapsed.

After waiting three weeks, I was finally cleared to play basketball again only to suffer another one. I was out after receiving an elbow to the head in a previous game giving me my first concussion. Walking onto the court at Eden Valley High School, I could feel the nerves rush through my veins. The whistle blew and the game started. I was going up to grab a pass when an opponent ran into me. Black. In those moments I was unconscious, I could only remember colliding with my opponent. I woke up in a car, my head aching as I sat up and saw bright beams of light off the street lights. The light stung my eyes and made me feel like the world was spinning a million miles per hour. “Stay awake sweetie we are almost home,” whispered my mom. Every heartbeat thumped in my head like a bass with the music to loud. I was so discombobulated and hurt I just laid there in the back seat

From the age of three, my life was nothing but Hockey. With a father who was a hockey player and a brother 3 years older already playing hockey, it was clear which sport I was going to get into. Once I started walking, my parents put me on the ice to learn the game of hockey. I instantly fell in love and I have continued playing to this day. Once it came time to play high school hockey, it all got serious. I was a freshman on the varsity team with my brother, who was a senior at the time. This was nothing but an emotional year for me, it was my first year in high school and my last year to play on a team with my brother. Once my brother graduated, he decided to go onto Juniors hockey, which is what I would do once I graduated. By the time I graduated high school, my brother would exceed the age limit for juniors hockey, so

Since 5th grade I have played for the local travel soccer team. I have always been on the lowest team from the beginning and when I was younger I was fine with it because at least I was playing the sport that I love. As I got older it became more competitive and I was tired of being on the lowest team. I told my coaches I was interested in moving up and asked them what I could do to get there. They told me what I needed to do to improve and I practiced almost every day after school. I tried out freshman and sophomore year to make the highest team and both times I failed. I did everything they told me to but it still wasn't good enough. For a short time I thought about giving up but then I realized that I have worked too hard and too long to

I never liked playing with dolls, painting nails, pretending I was a teacher or even acting like I was baking with fake food. All that girly stuff sounded boring to me, so the one thing that kept me busy everyday was going outside and playing whatever sport was on for that day with all my neighborhood friends. We played everything from kickball to football in the streets. Ever since I was a little child, playing sports was my passion. In my free time I played every sport you can think of, but sports that I actually was on a team for was baseball, hockey, soccer, and I ran track. Being an athlete is how people knew me, I guess you could say I was and still am a tomboy. Being involved in a sport ever since I was four years old, has really taught me a lot about not just playing the sports itself, but at life as a whole. Being apart of a team, can teach someone many skills, and life lessons. Because there are uncountable reasons why one should be involved in a sport, the main skills, and lessons include learning how to work together, and developing communication, and organizing skills. Additionally, one could develop a good work ethic, and learn how to control body language/temper.

Third, my parents’ parenting style influenced strongly what I am now. They had democratic parenting style. Therefore, I could discuss with my parents even something which they did not want me to do. Also, they set some reasonable rules which I should follow, and whenever they made rules they explained me why they made such rules. They advised me when I was depressed; however, they have never forced me what to do. Throughout my experience with my parents, I could understand the importance of independence and taking responsibility of my choice. Also, because they did not force their opinions, I could develop my own identity without many conflicts.