Personal Narrative: I Am Not An All-Star Athlete

As my Varsity baseball team suits up for practice we whip out our “Easton Mako Bats” and our “Evo-Shield arm sleeves.” Everyone prepares for the season as we break in our new 200-dollar gloves. As I Un-zip my “Demarani Bat Bag” I search for the stick of eye black that seems to add spice to my game as I smother it under my eye, to “reflect the sun” of course. Our accessories become a part of our game, and we begin to value them more than the game itself.

As the crowd boos, you hear the New York Yankee commentator say “coming up to bat after a long year of suspension it’s the third basemen for the New York Yankees, Alex Rodriguez”. I grew up in awe watching great Yankee third basemen Alex Rodriguez. I remember playing baseball and trying to do everything he did, like how he chewed his gum, and how he wore his baseball socks. I would also imitate his batting stance as played. But all of a sudden the player I once looked up to tested positive for steroids.

For a majority of people in the world, if they were to wake up with 350 million dollars, and would be able to be fully retired by 38 years old, then they would be very content and happy with their lives. Being able to wake up every day in a big mansion, lying with your family by the poolside, not worrying about financial issues for yourself or loved ones, and lastly having the great opportunity for you and your whole family, to not work a day the rest of your lives. It is an ideal situation that approximately 99.99% of people would want. But, an outlier, challenges those astonishing odds, by using their influence and popularity, to help out and make a difference. Not

While proud of what I was able to do to give back my community, my only regret is that I was not able to assist in a couple of areas. The most regrettable instance of this is Franklin Township’s Varsity Football. While we did leave behind some important moral codes behind that has already begun to sow the seeds necessary for success, we could not bring back the winning culture Franklin Football had in the past. Looking ahead, I now know the tools necessary to being successful and will work to be a greater influence in order to aid towards that success. Additionally, I’d like to be a more vocal person. Waiting until the middle of Junior Year to take a leadership role was a poor choice, as that was not enough time to turn an entire program around.

when I played baseball I was so happy to play baseball because I love to hit things with a bat and I ask my dad if I could and then he was happy I wanted to play sports. When me and my dad went to sigh a paper my dad filled out my information my dad filled in the name box and the last name box then he filled out the age box. Then he had to bring me to practice at 3:30 to 4: 45 every day after school and I went to my coach he told me the basic have your foot that you don’t use and your strong arm back so you can hit the ball with the bat and use all you might get lucky and you can hit a home run. So it was our first game then I played at first base so when it was the other team their batter hit the ball the outfielder ran for the ball got

In my All Star team of producers and recording artists to record the best music album ever I would put Michael Jackson, Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Kendrick Lamar. I would have Michael Jackson on my all star team because everyone loved his style of music.Biggie Smalls and Tupac because they grew up on the streets rapping they didn’t have help to begin with and now they're famous for all their music. Ice Cube because his music was just dope everything about it was good from the beats to the lyrics.I would have kendrick Lamar in my all star team because most of his music is good not all of it but he’s my favorite rapper. On my all star team I would have Dr. Dre as my producer and recording artists because all the beats he made were

Making the decision to become a collegiate athlete was not one of ease. Having participated in sports my whole life, I was used to the commitment it took to play and could see myself continuing my career after high school. However, collegiate athletics is in no way similar to high school or travel club sports. No matter what division played, the sport is very intense and requires individuals to commit on an entirely new level.

This past week has been a struggle trying to focus on the present, caused by the stress of the future. The big question that determines what environment to live in, concerns me through my interests. I was positive about my decision to play ball through my university years, I was committed to become part of a larger and more challenging team. The question wasn’t really a question because I finally knew what I wanted to do with the next 6 years, do you want a scholarship? Are you committed? Do you know your duties of participating on a university team? Are you sure that you want to play and get an education in the U.S.?

There are reasons for that I assure you. However, I have always found the game interesting, filled with different components and unpredictable movements. I went to a basketball game towards the end of my senior year in high school and decided to observe. That’s what you do at a basketball game anyway, isn’t it? You observe and you watch how certain people react and how the players move or, perhaps, don’t move. I walked into the gym and automatically felt out of place. I wasn’t a jock, I wasn’t popular, I wasn’t unpopular, I just was.

On the second day in San Francisco we were headed to professional baseball game. The Oakland A’s verse the Minnesota twins. The drive to the stadium had taken a goo solid hour and my family’s stomachs started to grumble. When we had finally arrived to the stadium and my dad thought it would be cheaper to eat in a place outside the stadium. We drove around for a familiar place to grab a snack. My sister spotted a McDonalds and we all agreed that is a good place to stop. We got closer and my mom said, “Have you ever been scared to walk into McDonalds?”

Boom!!! Someone did a 360 dunk on the other side of the gym! I am at the Ymca gym with all the other 13 year olds. Today is a perfect day to be here because it is September 15, open gym all day for anyone. The year was 2017 the only year that the Y decided to not having to worry about memberships.

After the breaking point, after facing fear, failure follows. This failure implicated the true nature of me, and what I would do for success. "Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat." The brute will and determination that rises from the ashes of failure contributed to the strength and development of me.

Yards became smaller as country gave way to the edge of town. We were forced to skirt slightly larger groups of zombies by darting through backyards and leaping fences. I was amazed at how easily I was able to conquer these obstacles. The past few months were like boot camp. My muscles had atrophied due to an easy life as a college professor, but a few months of living on the run had turned a once lethargic human being into a first class athlete.

Falling short as an athlete is something that isn't acceptable. Making us as a group push to ack has been something that all through elementary school and middle school I enjoyed doing actually loved. As a highschool freshman this whole track thing really hit me hard. Like literally. The workouts are pretty intense, in meaning there a lot of sprinting endurance based making it hard. I didn't track pre season which really wasn't a help and our endurance for volleyball wasn't even to par then. So I was really coming into track season a blob of mess and fat. But I had a good heart and great intentions. Krumb our coach who also doubles as the boys football coach, which is totally insane by the way trains us like linebackers or something. I

Well as an athlete for the past four years in high school. I have gone through many ups and downs in my sport. My sport is cross country running. As an athlete I have experienced many injuries that have knocked me down from my performance. However, these injuries didn't totally keep me down. I always get back up even stronger and faster than ever before. I started running the summer right before my freshman year. It was just a fun idea my friends and I thought about. We wanted to run as fun thing to do to just hang out. For instance, never in my wildest dreams did I think I was going to end up loving the sport. As an incoming freshman I was pretty slow compared to my team mates who have been running years before me. Indeed, this was the thing that kept me going.