Personal Narrative: A Career As An Athlete

I was born in Independence, MO on November 14, 1999. I was born into a sports family. My great grandpa and grandpa started teaching me baseball as soon as I could hold one. My great grandma and grandpa babysat me while my Mom was at work. He would sit on the floor and roll the ball to me. When it got warmer, we would go outside and play on his deck. I have loved baseball ever since. Sports have always been my passion. I play baseball and basketball. I started playing basketball my freshman year of high school and started playing baseball as soon as I was ready. There was never a time in my life where I wanted to stop playing sports, never once. I have never had a coach that has made me want to quit playing. If I had a coach that hated me, I paid attention to myself and didn’t let him get to my head about playing the game. I am going to try so hard to go as far as possible with baseball. I want to play baseball for the rest of my life. It’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was in middle school. I’ve known what I wanted to do with my life for the longest time. Sports are “my everything” and

Balancing my academic priorities with my love of field hockey has taught me that I know myself well enough to take on difficult tasks. My experiences thus far in life have given me an appreciation and understanding of how to best challenge and organize myself in a way that helps me to succeed in my endeavors. I know that I will be able to translate these abilities into my future academic pursuits and my professional life. Field hockey will continue to help me to grow, de-stress, and maintain

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.

Everyone has something they’re talented at, and many people have to try multiple things before they find their talent(s) that they have. As a child, my parents like many others had me participate in multiple activities. For example, I took dance classes, played a great amount of sports, and was a participant in many plays. In my freshman year, I tried running track and field. During the course of it, I developed shin splints and I proceeded to go to the athletic trainer. The athletic trainer here, Todd Korabek, has a system that works for the whole program. New injuries will see an aide, and that aide will then write up a card for them which lists their name, sport, injury, and body part. The aide doesn’t write the injury because only the athletic trainer can diagnose. After the athletic trainer treats all old injuries, he evaluates the new injuries, which happened to be me at that moment. Watching the aides assist Mr. Korabek really inspired me and his profession intrigued me.

Do you know the feeling you get when you’re doing the thing you love most in the world, for me that is baseball. My participation in sports influenced my skills in multitasking and handling multiple stressful situations at once. I play sports every season possible, teaching me about myself and all my friends on one team growing up into adults. I have maintained sports, grades, and jobs for four straight years without being ineligible one time. The people I am surrounded by around sports, young or old mold my future of being a successful adult. I thank every single coach, and teammate for helping me with all of my accomplishments, the biggest one being the Champion of a Varsity Baseball District Title.

In life you have to experience difficulties before you will ever experience success. I have always loved baseball. I started playing as a kid and continued into my high school years. During this time, I experienced frustration and eventually happiness came. Throughout this story I wasn’t focused on one moment, but all of the moments leading up to the signing for my college. The main experiences took place in many places, Chicago, Harrisburg, and West Frankfort. Playing baseball is a family event for me. My family supports me and is always there to cheer me on. These moments are so important to me is because I spent my entire life working to be signed by a college.

I realized how fun and rewarding it felt whenever I got a hit, or when I made an extraordinary play. The field was a retreat from my stressors and problems; it started to become a place that calmed me down even on my worst days. Every day I came back to the field, I felt refreshed; it was a new start to my day. Baseball was a very important sport to developing the type of person I am right now. After our first win, I started to realize important lessons that would be crucial to be successful in not only baseball, but also in the real world. One of the most important lessons I learned while playing baseball, was that the only way to get better at something was hard work. Hard work is what got me the grades I got in the past, and what has gotten the grades I have right now. The more games I played, the more attached I felt to the sport, and the more lessons I learned. I felt like the field was the place where I belonged. Another important lesson I learned from playing on the field is that not everything is going to be the way you want it to be. I’ve had to play on many fields, where most of them had terrible conditions. I learned that I just have to deal with what is given and try my best with the

1.5 seconds. I had developed an automatic timer in my head, and when it hit 1.5 seconds, I was in trouble. It was physically and mentally agonizing playing quarterback behind an offensive line that was known as being the smallest (and worst) our state division has ever seen. On average, my offensive line would give me 1.5 seconds to throw the ball before getting sacked by opposing defensive linemen. During many plays, I failed to find an open receiver in my allotted time, so I ran for my life - trying to extend the play, avoid getting sacked, and most importantly, avoid getting hurt. I grew up playing wide receiver, but switched positions when our quarterback decided to transfer schools because he couldn’t handle the brutality he faced during

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 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

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."

basketball dreams and ambitions. From as young as I can remember, I have always wanted to play NCAA Division 1 basketball and eventually professional basketball in the NBA. My whole life has been devoted to basketball and becoming the greatest player I can be. I’ve had to sacrifice a social life, time with family, and many other things to be in the gym training almost every day to get better. Three years ago, I started played in tournaments in the USA with high hopes of being recruited, but not one coach showed interest in me. In January 2015, when the deadline for applications were due, I was devastated because not only was I losing sight of my dreams, it felt like

I had to choose between playing a full-time summer sport or going on family vacations in the summer. Sports enriched my life in many ways such as creating more memories with my friends, allowing my pitching to improve, and gaining valuable team experience. Family vacations also could have changed my life as it allows for more family time, memories, and adventures. In the end, I chose to play a summer sport because it increased my games per year, practices per year, and a significant increase in game experience. I am happy with my decision because it gave me lifelong experiences.