Personal Narrative: Cameron Cross Country

A significant challenge that I thought I wouldn't have accomplished was during our biggest track-and-field meet against all of the big schools around. It was the Shawnee invitational and one of our girls on the track team ended up messing up her ankle in her first relay race, which meant she couldn't run the 800m dash or the 1800m dash. I was the only one on the team who didn’t have four events because I ran the 4x2 and the 4x1 which was the main events at the invitational. So the coach asks me to fill in for her, my first thought was ‘oh Nooooooo, i can’t”. Not only did I just finish one on my relays and had to rest up for my next one, but also I was not ready to run only distant runs that day. I had only practiced for my events prior to the

Throughout the active school year, I take part in cross country, track and basketball. I also played volleyball for a year, but I decided to concentrate on my main passion, cross country, instead of dividing my time and attention into two sports at the same time. I have been running cross country ever since I was old enough to run in the munchkin races. The sport has been passed down through the family, almost every single one of my siblings have run or at least tried it. In track, I have ran the mile and two mile since the seventh grade. These last couple years I joined into the long distance relays. In 2016, the first year we decided to start a relay it consisted of my sister, Victoria, Tristen Ness, and Sammy Swanson. The first time we ran

Cross Country is one of the hardest sports out there. That may be a biased opinion, but in my experience it is true. Only certain people are willing to put themselves through such physical and mental pain for a race that is less than 30 minutes. I am a very driven person. When I want to do something, I set a goal and I work towards it until I have achieved it. That’s why cross country is such a satisfying sport for me. It’s hard--harder than anything I’ve ever done--but it’s so much more rewarding when you look back and see how much progress you’ve made. Cross country may seem like an individual sport, and it can be, but to succeed, you need your whole team’s effort. I have learned that not everyone is as driven as I am. Few people are willing to put in the hard work in practice to do well at meets.

Cross country is a sport that can change the way people see themselves. I can only say this statement because I have been affected by this myself. During this satisfying sport I would constantly find myself lost in the moment. Not realizing how much this sport has meant to myself. Now that I have seen just about everything this sport has to offer I can relive some of the valuable life lessons that cross country has taught me.

I began to get serious playing time my sophomore year and we were having a phenomenal year (we won state in fact). As we moved through our season, the last regular season game came along. In the fourth quarter of the very last game we were beating a district rival with 10 minutes left to play. We had just scored and we kicked off to them. He was running down the side like and as i stopped to make the tackle.i blew out my left knee on a kick off. When i tell you its hard to beat a pain like that i’ve broken every bone you can think of, I've been stabbed,

During the swim season of my sophomore year I was at the peak of my swimming career. I was swimming great times and had a very successful season. Prior to the regional swim meet I was qualified and all I had to do was swim my qualifying times to advance to the 1A/2A state swim meet. Exactly one week before the regional meet I broke my foot in two places. I was heartbroken because for a swimmer this is what you train for all year long. I felt like all my hard work and hours in the pool were for nothing. I immediately began physical therapy and told my parents I wanted to try and swim the following Saturday at regionals. My foot was not in a cast, but in a boot. My physical therapist even told me there was no way I would be able to swim at regionals.

My knee was in so much pain I almost cried, normally I don’t really cry. Although I really wanted to continue playing, I was not going to make myself be vulnerable for even more damage to my knee. The next day, I told my mom I couldn’t handle the pain anymore and I need to go to the doctor. While I was at the doctor the only thing I could hope for was that it would not be something serious. After the doctor had done the x-rays they said that I had sprained my knee, and that I would have to use crutches for a week. The doctors also told me that I should not do any physical activity for two weeks and that I should not put any weight on my knee. In my mind I was thinking there is no way that I am going to use crutches. When I told my coach she said “I hope your knee gets better”, because I was not able to play I continue to support my team since I had made a commitment. A few days later my team has a game and they can't find any line judges so coach decide to ask me, knowing that I can’t put a lot of weight on my knee she tells me “you’re going to line judge unless you can find someone else to do it!”, I reminded her that I will not be able to line judge if I want my knee to get better I can’t be putting a lot of weight on

Then came my 9th grade year I was so excited to start high school. Football was going great and I was making new friends. At practice one afternoon I broke my right middle finger and when I say broke it was mangled requiring surgery with pins and a cast. This happened 6 weeks before basketball started, so in a cast I did everything

To begin with, in professional sports you must get a lot of injuries. In football this is especially true this sport is an all contact sport.

