Personal Narrative: High Level Tournament Of Sand Volleyball

As a leader it is important to follow the motto service above self. My favorite activity / event of the 2016-2017 Rodriguez Prep school year was being on the school’s volleyball team. The experience of being on the school’s volleyball team impacted me personally.

The heat bears down on me, as I feel my skin burning in the hot summer sun. Dust and dirt floats around the air and a thin layer of grime covers my entire body. Sweat drips around my goggles while adrenaline fills my body and my heart races. In the middle of nowhere in Virginia, I feel at home, I feel the turf under my cleats and the cool metal of the stick in my hands. As the timer ticks down, the buzzer rings, and the game begins. I look to my left and see my dad sitting on the sideline, ready to cheer as loud as possible. To my right I find my teammates, the most loyal group of friends I have, ecstatic about the potential of winning.

One time when playing travel baseball my team played in a 16 youth tournament , and we were the only 14 and 15 year old team. We were a very small team in size and numbers , but we had a great amount of talent for our size and age. The tournament took place in Columbus Ohio. We were the only team from Tennessee in the tournament , and we worked very hard all year to make it to the tournament. We played up in pretty much every tournament all season , so we came prepared to see some very talented and big teams. Sure enough we showed up to our hotel the first day arriving and there were tons of teams staying in the same hotel , and by the looks of these teams we were by far the smallest team. The next day was the start of the tournament and we

It was a hot summer day in Hammond, Louisiana and I was pouring down sweat like I had just jumped in a pool. The game was just about to begin, me and my team was eagle eyeing the bomb squad. It was so quiet that you could hear your own sweat hitting the bench. The umpire broke up everyone’s concentration by saying, “play ball”! The defense had ran out on the field and I started rolling ground balls from 2nd to short-stop to third base. They had all made good throws back to me and then I threw the ball into the dug-out because the game had begun.

Ever since I was 8 years old, lacrosse has been my life. My teammates are my family, the field is my home, and the game is a huge part of who I am. When I was 12 and entering middle school I decided it was time to join a more serious team with other guys like me, that share my passion for the sport. I ended up joining an "alright" team with a bunch of "alright" players. After a few seasons with them, I realized I wasn't challenging myself and playing up to my potentional. My parents and I decided it was time for me to take it to the next level and join one of the most prestigiuos boys lacrosse travel teams on Long Island; the Long Island Outlaws.

Growing up I had focused on competitive soccer. Soccer challenged me both physically and mentally and I learned to love these demands on the field. These challenges helped me foster a self-confidence in myself when it came to athletics. When I fractured my tibia playing against my rival high school, sending my knee cap into my thigh, I was faced with a new test. The sport that I loved was taken away from me for an extended period of time and it took away part of my identity. Who was I without soccer?

Public art encapsulates a large part of Chicago’s history, and engages many different people in varying ways. Recently, I was in the city observing art and came across a woman who was seeing the same pieces I was. She proceeded to tell me she had just gotten off a plane, that morning, from New York, keep in mind it was around noon when I saw her, and wanted to show her daughter the great pieces of public art in Chicago. She passionately relayed the rich historical context of a few works of art: her main point being that Chicago is a hub for a booming culture of art. She noted that great artists from Europe, such as Picasso, Chagall, and Dubuffet, wanted to be a part of the modern art trends happening in Chicago in the twentieth century. She went as far to say that “these [pieces of artwork] are unique in the world,” meaning they are so well known and respected that their popularity extends beyond the city of Chicago. It is curious to think about what makes a successful work of public art, and why artists and observers alike are so intrigued with the art in Chicago. In my opinion, two works of Chicago’s public art, Monument with Standing Beast and Cloud Gate, serve as effective works of public art due to their complexity and appropriate placement in space, however Cloud Gate is more effective because of its personal appeal to the audience.

When I was younger, basketball was all I wanted to play, it just looked like so much fun. In fifth grade I had my parents sign me up for CYB, then in sixth grade I tried out for middle school basketball and played all the way up until ninth grade. In middle school when I was in eighth grade I was awarded the captain position and that helped me build leadership and responsibility. All of the players especially the younger ones knew they could always come to me at any time if they needed anything or help with anything. High school basketball was a lot different than middle school. In middle school I was one of the star players so I played a lot but in high school that changed. I sat the bench a lot that taught me patience and understanding even

     The sport of volleyball was created by a man named William G. Morgan of Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1895. Morgan was a physical education teacher at the YMCA and called it "mintonette". It was an indoor or outdoor pastime that had characteristics of both handball and tennis. The first rules were written down by Morgan himself. He wrote that the game called for a 6 foot 6 inch net and a court of 25x50 feet. A match composed of 9 innings and 3 serves for each team in each inning. In case of a serving error they got a second chance just like in tennis. If the ball it the net

Here comes high school. My friends and I from middle school all went to the same high school, and played volleyball once again. The only difference between us was when I was on the B team they were on the A-team, and when I was sitting on the bench they were playing. We got to high school and things didn’t change, they were on JV as a freshman, and little old me was still on the freshman team. I decided that for the next year they weren’t going to be better than I am. I worked so hard the summer going to my 10th grade year.

Playing on the varsity volleyball team is an adrenaline rush like no other. To be able to play the sport you love with teammates that are like family, in front of a crowd of actual family members is the ultimate feeling. Playing is even better when you, a small town nobody, beat a ranked team in the first set. We had just beaten Humboldt 25-17 and I was on top of the world. We were playing like our lives depended on it and I couldn’t be more proud of the girls.

The high school I attended in Hawaii was largely underfunded and did not have the materials necessary to help prepare me for college. In fact, my old high school holds a college readiness index score of 8.7 out of 100 on US News & World Report. Once I recognized that I was in a poor learning environment, I seized an opportunity to transfer from Konawaena High School to Garfield High School (Seattle) in order to better position myself for college. Subsequent to transferring, I enrolled in Running Start courses at Seattle Central College and sought out help to plot my next steps. In addition to applying to several Colleges I was compelled to apply for scholarships, which paid off because I am now a recipient of the Gates Millennium Scholarship.

I felt like I could do anything. The moment was extremely surreal. I hadn’t accomplished anything so arduous in my life. The crowd’s cheers were thundering through my body. I had so much adrenaline coursing through my veins that I wasn’t even weary. People were jumping up and down, screaming in victory, and clapping so loud I couldn’t hear myself think. I couldn’t believe that I had just won the State Championship volleyball game.

Volleyball, one of the world's greatest sports. From the hot and muggy gym, to sweat dripping down each players face, volleyball is not for the faint of heart. This sport requires a single-minded desire: to win. It takes more than just teamwork to win. Volleyball has always been one of my favorite sports. I would always meet a new friend anywhere I would go. Believe it or not these situations are how you could meet your life long best friends.

Capital punishment, which can also be referred to as the death penalty, has been around for hundreds of years. Ever since it began, there has been discussions as to whether it is morally correct, and as to whether it actually influences criminals. Some believe that the possibility of being put to death often stops criminals from committing violent crimes. Others believe the reciprocal, stating that those that partake in violent crimes are driven to do so for various reasons, and whether they have the chance of being put to death or not will not stop them from doing what they feel they must do. Some serial killers and other violent individuals think that they will never be caught. Others believe that they are doing God 's work, or they proclaim other 'important ' reasons for the killings and violence that they partake in. Sometimes this is due to mental disorders, but there are other reasons that people partake in acts of this nature. Regardless of these reasons, violent acts can and do happen and whether these people should be put to death for their crimes remains a widely discussed issue.