Personal Narrative Essay: Paola's Team

Who am I. Who am I? I am the color orange, strong and fiery like a lion’s luxurious mane billowing in the savanna’s breeze. I am cheesy and dorky, similar to this introduction. I am Vicky Giuliano.

I started the first few weeks wanting to impress the head coach to prove to him I deserved a spot within the starting nine on the varsity level. I practiced hard, never goofed off, and went to the cages with my dad on the weekends. I wanted to make the varsity level to show my family and myself that I could do it and that I was good enough to compete at the varsity high school softball level. When I was younger, I made the team I wanted, I never considered failing to be part of me. The big week came, the teams were posted all seven freshmen had made a team but yet to find which side of the paper their name

Throughout summer training, I put in more effort than previous seasons and finally became part of the cross-country team’s top seven group. The entire squad noticed my diligent work and voted me to be the team captain. As team captain, I always helped my team get organized and advised fellow teammates. Additionally, I found a way for the team to get Chipotle at a pre-race party and everyone was incredibly thankful for the free catering. Additionally, I ran varsity in most meets, and the intense competition made me an even better runner. I received a mark of 17:48 in a 3-mile race, which was my best time

We were out for vengeance, and as the first heat came to a close, the three remaining teams lined up. Our team was Brandon Reid starting off the blocks, Isaiah running the second leg, me securing the third, and Bawa trying to end the race in strong fashion. As I loosened my legs up, the gun sounded, and I watched Brandon get off to a quick start. Before I knew it, Isaiah was 10m behind me and was ready to pass the baton. As I grabbed the baton from Isaiah, I noticed I was a few meters behind a kid from Avon. Never, ever again I thought. My legs planted and exploded off the ground in a simultaneous motion. I was like a cheetah chasing after a gazelle. As the wind blew through my cleanly cut hair, I began to close the gap between myself and the man ahead. In the closing 20m, I tried my hardest to catch the Avon kid, but I couldn’t. As I passed the baton to Bawa, my heart sank. As my chin dipped to my chest so I could only notice the ground, I realized I did not run the fastest 100m. At the end of the race, we finished second behind Avon, again. My arms tensed and my stomach dropped. Losing to Avon was the worst possible ending to my track season. However, my head would be picked up by a more important event that followed days after the Founders League Tournament.

I will be competing in Cle-Elum Washington on August 13. My score was not all that great though. I hit 2 of my 3 drives less than 100 yards, only 1 of my 3 chips were within 10 feet of the pin. But my I putted really well. All 3 of my putts were within 3 feet of the hole, even the 30 foot one. I went into the club house to post my score. I was the first person in because my last name starts with an A. I kind of felt disappointed in my score. Then I sat down and watched all 30 scores come in, 1 by 1. Only the top three scores get to move on to the next round, and I was tied in third. I started to panic. Me and this kid named Grady Spillman were tied for 3rd. I was scared that the determining score would be the Driving score, I would have defiantly not won driving considering that he got a 27 and I got a 21. Then I wondered if they would go by the chipping score, but in chipping, I got a 13 and he got a 35, but luckily, they went by the putting score, I got a 50 and he got a 22. I did not place in any event except for the overall. I can not imagine how disappointed Grady must have been, but at the same time, I am happy that I moved

Our target was to break, or to make it into the elimination rounds. After a long awaited anticipation, we found out how many of our teams broke. My sister and I had broken with two other teams from our school. As we walked into the last round of the day we realized we were up against the 1st place team from the most recent tournament. The round had ended as the sun was setting. Although we did not manage to convince two of the three judges and lost, we participated in an aggressive debate. We shook the other teams hands and went back to the awards room. Everyone took their seats as the awards were announced. My sister and I were baffled with joy when they called us up for the 6th place team award. We were both ecstatic for each other, pride shinning in my eyes. "Good Job! I'm proud of you baby!," I told my sister. Additionally, I earned the position of the 5th place speaker. We left the tournament, accomplishing something we were proud of and had an important realization that day. We knew we could do anything we set our mind too and all it took was hard work. Debate would be something I will continue to participate in for as long as I

During the fifth grade, an event occurred that really shaped the way I am. It was the Math Is Cool competition. I was a very shy person, afraid of people around me and dared not to work with anyone. My classmates knew that I excelled at math and wanted me to be a part of their team. Time passes by and it gets closer and closer to the first practice for the competition. A part of me wants to be a part of the team, but a bigger part of me says “no” because I’m too shy and afraid to do so. Everyday, my classmates would try and talk me into it. After some time, I finally gave in and gave myself a try. After many practices, it was time for the actual competition.

The competition was fierce. We went back and forth, neck and neck, in and out of the lead the entire time. I was afraid that we would make a mistake and lose. I was on pins and needles. We eventually pulled ahead in the final round to claim victory. After that hard-fought win, my teammates and I realized that we needed to study harder. It was time to get really serious. After that lucky win, we decided to drill more than ever before. We worked longer and harder, so that we could be the best we could be. We took our books to the cafeteria to study during lunches. We sat in the halls before dismissal, studying and quizzing each other. We even studied together on Skype in the evenings after school. Before we knew it, it was time for the semi-final competition. This time we competed against twelve other teams. The questions were tough, but we persevered and finished on top again. We couldn’t believe it. We were going to the

This gave me the chance to redeem myself is how I looked at it. In order for me to be able to compete I have to become more confident in myself. I went to talk to one of the coaches and asked could I be removed from the junior competition, because I wasn’t ready. He told me something I will never forget “you can never doubt how good you are if you are not willing to take the plunge and find out for yourself”. I told him that I would compete, but I have issues with public speaking. He was willing to work with me because he knew and believed that I had great

So I won all of my matches and had one more to win state again. I won by 5 points and won state again it was amazing! Next season past and I was in the hospital because I had a thing inside my body I was scared I wasn't going to win state again. So after

In 8th grade, I was selected to play on the varsity soccer team. We didn’t have the best team, and back then, I thought I was the best player on the team since I have been playing all my life. I tried winning games by myself by not passing the ball very often. Several of the people on the team, have never played soccer before. We only won three games and didn’t make the tournament. I thought the whole entire Summer on how we could win the championship. I wanted to win more than anything because I’ve been playing for 10 years and I’ve never won a championship. The next season came, and I was more ready than ever. I worked so hard and made sure all my teammates got involved because I started to notice that the team as a whole was playing better.

For school yesterday I had map testing but across the hall was exploratory and they where doing something that was loud and really distracting so I only got 15 questions done. After school I had a cross country meet. The meet was 2 miles long. The first time the gun went off for the start somebody fell and we had to do the whole start again. For the second time I fell but they didn’t restart it for some reason and I ended up having to keep going. I had to sprint to the front of the pack. ( I was in last place when I fell ) The first lap I stuck with the first group but then me and this other kid from Roosevelt named George broke away from the pack creating a 20-30 second gap. At the end I ended up beating George by 7 seconds!(1st

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

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

Over the other two wrestlers, he came up to me to ask if I had wanted to fill the spot because of how much dedication I had been showing. I immediately said that I would fill the spot. Though I knew I had only a slim chance of winning against varsity wrestlers, I still went to the tournament. With my luck, the first person I wrestled had been a state qualifier from the year before. It took 27 seconds for me to get steamrolled. In the second match, I wrestled a typical varsity athlete who only had a couple years experience on me. I made a personal goal to score at least one point during the match. After being taken down, I kept forcing my way back up. The other kid ended up returning me 3 times before managed I slipped away. I charged back in for a takedown and accidentally gave up an underhook which got me pinned. After that I felt disappointed due to my careless mistake, but glad because I had gotten that one