Personal Narrative: A Real Team

Junior year of high school I had reached my limits and had become clinically depressed. I had no interest in school, and I had considered quitting my schools cheerleading team. I felt alone and underwhelmed with where I had imagined my life was going to go. My dream was to become a state champion with cheerleading and to place in the top 10 at the National High School Cheerleading Championship, I had already made amends with the idea that it was an unreachable goal. I had completly given up. Ready to quit, one of my teammates had taken notice in my dismissive persona, she had also brought it to the attention of the rest of my team. They began to push me harder then they he'd ever pushed before. They helped me realize that I was great again.

The highs and lows of competition have constructed in me into an entirely new athlete. My first year of track and field and I made it to Far East by qualifying in the 4x800 relay. I guess you could call it beginner's luck. I would call it dedication and confidence. After almost a week of running and jumping events, the time has come to announce the winners of the banners. With the awkward silence sitting and waiting for the results to be told along with the rest of the crowd, the announcer finally broke the silence. “The D2 Girls Track Champions of 2015 is Zama American High.” This one night as emotional as an groom seeing his bride walk down the aisle knowing that she is all his. Have you ever wanted to take a moment and breathe in the air of accomplishing your

On this bright and sunny day of August. I was very happy and excited to be starting my first day of Booker T. Washington high school as a freshman.Today I am going to tryout for pom with my friends Maddison, Haleema, and Jose. As I walk out the school doors to go home and get ready for pom tryouts I get butterflies in my stomach because I’m very nervous. When we are driving up to the school I look at all the people who are here and I know that Haleema, Maddison,Jose and I have to try our best if we really want to make it.The next couple of days as I walk down the hall I see the boys and girls who tried out for pom rushing to an orange paper hanging on the wall next to the lockers. On the paper I see Maddison and I made the team. That moment I noticed that Haleema and Jose were a little disappointed because they tried their hardest. So they decided to join track the next day. Maddison and I were very excited that we had pom practice the next day.

My running has been a big part of my life ever since I was younger and saw my dad lace up his running shoes to go out for his daily run. I ran cross country and track for La Crescent every year since seventh-grade and have been fortunate enough, through dedicating myself to thousands of miles of training, to see great success during my time here. Last fall, I ran my final season of high school cross country. Ending the season, I was able to achieve my first state championship which brought me a sense of accomplishment no words could ever describe. I was overjoyed to see all my hard work pay off. The most interesting aspect of that whole experience was how the La Crescent community received the news. The night of the state meet, and the days that followed, allowed me to talk with friends, teachers, and community members alike. Through these interactions I noticed that winning state brought a great sense of pride not only to me but to the La Crescent community as a whole. Everyone felt a part of the accomplishment and it seemed that we accomplished something together. I’ve often heard criticism about La Crescent athletics, but I’ve come to understand, and others have to, that we aren’t as bad off as it might seem. In three years, we’ve had three people win state: myself, Zack Emery, and Clair Shepardson. A vast majority of schools can’t say that. I’ve noticed

I would like to start off by apologizing for my repeated absences. Lately I have been busy with school, work, and college planning. I realize this is no excuse as we all have made sacrifices to be fully prepared for whatever this trip may endure. This trip, along with the benefit of our team, is my top priority. I by no means take the importance of teamwork lightly; as Carla says, the trip starts long before we step foot in the airport. Again I'm very sorry and this is my commitment that I will a better teammate and be more

I was both happy and disappointed about the race. I thank my fellow teammates and tell them good job as well. I was happy that the race was over but, I was disappointed because on that race i lost my spot on the varsity squad. Infuriated at myself I walk back to our team's tent. Try to hold in my emotions, I stared to cry to myself. All that I could think was that I let my team down. While I was crying to myself a big shadow castes upon me. I look, trying to look like I was not crying, and it was one of my teammate's dad. He told me " Son, you know you did your best and that is all we ask for". I let his encouraging worlds sink in for awhile. Then I started to

I have been in the Marine Corps for roughly three and a half years and throughout that time I have done many things. Most of the things that I have done were with Combat Logistics Battalion 26. For three years, I worked with that unit through work ups and a deployment and I have seen and done many unique things. However, nothing I did with CLB 26 felt fulfilling, but that all changed when I changed units to CLB 8.

The team and I joked around to try and release our nerves. Something was bugging me though, I kept thinking back to when Durkins told me that Lincoln had said that we were going to lose(4). I was really shocked, I mean, I knew Lincoln trusted his old team more than he trusted us but I had dismissed that as a new kid kind of thing. That didn’t mean I was all cool about it though, I was angry that he wasn’t confident in his team to win against Franklin. Although that anger may be from the times that Lincoln disobeyed Coach or from when he trusted his old team more than his new team even though we were his new team. MitchelI put Mitchell in a headlock and a little later Lincoln strode into the locker room. I let go of Mitchell and straightened up. “ Durkins says you said that we’re goin’ to lose. Why did you say that?” I remarked.

