Interview Essay

Gabby Douglas, Olympic gold medalist. She is known for being the first African American gymnast to be the Individual All Round Champion at the Olympics. In pursuance of her dream, Gabby Douglas had to sacrifice the things most important to her. This would include leaving her home and family behind to go to Iowa in the interest of training as a serious gymnast at age fourteen. Not only did Gabby Douglas make sacrifices, but her family also had to, financially and emotionally. In fact, most Olympians give up all of these things so that they can achieve their objective. Luckily, the sacrifice paid off and Gabby Douglas achieved her dream. Much like Gabby Douglas, Asher Lev has to sacrifice his family and community for the sake of following his

Moreover, he always sets goals and works hard to achieve them. His passion for sports has led him to a professional career. He worked extremely hard and was able to win many marathons, breaking the two-hour time record. Before long, he was able to win many gold, silver, and bronze medals. He also made sure athletes like him with disabilities were not left out in games. As he grew older, he started coaching sports, like wheelchair basketball, wheelchair volleyball, and softball. His determination allowed him to continue setting goals and working hard to achieve

After spending several years working the Sport’s Desk of the Lansing State Journal, Rhonda had landed the job of her dreams as a writer for Runners’ World magazine. The job was fantastic! Since high school, where she had excelled in cross country, Rhonda had been a consistent runner, participating in local races

When thinking in the terms of marriage and one’s partner, the words that come to my mind are compassion, love, tenderness, trust, and devotion. It’s truly amazing to see someone who has endured such tragedy in their life, who has suffered pain, fear, and betrayal by the hands of the one person who should have shown just the opposite. Little did I realize that the woman who would be my instructor for two college courses I had taken would be such an inspiration to me.

I have had the privilege to know Allison for the past seven years as her strength and conditioning coach and family friend. In my fifteen years of working with student athletes and adults, I have had the honor and privilege to train hundreds of outstanding athletes. Allison stands out as one of the sharpest, passionate, diligent and reliable student athletes I have ever trained.

“Final call girl’s four by eight-hundred-meter relay” called the official. The Ontario Track girl’s four by eight-meter team trooped up to lane one, in unison. I would not have wanted to be racing with anyone else but my relay family. We had trained all season for this one race. Every workout, asthma attack, tear, and shin splint has lead up to this one race to break a twenty year old school record. As we jogged with the official from the bullpen to the starting line, the crowd had uproars of excitement for the athletes. An immense smile grew across my face, not only from the ecstatic crowd, but from the anticipation to race. I approached the starting line, in the first lane, while my teammates arrayed along the fence with the other second,

Baker instills persistence into Holling, allowing him to exceed any limits or constraints put on him. In March, Holling learns that he is required to try out for the cross country team, but at this point, he is unaware of his talent. However, Mrs. Baker, being a medalist in running, teaches Holling to “run like Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics,” giving the reader as assumption that such a grand title would surely motivate Holling (Schmidt). Mrs. Baker taught Holling that running not only involves good form, but determination, and a willingness to push forward and strive. Preparing for a big meet, Holling was training vigorously to use technique, and to compete passionately, and “that night [he] ran like Jesse Owens through the dark March streets. Leaning forward. Arms and legs like pistons. Head straight and still. Hands loose. Breathing controlled” (Schmidt). Holling utilized what was taught to him and used it as motivation to push forward and exceed any limitation imposed on him. The limitations here are public opinions, or someone judging a person based on their appearance, intelligence, etc. Similarly, the eighth graders bullied Holling and the younger seventh graders which made them feel inferior and unable to be better than what they are, which with Mrs. Baker’s help, urges Holling to work harder, using what he learns from his teacher. Essentially, Mrs. Baker successfully teaches Holling to run like a champion, but

Impregnated while on the ball of her running career in Louisiana State University track, Heather Van Norman fought to survive as a young woman and athlete. She ran, baby and all, during her career as a collegiate track runner at LSU in the 1990’s. But even before she would sprint to victory as an outstanding track runner, mother of Odell Beckham Junior, and ladies’ coach for track, field, and cross-country, Van Norman had to face the harsh realities of paying for college and working for her time as an on-team performer. Eating, sleeping, and breathing her life as a full-time student, the young woman had to overcome the monetary and physical hardships with only the help of herself, her family, and her community’s support (Reusse 2).

Peyton Scott is a junior Husky who has been on CHHS Varsity Track Team for two years. She loves track because her parents inspired her to pursue it, and her dad is actually the varsity coach. Her goal is to continue being on varsity for her senior year and run for her dream college, which is anywhere in Southern California. If she's not at track practice, her favorite place to run is in her lovely neighborhood. Running on the track for her two hours practices really help her find her weaknesses and strengths. One of her favorite routines is running two miles a day. Peyton has learned to pursue her goals and always believe in

Jennifer Bricker is a gold medalist who innovates motivation to persevere. Despite not being born with legs, Jennifer became a gymnast who competed in the Junior Olympics. She showed a growth mindset which led her to face and conquer obstacles. “Her heroic journey will definitely inspire the people

Mr. D. has coached at Wabasso for numerous years and has left a lasting impression on all of his runners. Mr. Dudgeon’s main priorities throughout all his years of coaching are to expand and improve his teams and, most importantly, to make sure everyone has fun. For instance, he puts unfathomable amounts of care and time into meticulously designing the perfect workout for each day of practice; he even does the workouts himself before he has our team run them. Furthermore, Mr. Dudgeon always makes sure that we feel prepared for the upcoming meets, and most importantly, he makes sure we are ready to “destroy the competition,” as he says. His infectious love for running, drive for success, and through-the-roof level of care for his athletes helps him build larger and more successful teams every year. To be specific, Mr. D. started with a cross country team composed of five girls and built it up to up to a conference-champion team of 10+ runners in a matter of only three years. The product of Mr. Dudgeon’s labor was a shiny cross country coach of the year plaque. Similarly, in a mere one year's

Jackie Joyner is an amazing track and field runner, she inspired so many kids and women to keep doing what they dreamed of. For example Jackie didn’t have much growing up, was diagnosed with asthma and also dealt with injuries from her hamstring during the heptathlon, but none of these situations ever stopped her from achieving her

I interviewed Officer Greenlee, who is a close friend. She works as a Correctional Officer for the Peoria County Jail, I interviewed her while we were on duty on Saturday, April 16th.

Secondly, Jones has a mindset of achieving what nobody has achieved. In order for her to fulfill her goal of winning five gold medal, she must do what nobody else does, to win. Whether it’d be a special stride she has, or a unique run she must do that, in order to win. Jones states in an article with Mark Starr, with NewsWeek, that she strongly believes that she is given a chance to achieve something nobody has ever accomplished and she is very confident within herself that she can do it. Downing states, …..(_). Jones stated in article with Thomas Hackett with New York Times that she aspires to be the fastest women throughout the whole world. Hackett stated that from her seriousness and a look of determination, He knew that she was capable of achieving that.

Knowing that millions of people around the world would be watching in person and on television and expecting great things from him — at least one more gold medal for America, if not another world record — during this, his fourth and surely his last appearance in the World Olympics, and realizing that his legs could no longer carry him down the runway with the same blazing speed and confidence in making a huge, eye-popping leap that they were capable of a few years ago when he set world records in the 100-meter dash and in the 400-meter relay and won a silver medal in the long jump, the renowned sprinter and track-and-field personality Carl Lewis, who had known pressure from fans and media before but never, even as a professional runner, this