Personal Essay: Playing A Sport At A Professional Level

The age old question has been brought up significantly in the past couple of years and can be considered a national controversy. The answer is you can’t downright pay college athletes due the NCAA “amateurism” ruling. There are many plausible ways to compensate these athletes that are bringing in more money than the school knows what to do with. The NCAA has billions of dollars that they mindlessly shell out to programs for “updated equipment”, locker rooms,gear, etc. Also the NCAA says they pay for schooling for the athletes and that is enough, however not every athlete at a given school gets a “full ride”, or even half. This leads us to the main problem.

Not only do I enjoy meeting new people and playing, but I have also learned many lessons through the game. Being a student athlete has taught me the importance of responsibility and reliability which are two very important traits to have when representing a school.

Many people dread Mondays, but I always looked forward to Mondays spent at TOPSoccer. This student-run, community-based program enables children with disabilities to learn the sport in a supportive environment. This is where I met Evan, an 11-year-old with cerebral palsy. Evan was limited in his mobility and had speech difficulties, which made communication trying at times, so forging a relationship with him was challenging; understandably, he wasn't the most willing participant. Over the next four years together, I continually sought new ways to engage Evan, whether pushing his wheelchair around the field house or playing catch. With my encouragement, Evan's attitude began to change. By my senior year, Evan's grinning face and clapping hands

My primary focus if chosen as an employee is to further the success of the company. I can offer Intersport adequate skills within camera operations and various assistant in post and pre-productions. To speak upon the talent I can bring to Intersport would not truly emphasize my significances compared to other applicants. The character that I embed within my work ethic is beyond a talent. I take great pride in relentless effort in daily task to accomplish professional and personal goals. One of my most valuable experience, I have gained in my undergraduate career was being a camera operator for Eastern Illinois University OVC Sports Media Team. As a camera operator I was able to assist the university with their virtual streaming of various sports

I felt nothing, except my broken heart, and my dislocated elbow. It was a beautiful Saturday in March. I woke up extra early for my softball tournament. I told myself that it was going to be a great day. It seems that everything happened so quickly. It seems when everything looks like it is falling into place like it should, but then something instantaneous happens, and everything I had worked for came crashing down.“Life is rough, so you gotta be tough.” The day of March 21, 2015, I will soon never forget.

“Let’s go, Sam! Speed it up!” my eighth-grade basketball coach barked at me impatiently. Honestly, I deserved it; I was slow. I had natural athletic ability—I come from an athletic family—but it only goes so far when you’re carrying around a spare tire.

This past week has been a struggle trying to focus on the present, caused by the stress of the future. The big question that determines what environment to live in, concerns me through my interests. I was positive about my decision to play ball through my university years, I was committed to become part of a larger and more challenging team. The question wasn’t really a question because I finally knew what I wanted to do with the next 6 years, do you want a scholarship? Are you committed? Do you know your duties of participating on a university team? Are you sure that you want to play and get an education in the U.S.?

In the seventh grade, there were 12 girls on the cheer squad and I was the only one unable to execute a cartwheel. To be a stronger cheerleader, you must know some basic tumbling moves. Therefore, I set a long-term goal to learn how to do a cartwheel. Achieving this goal was not easy. As a team, we took tumbling lessons a couple nights a week. Because I did not have the same skill level as the other girls on the team, I also took private tumbling lessons. My instructor told me that one reason I was unable to perform a cartwheel was that I did not have enough upper body strength. Therefore, he developed an exercise routine for me that I could do at home to help me gain strength in my upper body. It took about three months of diligently

Yards became smaller as country gave way to the edge of town. We were forced to skirt slightly larger groups of zombies by darting through backyards and leaping fences. I was amazed at how easily I was able to conquer these obstacles. The past few months were like boot camp. My muscles had atrophied due to an easy life as a college professor, but a few months of living on the run had turned a once lethargic human being into a first class athlete.

I sat endlessly, hypnotized by the motion of opening and closing of cupboard doors. I was in my own world, oblivious to the love that surrounded me, retreating frequently… sometimes rocking, sometimes flapping, sometimes walking on my tip toes. Day by day, my words disappeared until language almost ceased and my diet became finicky and restrictive. I lost connection from my parents and surroundings. At 18 months old, after six months of this gradual regression, a consultation and evaluation was scheduled with a pediatric neurologist. "Your son has autism."

Over all my athletic experiences, the first one I ever experienced and remembered was when I was 6. I went to the park with my family. It was a tradition that on a certain day of the year our entire family goes to the park. I never saw a soccer ball before that day. When my uncle and aunt came and saw us I noticed the ball in his bag. I later asked him what it was with the best English I could. He told me it was called a soccer ball. He showed me how to play with it. Then my dad, uncle, and I all went to a flat grassy area and started to play pass. I remember how hard it was to kick the ball. I struggled in the beginning then later, I started aiming and kicking the ball better than both of them. They were impressed by how good I was. After

Through my involvement in sports, I have grown a great deal as an individual. I joined my school’s Track and Field Team via an E-mail. For the beginning of my freshman season, I was incredibly shy and received. I probably wrote more words in that E-mail than I said to my coach for the first month of that season. Before Track and Cross, I was not an athlete, and I had never run more than a mile a day in my life. Obviously, I did not go from a couch potato to a track star overnight. I started Track as the slowest girl on the distance team and for the majority of meets that season, I was embarrassed about how slow I was. It was not until nearly the end of the season that I realized that I had nothing to be embarrassed about. Even though I was not fast, no one could deny that I was working my hardest and giving every day whether it was a workout or a race, everything that I had to give. I am not sure when exactly it happened, but soon after, I was no longer the slowest girl on my team. At the Banquet to celebrate the end of the

It was February 28 , 2015. I was already on my way to Idaho championships before I knew it our team was there. At first I was incredibly terrified because of how many swimmers were there. After warm-ups with my teammates the races began, I swan my 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter freestyle, and my sprint 50-meter freestyle was close by. Usually I’m not nervous while doing this particular race but today is different. I will be racing 16 year olds while I’m only 14. Ten minutes before the race I explained to my coach that I was not feeling well but my coach looked at me and said “Maddy you are very much capable of getting first place, if you believe in yourself anything is possible.”

While high school student-athletes invest a lot of time and energy into their sport, the collegiate lifestyle brings a new level of difficulty that many incoming freshmen can find intimidating and overwhelming at first. In addition to being under more pressure to perform on a larger, more competitive stage in front of a more expansive audience, they must also deal with the every day challenges that normal college freshmen face: homesickness, transitioning into a more demanding academic workload, and creating a new social network. College athletes have to have their routines extremely time focused, and make time management essential to their daily lives.

Instead of feeling pressure to conform as a student at the University of Georgia, I have found that being in college has made me value the importance of a higher education more so than I ever had before. During high school, my primary goal was to play well enough to receive a football scholarship. At that time, my focus was not on academics. However, since I've arrived at the University of Georgia, my entire concept of the value of a college degree has slowly changed. Rather than seeing just football in my future, I can now picture myself as a football player with a college degree. Consequently, instead of having a negative impact on my personal growth, college has helped me broaden as a person.