Personal Narrative: AAAA State Champions

From before day one, all our minds were set. This was the year to win a State Championship. I can’t exactly explain it, but right from the start I knew we were going to do it. I was never so sure about anything in my life and I never doubted it once.

Let’s all be honest, when in a tight situation where a lot is on the line, having someone say, ‘No pressure.’ is the worst thing that could be ever said in that moment. Regardless, this is what was said to me and my 10-year-old baseball team, The Oklahoma Kaos before hitting the field to have a chance to get to finals in the State Championship. It was June 18th, 2010, and we had clawed our way out of losers bracket to get to the semifinals. We had come too far to give up or fail now. We came across a team called the Pawhuska Huskies, a team we had creamed in an earlier tournament 23-3 in one whole inning. The team joked back and forth about how easy this would be and how we already made it to the finals. But while

We all celebrated our greatest achievement as a team winning the championship game and ending the season with only two loses. My play that I had just completed still shocked me, I never thought I would have got two outs against a great team in one play. The funny thing was that I did not even think what I was doing, so I do not know how I did it! Nevertheless, I

In November of 2014, my team and I made it past the first round of the LHSAA Division AAAA playoffs after defatting the number twenty-eight seed, Belle Chase High School. After finishing a very good regular season with a record of 10-2, we went into the playoffs surprising everyone as the number four seed. After the winning the first round in style, we found ourselves matched up with defending state champs from the season before. On this defending state champ team, they possessed some of the top defensive backs in the state of Louisiana. In this nail biter of game, my team and I would face adversity, nervousness, and discipline. We got on the rented charter bus, and began our trip down to the heart of New Orleans to play the East Jefferson Warriors in what would be a very exciting high school football game full of hard hits and upsets.

In 2016, more than ever, the team was committed to and had one goal of winning. One of our biggest rivals was St. John’s College High School (SJCHS). My doubles partner and I played the last match of the WCAC championships against SJCHS. During the season, SJCHS was one of the hardest competitors we faced but walking onto the court on the final day of championships, my partner and I knew we would fight and win. After 45 minutes, I hit an ace and we won the match that put us in the lead to win the championships. October 30, 2016 was the single most exciting and overwhelming day for the team all season. Everyone’s hard work paid off.

It was any other Ole Miss basketball game. I had gotten my box of popcorn and a huge, cold, fizzy coca-cola. I was in the same seat I always was, between my sister and my dad, and I had the same humongous guy sitting right in front of me. Even though I was only 7 and wasn’t actually sure what was going on, I still wanted to see what was happening! Of course, I wasn’t going to ask this person to move, I had no idea who he was but, that didn’t last much longer.

The South Dakota High School Football Championship was an experience that I am grateful for having. During the process of getting ready for the event, I was more worried about my grade of the course compared to the success of the weekend. As each week passed on, I realized that this weekend is bigger than just a grade for a course, but it’s a dream that many children have had since they first touched a football. After I realized how selfish I was, I volunteered to lead the game script group that was part of the social media/marketing group. The reason behind that was because I believe I want to go into the marketing aspect of sports, and I thought it was easy. Now that the event is done, I still want to be in sport marketing, but I learned

I never though winning a championship would be so satisfying. When my high school, Michel-Gratton applied for WECSSAA (Windsor Essex County Secondary Schools Athletic Association), it was an ecstatic moment for my teammates and I. The funny thing is that year was also the first year Michel-Gratton was built, in 2011. As a result, we had no basketball uniforms, instead our coach, Taylor, had us go to Walmart and buy the same blue t-shirt, afterwards write M.G on it. We ended the first season with a score of zero wins and ten losses, basically in last place. Schools from the standings were mocking us, trying to damage the team, yet Taylor always reminded us that as long as we stay a family and

Gabe’s quote that he chose that best represented his presentation stood out to me. I can relate to these words of wisdom with volleyball. Getting to the State Tournament is never easy for high school volleyball. My sophomore year we fell short in the second round to qualify and that was so disappointing for our team. The next year we came back with lots of intensity and drive, but fell short in the last game before qualifying. Fortunately, we took all the anger and disappointment and worked our tails off. We ended up qualifying, it was one of the coolest experience that has happened to me, and it shows that hard work pays off in the end, and to never give up.

We start with the stretches. The seniors move to the middle in order for the younger volleyball prospects to see the exercises clearly. To teach them about Union’s school spirit early on, we chant U-N-I-O-N twice for every exercise. Then we lace up and hit the track. Run a lap, get low, run a lap, high knees, run a lap, butt kicks, run a lap, karaoke, then sprint for the finish. After our brief water break, we head up to the bleachers and a sense of dread fills the group of one hundred and fifty girls. “How many will they make us run today?” we ask each other. Three, four, five? It always fluctuates, so it is good to guess. As usual, the seniors start up the bleachers first and we shout out our names as we step a single foot on the first bleacher. By the end of the first round of bleaches, I am sweating profusely in the unforgiving August heat and praying for mercy. I look in the faces of other prospectivevolleyball players and share a look of exhaustion, while the sweat drips off my forehead and down my back. After the bleacher exercises are finished, we head into the gym and start tryouts. That is how it has been for the last

When February rolled around, practices were held every Saturday afternoon. I came to every practice and eventually became the assistant coach. I was helping girls with everything from teaching them how to throw a proper flick to advising them on what cleats

I went to Arkansas for a tournament. The activities I did with my family were very wonderful. My team versed many awesome opponents. Me and my team had wonderful time together. I hope I can do that again.

This summer my family traveled to my brother's state tournament. His 17U baseball team for our school had been qualifying for the state tournament. We were so excited and proud of the team. They were so happy when they won the district tournament. I was excited about going to Troy again.

In the winter of my junior year, my basketball team won the district tournament. It had been a season of ups and downs, but we peaked at the right moment. We later qualified for the state tournament. Collectively we felt that we could win the championship; the momentum was with us. Unfortunately, due to two uncharacteristically sloppy and draining games, we were eliminated. After our final game, we went back to the locker room in silence. Soon, the only audible sounds were the crying of all twelve girls. Twelve girls that gave everything to each other were now devastated that their time together was over. Twelve girls sat in a circle with their faces buried in their jerseys, broken and exhausted. In that moment as we sat and cried and reflected

The team was ready, we had been working extremely hard for the past seven months for this. We were all in great shape and very rested. A few of the returning players were meeting me at my house to carpool to the final game of the state championship tournament. Everyone knew that the hard work had paid off when we won the semi-final game the preceding day.