I enjoy doing cross country in the fall of the my school year and track in the spring of my school year. I love running cross country after school because it’s a time I find relaxing and nice to breathe in the fresh air after running 3 miles. It’s also enjoyable to talk and bond with my friend on our 3 mile runs together. In the spring, I love hurdling because I enjoy the feeling of jumping over one obstacle after another. My favorite nonacademic activities are playing tennis and American Sign Language. During my free time, I like to play tennis with my friends, especially during the summer and at Weymouth Club. I also enjoy watching ASL videos on YouTube in my free time and learning how to sign new songs. It’s an awesome hobby I like to do

I was well behind the rest of the group, dizzy and dehydrated, never had run three miles before and going well over at this point, I ended up finding my way back before passing out. However, there were no excuses, I had to finish the last mile and a half on the track to complete the day's schedule. I knew after that the season would be tough, and I almost considered quitting. But, I was stubborn and determined to get better. The season carried on and the practices got tougher, six or more miles, extreme weather, tougher terrain, but I persisted getting closer to the varsity runners. My coach saw this and put me in their group to run with them. Despite the difficulty of keeping their pace, I gained more motivation from this. When I tore my hamstring shortly after, the motivation kept me running with the injury, not stopping until I had to be carried to the bus from the finish line of a meet because I couldn't walk anymore. I finished the year on varsity and went through the rest of my freshmen year thinking my senior year I would be a captain on the team.

My cast was so hard to learn the tryout cheer and dance with. I couldn’t really move my arm because it was so sore. It was awkward everyday walking into cheering with my cast because the other girls that were trying out would make jokes and laugh at me, they made me feel very insecure. I thought I wasn’t going to make the squad. Everyone had doubt in me which made me have doubt in myself. I was told I couldn’t do it. People told me not to try out because I wasn’t going to make it. I later realized that they were upset because I was still allowed to try out even

I decided to be the basketball manager to still feel part of the team. Going to every game and just sitting there taking stats made me miss playing even more than before. I always said to myself that should be me out there playing not sitting on the sideline. I was determined to play which made me work harder in my recovery. My mom could tell there was little progress in my recovery, so we went and got a second option on my knee. The new doctor told my mom that I should have received a knee brace after my first surgery, which I didn't. He also told her going in for a second time was a bad idea. Just hearing that made me really upset, and had me thinking I could have been better a long time

The summer of 2014 was the summer I significantly broke my finger. As minor as it sounds, it posed a huge threat to my athletic career. I am a baseball player, an outfielder to be exact, so my hands are what got me to where I am now. It all began on a Tuesday afternoon while swimming at friend Garrett’s house. The greatest part about this was that he has a porch that you can jump from and land in the pool, so I took full advantage of this; consequently, this is where my impulsive decisions bit me in the butt. While standing on his porch, I was preparing to perform the most legendary dunk in pool basketball history, a front flip dunk. I eventually scavenged up the courage to do the dunk, so I took the leap of faith. I rotated enough and completed my flip, so the only thing left to do was just dunk the ball. As I was about hit the water I tried to slam the ball as hard as I could; therefore, my left hand pinky hit the side of the rim and pushed it out. I came out of the water groaning in excruciating pain. I was able to move my finger but not a lot.

People get injured in a sport every day. “Athletes of all ages need to rest between game, practices, and events” (“10 Tips THat Prevent Sports Injuries”). In fact, the most common injuries seen in young athletes are overuse injuries too many sports and not enough rest. To prevent people from getting sports injuries, one you will have to educate,to workout a compromise, and to change people's attitudes.