We were fighting the pain to make it to the last two races of the season, Regionals and States. Regionals was a very emotional race for us. The previous year we were defeated by Parkersburg and was unable to attend states. We had ruined the streak for the girls varsity of PHS to make it to states. We were devastated. This race was different than the others. This race determined who ran in states. We knew we had to give it our all. At the start line, Coach wrote a “1” on our leg to keep in mind the one year we didn’t make it to states. We knew that staying home this year was not an option. We raced hard with everything we had. As everyone finished we had this feeling of defeat. We cried and just put ourselves down. We were not confident in our performances. Coach Martin and P. Sines knew it was a close race. However they had more information than we did. They knew the results. They watched us cry as a team and continue to believe we didn’t make top three. This was the moment I will never forget. “Coming in third place is…..PRESTON HIGH SCOOOOOOL” announced the official. No longer were we crying sad tears. We were crying tears of

It was only 10 hours until I had to race and 2 hours until I was scheduled to practice before the race. I was 5’3 with a weight of 105 about to race in four events 300 meter hurdles, 4 by 1, 4 by 2 and 4 by 4 against twenty-one schools in Summit located in Oregon, every time the thought of me being in 4 different events on my mind I could feel a feeling of as though something has walked through you and left you numb shaking, breathless, and gripped by fear. All I could remember was a six foot tall man yelling at me “telling me you could do anything you put your mind into, do not let anyone tell you can not do anything you put your mind to”. His yelling was strong but his voice trembled, his lips gave in and he let out a small cry as guilt and sadness overwhelmed him. I’ve known him for 6 year he was like a brother to me he coached my brother for 4 years and coach me for 3 years. It was my only chance to make it to finals weeks and my last year for him coaching me. Knowing that it was my last year my emotionless expression swept over my face as I felt warm tears filling up my eyes, as my throat closed tight enough and each word pitched higher than the last in an effort to squeak out the words that were bottled up inside me. Finally the tears spilt over and flowed down my face like a river escaping a

My feelings were all over the place. I was depressed, frustrated, upset until one of my friends came up to me and said “Hey don’t sweat it bro, if it wasn’t you it would have been one of us.” It didn’t make me feel any better but it was true. We got second place at a state championship. Next we had to line up to get the trophies and congratulate the other team. We walked into line to receive our trophies. Coach was asked to bring up our team captain to receive the runner up trophy. No one knew who that was, but our coach did. Coach yelled out “Carlos, Chase go!” Chase and I looked at in surprised and fist pumped each other. It was an honor for me to share the team captain with a good friend, Chase, but it was an even bigger honor to be a team

I kept running through pain and the second mile approached. The runner inside of me began to lose form and fatigue started to kick in. The sounds of the crackling spikes against the payment was intimidating. I, however was not going to back down this late in the race. As we passed the grassy, flat path my mind started to drift away from the race, the screaming fans, and everything in the race. I started to ask myself is this pain worth it in the end. I went back to the beginning of my training when I remember debating whether or not I was cut out for this line of brutal training and dedication. Everyday this repeatedly played in my mind. I was full of mixed emotions. On one hand, I wanted to be part of the team and form friendships with teammates. Or on the other hand, I would like to relax and concentrate on my studies and my studies. I needed the energy of excitement from the fans to rejuvenate my mindset. I wanted to feel that intense feeling of finishing the

When I was in seventh grade my mother, against all odds, convinced my awkward, out-of-shape self to join the football team. In spite of my initial begrudging attitudes, by the season’s conclusion, I had made numerous new friends and enjoyed the experience of playing a sport enough to join track and field that spring. Eagerly, I continued with athletics in high school, training vigorously during the off season. Like a character leveling up before a boss fight, I trained with intensity, lifting weights four times a week, gradually improving on my personal records each time until I was far stronger than I had ever been. I had heard the vague platitudes since I was a kid, but sports truly taught me the meanings of commitment and discipline. As the years passed, the brotherhood formed between my teammates and I became unbreakable. I believed without a doubt that every one of my teammates would give his all for me, and I would do the same for them. Because of athletics, I have become healthy, mentally and physically stronger, and I have friendships I will cherish

At the end of August 2008 when I worked in a company called Colsanitas in Bogota Colombia, I had the great opportunity to meet to Yanira Rodriguez who is my current partner.

I got 3rd in the 800m, I was so proud of myself and I had never ran that race before. My 4x100 team didn’t place because we got disqualified. In high jump I got conference champ. I called my mom and told her how I did and she said ”Good Job Baby.” Needless to say I never gave up on myself. Also I’m the most athletic grandchild on my mom's side, which makes me feel better.”Though she be but little, she is fierce.” -Shakespeare. I like this quote because it describes me so well. This would have to be one of my favorite sports event in my life but winning LTC champs in basketball beats this. Track would have to be one of my favorite sports. I forgot to mention that at Sectionals they set the bar too high than what it was suppose to be so I didn’t make it to state in high