Personal Narrative: A Career As An Athlete

What is the only thing harder than disciplining a dozen ten year olds? Disciplining them on ice! All throughout my life I’ve played sports, and no matter what sport it was, there was always one person who seemed to have it out for me…the referee. The referee is one of the most hated people in the world of sports, but is also one of the most crucial. I grew up with the mindset that the referee was the enemy. Whenever they made a call against me or my team, they were always wrong, no matter how obvious the penalty was. But one day, my whole perspective on referees changed---the day I became a referee.

Saturday morning, and sweat is running down my face. Dirt is covering every inch of my body. Breathing hard I hear the coach scream “GO!”. Already tired I force my beaten body to run as fast as I could. I see my opponent come into my view, and I know what I have to do. Speeding my way towards the ball I tackle the kid in front of me. In the distance I hear satisfaction from my coach. “Nice tackle Dylan, you get better everytime I watch you.” applauds my coach. I thank him for noticing that I have been working hard throughout these two a day practices. Sprinting my way towards the  next drill I run my coach's words through my head which helps boost my confidence for what is to come next. I was halfway through the week filled with these gruesome two a days, but I knew from my improvement each day I would make it.

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.

My plans when I get older where like every other child's. I want to be in the NFL. To get where I am you have to start at a young age. I showed up at practice everyday and on time. I also studied the play sheets and went through all my routes. I studied day and night to be where I am. It wasn't easy. There was no time to play games get in trouble do drugs or hang out with friend on an everyday bases. You have to tighten up be a man. It's not like I woke up one day and I was starting running back I had to do what's right stay in school not miss a day because that one day could have been the most important day ever and I wouldn't have even known. You know why?? Because I was and didn't show up to school. Don't be that person I used to be.

In the late spring semester of my senior year in high school. I decided to take a risk with my future. All throughout high school I, identified as a football player. From a freshman I was placed on varsity and throughout my career I contributed heavily in games. Glaring into my history of sports I naturally believed college football was the route for me. During my final season as a high school student. I a major family set back. Lucky for me one of my teammates could not bare to see me leave during the middle of the season. He offered that I stay with him for the finish of the football season. I accepted his offer with much embarrassment and shame. For the first time the spotlight of being needy that I had been dodging all of my life finally caught up to me.

My adrenaline coursed through my body and my nerves were at an all time high as I was finally getting to play in my first game as a Varsity Wildcat. All my hard work had led up to this moment and there was no way I was going to mess it up. The all too familiar smell of the fresh cut grass made me feel comfortable at that moment and I lined up as the strong side linebacker and got ready for the play to start. Steam filled my helmet and my breathing got gradually quicker and quicker. The quarterback hiked the ball and I knew exactly what play they were running. I threw myself into the gap I needed to and made the tackle, but as I headed to the ground there was a violent crackling in my right knee. The whistle blew again and I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t. A flurry of emotions flooded my brain: fear, anxiety, pain, sadness, regret. When the trainer got me to the bench to see what had gone, wrong he determined that I had torn my Meniscus and I would be out for the season. All my effort on the difficult, hot, summer practice all nulled from this one moment. All my aspirations of

There are several reasons why I am athletic. The ways I am athletic and stay athletic is through training and playing football, basketball, and baseball. First off, I train to get into shape. I do push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and many other exercises like that. Also, I practice all the different sports and do different workouts to get better. The first sport that comes around is football. I play quarterback and linebacker and have been very successful. The past two years the teams I have been on haven’t lost a game! Next, is basketball, and it is my favorite sport. I have played it for all my life and still play it today. I play point guard and I like to shoot. During my basketball years, I have made many buzzer-beaters and

Looking out in the crowd, I took a quick glance at the stands to notice a bunch of college and professional baseball scouts on a muggy summer night. In my mind all I could think to myself is that these coaches determine my future due to my performance. This was the moment that I have been putting in endless hours of brutal training for, to help me fulfill my dream of playing upper level baseball. As one of the coaches called me by my last name, I walked up to the spotlight where hundreds of coaches were looking at me as if I was a piece of meat at a meat auction. It was my turn to bat and throw, I can remember my heart racing as fast as a jet and I could feel the tension building up from my toes to my neck. I have never had this feeling before,

She is running like the wind, a bead of sweat dripping from her face. Just a little bit longer until she reaches the finish line. Just a little bit. And she is there, the stand is erupting, shouting in glee. A new world record had just been set! This track and field star is none other than the Olympic gold medalist, Jackie Joyner-Kersee. A few years before, Babe Didrikson Zaharias sped past the same line of triumph. Both ladies are known for their talent in multiple sports. These ladies are thought to be two of the best athletes of all time, and are an inspiration for all young athletes.

Two years ago I joined a no-cut rowing club. Rowing, from what I had heard was a highly athletic sport. Looking back on it, I wasn’t what anyone would consider athletic. For the first week or two of practice, I was skeptical if this sport was an appropriate fit for me, primarily because the training we were doing was far more advanced than anything I had ever experienced. The only other sport I had participated in was the local little league baseball team and as you could imagine it wasn’t a very intense sport. But with a little coaxing from my parents I kept going to practice. Over the next three months of practicing I began to get into the rhythm of the daily workouts. At the end of three months I began to fall into place among the other

I joined my first team when I was one month old. Yes, one month. I guess I didn’t quite provide a huge impact on the Georgia College Baseball team but I was a great mascot. For my whole life, my home has been wherever my dad could coach. We’ve traveled to many different states, colleges, and fields so my dad could pursue his dream career. Because of this, I've learned my love for the game and the importance of a team. When I turned four, I transitioned from being a collegiate baseball bat girl to being an actual batter. When I turned 8, my parents realized I was the last girl left in the baseball league and decided that it might be time to switch to softball. Ever since, I’ve been on many different teams learning how to improve as a person

I grew up in a family of six people was for brothers. Their names are Joe, Daniel, Patrick and me. Growing up we lived on the north side of Indianapolis near fishers area but I lived in Lawrence Township. My family is a sports family my dad play professional basketball in Europe. He attended school at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Growing up my Dad taught me how to play basketball but later on in life I chose to go on the path to play football. My dad was the head coach at Cathedral high school in Indianapolis. He was the only coach to win a state championship for basketball at my high school.

It is my heartfelt desire to attend the US Naval Academy. I want to pursue a career in Engineering and I know that the Academy has an excellent program. I also would like to play basketball for the Academy. I have been a part of the varsity basketball team since the end of my freshman year and played AAU basketball for the past 6 years. I think that I have a lot to contribute and I would love to serve my country.

How much I knew about this subject before I started it was little to nothing. I had to start from ground zero and work my way up, because what I knew was that they had to come up with game plans and have a set defensive. What I have learn that you have to know more than the blind eye. You have to always expect what they can do to your team, and counter everything they got to score on you.

The bystanders erupted from the stands as I burst past the line of scrimmage. I stiff arm a defender to the ground, and I watch as the safety advances to my position. I stutter my feet quickly, and he breaks down into a stance as he attempts to tackle me. I get out of my stutter and burst to my right, and he immediately follows. As he begins to get closer to me, I plant my right foot down, hard, and he hesitates. Bad mistake. As soon as he stops, I immediately translate into a sprint and I explode up field. The entire stadium shakes, and my ears almost pop as I storm down the sideline. I look behind me and the safety has given up on his chase, which is exactly as I expected. I glide into the endzone, and I toss the ball to the waiting referee, but not before I celebrate my 4th touchdown of the game with my teammates.