My Personal Challenges In My Life

As Kinesiology is being more recognized around the country, I want to further my study in the Masters of Science degree in Kinesiology at California State University of Fullerton (CSUF). The fields that I want to grasp are Health and Fitness Promotion and Exercise Physiology. The reason why I am applying to the program is to expand my knowledge and teach Kinesiology outside of school in order to promote health. Throughout my life, my family has been promoting me with fitness from indoor sports to aquatic sports. I was constantly switching from physical therapy and health and fitness.

The past few years I have had many unique opportunities and made many different decisions on the direction my life is taking. I have had multiple goals and challenges and where I am today has been formed with factors I did not always anticipate. For the last few years, I have worked in management, but before that I worked a variety of jobs. The different jobs I have worked have provided insight as to where I am now and how I would like to spend the remainder of my life.

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How did this challenge affected your academic achievements?

I had no experience as a runner nor did I have the form. This did not phase me however. That year I promised myself to push through all the six mile runs, sore legs, gnarly blisters, and at times, lack of oxygen. At every meet and speed workout practice I pushed myself further and further. I set a goal every time I kicked off from the starting line and never let myself get discouraged when I failed. By my senior year, I was the fourth fastest runner on varsity. That year our varsity team won the district meet, which qualified us to run in the 2016 state meet in Oregon. The transformation over the years were evident. My determination to accomplish my goal of becoming a faster runner was complete. If I had simply just given up that first day of practice, I wouldn't have ran along side of the fastest runners in Oregon or have met the multitude of people that are now my closest friends. Having a goal sets one up for a challenge, whether it being physically or mentally, goals keep us active and thinking in more ways than one. Still, if someone has self-control, confidence, and a goal, they are still not complete.

I’ve never been interested in sports. I was a fast runner in my Physical Education classes, but I couldn’t kick a ball without falling. My parents signed me up for the local swim team, but after one year I quit. I never thought that not having athletic ability would help me.

I am a D1 athlete for track and field so there is little physically that I cannot do. I am in the best shape of my life and can work harder than most for a longer time. I did not start off my freshmen year as D1 athlete material, I did not often run and when I did it was minimal. Now four years later my hard work has paid off I worked until I caught up with those who were better than me, and then passed them. I have worked every day for four years consistently to make myself a better runner. Hard work is my specialty and I enjoy the rewards it

I already had an extremely busy routine, maintaining a 3,7 GPA in college prep classwork, daily golf practice, volunteering through my school and my church, SAT / ACT prep. Add to that a very full tournament & travel schedule including at least 16 multi-day tournaments nationally. How would I find the time to get fit? After many excuses & false starts, in March 2016 I committed to making a change. I needed to be healthier, and needed to improve my physical fitness and stamina to continue to improve as an athlete. I began eating a low carb, high protein diet and going to the gym as a guest every day with two of my friends. I began to see changes in my body and health and became even more motivated by seeing the results from my hard work. It became easier to manage my studies and all my other activities around my commitment to health and fitness. I earned my own gym membership and began to work out every day, even during my travel to golf tournaments. This summer I traveled throughout Florida, to Alabama, Georgia, Arizona, and Tennessee for tournaments and

Do you have friends, families, and teammates who are supporting you in your athletic aspirations? As a 55-year-old, I do not have anyone supporting me directly. My wife believes that I come alive when I chase my goals even if risk is involved. As I make my way up the Appalachian Trail in sections or I climb in a rock climbing gym as one of the only few adults, I do not think my friends and family understand my mindset. I am an experiential learner; therefore, I have to engage myself in the sport or in the strength training program to lead myself before I can lead others. The question is always, “Did you have fun on your hike” or “Did you have fun climbing today?” My answer is yes, but my thoughts are “I don’t hike or climb for fun. I did not fly the F-16 for fun. I do not climb for fun. Why do they not understand why I push myself in challenging and risky environment to attain goals and achieve a higher standard of living that is of intrinsic

In this situation, I learned that I am capable of handling so much more than I think. My behavior post-workout is evidence that my intervention plan works. For every workout that I completed, I felt more motivated to keep going. Every moment of success meant that I needed to push myself so that I stay consistent with my workouts. Both my physical and emotional well-being were elevated because I believed in

So, in the summer, when all my friends slept until noon, I wake up every morning at four to exercise at CrossFit. There were times when I wanted to give up and sleep after a year of exam driven sleep deprivation, but every time that happened, I saw my steadfast father fight through exhaustion, I saw my unfit body, and I saw a lifetime of heart disease ahead of me. With that motivation, I kicked the covers off the bed and jump out with gusto to get my day started. School has started, and I continue with the same vigor as I did in the summer. Balancing classes, clubs, internships, dance, and now exercising, my schedule has never been more jam-packed, but I have never been happier. Inspiration got me started, but after 3 months, positive attitude and habit kept me going, and I have no intention of stopping. I realized that when you stop making excuses and own up to your own faults, you can accomplish anything if you make a regimen and stick with

As we move into week two of college the reality of having to be almost fully independent is finally setting in. As my daily schedule in high school was the same day-to-day it made it easier to find time to work out and set a schedule. But now as my schedule is different daily I find that I can not work out at the same time everyday or even be able to every day. So for my Physical goal I would like to be able to keep in shape by attending the Rec Center at least five times a week in the hope of not gaining the freshman fifteen. I am going to achieve this goal with time management. If I set aside enough time to finish my assignments or at least start them the day they are assigned and do a little at a time I think it will be possible to have them done on time which should make it easier to at least find an hour five days a week to work out. Seeing now that I have to share a room with another person and live in a hall with many more my social-civic goal is to get to know the people on my floor and at least become friendly with

While some people around me flourish in their athletics, others succeed in their schoolwork. Personally, my most outstanding strength stands as my work ethic. When certain activities do not come naturally for me, I work as hard as possible to get better at them. Multiple instances of this have occurred over the past few years. For example, this year I participated in lacrosse for the first time. I usually spent my time playing soccer, but after a concussion that prevented me from playing again, I decided to give something else a a try. Going into a new sport like lacrosse was initially difficult for me. I had no idea how to play, everyone else had far more advanced skills than I did, and my confidence level started to deflate. My mom

In life everyone will face some form of hardship. Some people may not go through as many hardships as some others might but we all still have our own personal problems. In my life I have not faced many hardships like some others have which I am very grateful for such things not happening to me. But even though I haven't gone through many hardships I have still had my own fair share of personal hardships. One such hardship I have gone through twice is overcoming the death of a loved one.

Throughout my life, I have faced many challenges and obstacles that stood in my way. No matter the magnitude or even if there seemed to be no way possible, I always try and find a way. Every challenge that I have faced always required my maximum effort and was followed by success or failure, but this one is different. This is a challenge that I would have never in my life saw coming, this was a challenge where there was no succeeding or failing, but overall it made me a completely different person.

In life, we all go through challenges and it’s either we face them or walk away from it. Growing up, people will always have different ways of handling things that happens in their life. We can’t know what could happen and how we handle it because life is unexpected. As I see it is that if you tend to keep making the same mistakes, you’ll never get passed your past and if you learn from all of your mistakes, you can move forward with your life. Everyone has faced their challenges in their own way and not everything in life will be easy because I can tell you right now that no one’s life is perfect. Everyone has their flaws, but they're perfect in their own way possible.