My Story Narrative – “The Turning Point”
It’s been a long hard road arriving at where I am right now. I believe that everyone can say that in one way or another their life has been difficult. One event in my life truly shaped the person I have become by overcoming it, but it could have sent me down a spiral into disaster. Let me tell you about my story. I grew up in a single parent home with my mother and also had a great amount of support from my grandparents. What my family knew was athletics, so what they taught me from the time I could pretty much walk was how to throw, catch, and shoot a ball. It turns out I was a natural. Was I the next Jordan, Jeter, or Randy Moss? That was still to be determined, but unlikely. Unfortunately, my dreams would be put on hold as the one person in my life who I truly looked up to, my grandfather, had passed away from a heart attack. He was the one father figure that I had in my life. He kept me grounded. Without him I felt lost. Where could I go? What could I do? I did what I always did. I went to the playground with my ball and played for hours. This was and continues to be a major theme in my life. It is my release from all of the pain and the negative thoughts that rip through my mind. It is where I free myself. I continued at a young age to develop a work ethic on the field and court. The first sport my talent started to stand out was in basketball. I was taller and more skilled than all of my peers. I was
Throughout my life I faced a lot of challenges. I had to overcome the obstacle that was on my way. The obstacle made me stronger and made me the person who I am right
One of the activities that I took part in that I feel has shaped me as a person, was basketball. I joined the Sea Point High basketball team in the tenth grade, in South Africa. Now basketball was not very popular in South African high schools, as such we lost our coach in my junior year. The choices that were given to the team was to either end the program or to continue without a coach. As team captain I rallied my teammates and we persevered through without a coach; we showed up for intensive training and competed against other schools. At the end of my senior year I was presented with the basketball player of the year; however I feel that award did not necessarily celebrate my skill in the sport, but it acknowledged the determination and
I have been playing basketball ever since I can remember. My family has always been very athletic. My siblings played basketball as well as my parents. My grandma told me a story about how I used to shoot a little basketball into a 10 foot hoop and I would make it. I play in the point guard position. I work very hard at what I do so that makes me advance in my skill for the sport. When I really started to realize I had a passion for it was in 6th grade. We had a lot of new people therefore our team didn't blend great. But even with my team being the way it was I still put everything that I had into it. Two things at the end of the season happened to me that made me realized that if I worked at it I could do great things. One parent on the
One of the greatest lessons I have learned as a high school athlete has been how to overcome adversity and to be resilient after failure. As with any sport, particularly basketball, many valuable character traits and qualities are obtained such as: an incredible work ethic, a competitive nature, and the ability to be an effective leader. If I had not been a basketball player, I would be lacking some of the important characteristics that make me a well rounded and whole person.
I have overcome lots of obstacles in my life. They weren't the easiest to overcome, but I did it. There is one obstacle I had to go through which made me a strong individual mentally and physically. I lived in New Jersey for my entire life. I grew up there, I had all of my family and friends in Jersey. I was sure my future was going to rely in Jersey. During 7th grade, I got the news that we were going to move to North Carolina. I was thrilled to move to another state. As each day passed, I thought how I would have to start in a new school and make new friends. Every time it struck me knowing that I would have to start a new life. I was nervous not knowing what would happen to my future. I wanted to stay in New Jersey because I was scared of
When I was younger, basketball was all I wanted to play, it just looked like so much fun. In fifth grade I had my parents sign me up for CYB, then in sixth grade I tried out for middle school basketball and played all the way up until ninth grade. In middle school when I was in eighth grade I was awarded the captain position and that helped me build leadership and responsibility. All of the players especially the younger ones knew they could always come to me at any time if they needed anything or help with anything. High school basketball was a lot different than middle school. In middle school I was one of the star players so I played a lot but in high school that changed. I sat the bench a lot that taught me patience and understanding even
I attended all training sessions and spent a great amount of time playing basketball since the thrill of winning games, of becoming better pushes me forward. I believed my efforts are worthy, since I had the advantage over other players in speed and keen awareness, and I trained harder than others every day. Basketball was the only thing on my mind. Then the time came to assemble the official school team to participate in formal basketball games. I thought for all my efforts
Participating in sports has taught me to be responsible for my own actions. Whenever I fail I move on and keep on trying. I’ve struggled but in the end I overcame most of the obstacles I faced.( I learn from my my mistakes )Flag football has taught me to become a leader, however, track and field taught me
Currently I am in cross country, basketball, and track, but I have done many other sports in the past. I joined the cross country team in 8th grade in hopes of finding a new passion. I fell in love with running and decided to join the track team that same year. Basketball is a different story; I joined in 3rd grade just because my parents signed me up as most sports go when you're younger, and I struggled greatly with learning and understanding the game. I spent long summers training in my yard trying to get better. This determination helped me significantly when it became time for tryouts, as I ended up making the higher team. To this day I still have a lot of determination when it comes to sports and most things in
For basketball, I played AAU through the YMCA for three years, and for soccer I played futsal to receive more touches during the off-season. This meant some nights I had three practices to go to before I could go home and relax. I learned the more time and effort I put into anything, the more likely I would succeed. My hard work paid off when I received honorable mention all-conference for basketball my junior year. Along with the hard work I have put into these sports, I have left behind traits of my good character.
Sports taught me the qualities that help reflect in the classroom, in my team, and in the community. These resulted in my success throughout the academic year, in my team, and also in the community as well. I have accomplished a lot and plan to do more in the
Throughout my life, I have been through many different things. I have been through struggles and successes. I have been through multiple setbacks and breakthroughs. There is one specific setback, however that is very important to me that I overcame. It was not easy, but I finally did it. This setback took place during the time between when I entered high school and the end of my sophomore year.
My entire family is an athletic family, everyone did or does sports. However, I never really enjoyed sports to the extent that my family did. I tried to find something I had a passion for, but didn't really find anything until I was in 5th grade. A time that I was open to growth was my entire time in Phoenix Boys Choir.
An active lifestyle was enthusiastically encouraged by my parents for their three boys to support not only physical activity and growth, but a competitive spirit, and a sense of belonging with peers from my school and the community. Through hard work and practice I played at the top level for every sport that I tried out for. What I lacked in size I made up for with heart, hustle, and passion. Consequently, my personal compensation was the pride I earned through hours of practice to develop the skills needed to perform at the highest level.
In the past five years, I have overcome many obstacles. Thankfully those struggles made me who I am today, and while I still have many improvements to make, I am content with the direction my life is going. With a combination of my experiences, my education,