Personal Narrative: My Experience In High School

We got changed in the locker room, listening to music that would get our adrenaline pumping. The game started with a tip-off with us getting the ball and scoring on the first play, but so did the other team. The game was very close. We would score, they would score. No one ever got ahead by more than four points. At the end of the second quarter with ten seconds left, it was their ball and we were down by two. They did a nice play and a girl got a wide open three pointer. Then the buzzer went off and we all looked at our fuming coach and knew what was about to come at half time. You know that scene in the movie, “42” about Jackie Robinson, where the other teams coach is yelling at him saying rude things? And then there’s the heartbreakingly beautiful scene where Jackie goes into the dugout and breaks his bat and screams and cries. That’s what our halftime was like. The coach yelling and us wanting to scream and cry, but still we had determination to win this game. We came back out ready to play and immediately tied it back it up. The game kept going back and forth, until the fourth quarter with a minute left and us up by four. The other teams coach called a timeout and our coach gave us a speech about if we wanted to win, we needed teamwork. Teamwork just like Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers. We came back out and held the game at four points until the buzzer went

We gave it our all at the practices leading up to Tuesday’s game. The practice before the game was an especially hard one, I remember that my two friends, Lucas and Mathew made a bet about who would win. Lucas didn't believe that the team had what it takes to win, while Mathew had confidence in our team. The night before the game, I laid in bed not being able to sleep, I was too nervous about tomorrow’s game. “What if we lose?”, “What if we win?”, “What if…”, these were all thoughts going through my mind. I woke up the next day, exhausted and sore from yesterday, but confident. That day, time moved slowly. Each class felt like

On October 31st, this was the day when our cyo basketball team schedule came out. As my team (Saint Anthony’s) and I looked on the schedule, we noticed that on December 11th we are playing our friends and their team name is called Saint Augustine's. We knew that if we lose they were going to make fun of us at the lunch table. Our team knew we couldn’t lose that game because it is a humongous rivalry. Our first game was against St.Peters. The location of the game was at St.Anthonys. Usually, the first game is always rusty because we have to remember the plays and some of my teammates were nervous. At the end of the first half we were winning, 16-18. Our coach Kenny, told us to remain in the game and keep fighting because he knew that we were so much better then them.

This game was huge because with one more loss, our team would lose in a clean sweep, meaning we were eliminated without winning a single game. Almost 15 minutes ahead of our game, in our team group chat, I sent a message to my teammates to get this done. There was an agreement in the chat on how important this game is and how we need to play our hardest. I got to the game 30 minutes early to get used to the nets and how the court feels so I am prepared for my game. My coach arrived only 15 minutes early and told me that I needed to lead our team. That moment was when I thought about something that my basketball trainer had once said. “Taking leadership is how you get things done.” I had never really thought that quote would make an impact on a moment in my life but It had. The referees were gathering, telling each other that both teams were playing aggressive. Prior to the game tip-off, players on the opposing end began talking trash to our team, which made us want to play harder. Our team came away with the tip-off and my coach directed a play to our team. “62 Fly” was the

I had to get myself together or I wouldn’t be able to be focused for the game and win it for Zach. Zach’s funeral was planned for the following weekend. That school week was all depressing and horrible. I just wanted to not be reminded about his death every hour over the intercom that he was a special kid and how big of a tragedy it was. Coach gets every player to work even harder because it would be what Zach would have wanted. The team should do everything they can to keep themselves together for the game in a week. I found it extremely hard to keep it together because I was the reason he died and how I should have died instead. At the end of the week, on Friday there was an assembly for Zach and the principal encouraged everyone to go to the funeral on Saturday. The team was going to the funeral together to pay their respects. I was suprised to keep myself together and not have to leave to compose myself. It was an open casket; his face all perfected with makeup and restoratives. It was a beautiful funeral.

When I was in 6th grade I was a good student, I had straight A’s the first 3 quarters, I turned in all of my work, and always paid attention in class. But as the year went by and I started making more friends at middle school my grades went down all the way to a C. For me getting a C at the time was one of the worst things that could happen. I ended up the year with 3 semesters of straight A’s and one semester with a couple of C’s. Moving on to 7th grade was worse I finished the school year with only getting like 5 A’s in all 4 quarters. Then 8th grade came and my grades went all the way down to an F, but I managed to bring back up to at least a C to be able to graduate. I wasn’t happy with my grades though so I told myself that I was going to bring them up in high school.

When we arrived my hands were dripping with sweat and my heart was punching my chest. I was hoping the game was canceled, but sadly it wasn’t. As soon as I thought this couldn’t get any worse I met my coach. His name was Sean Grene but we called him coach Sean. Coach Sean wasn’t exactly the nicest of coaches he yelled and screamed and was very intimidating! Now my heart was hammering my chest with a sledgehammer!

People can face many challenges in life from good to bad and it is the way in which one chooses to overcome them that they can succeed. I have had a challenge in school that I needed to work on in order to overcome the barrier. I have not always been the best but also not the worst in my classes academically speaking. I have faced times in which I struggled in certain courses specifically in my math classes. I am not the math type of guy, I have always found numbers and everything math related not interesting to me at all.

I am Aislinn, a practically ordinary high school student trying my best to make it to my future goals. My life has been a series of obstacles that I have overcome to get to where I am today. I am a strong independent human being with the passion and skills to succeed.

This school year stated off a little shaky for me. On the first day, I went to the wrong classroom- twice. That was very discouraging. When I was lost and confused I realized that there were many people around who were able to help me. I knew that I had to put myself out there and ask for help when I needed it. Having a different schedule every day was different for me. It took a week or two to really get it down and understand how to get to my classes. Also, having all of this free time is really liberating. Some people think it is dangerous to have so much time on their hands. I, however, really enjoy it. It is very nice to have time to get all of my schoolwork done and still have time to socialize and meet new people. I feel like I’m finally starting to get a grasp on the college lifestyle.

During the Winter of 2015, I was a sophomore in high school who was unmotivated to succeed. Most of my academic career I coasted by with sparse bursts of effort that were sufficient enough to sustain my passing GPA. I cared about little other than getting home everyday to ignore my homework and play videogames for hours on end. At that time I weighed the most I ever have in my life, eating unhealthy paired with a lethargic lifestyle. My math teacher at the time was Mr. Stern, a 6-foot tall, 260 pound Jewish man, who was balding. I was in his homeroom class, sitting in a generic green school chair, when he let us know he would start coaching the varsity wrestling team. At the time I had almost no idea what high school wrestling was, I had

The team had its first practice after day one of school, and it was one of the most nerve-racking experiences I’ve had in my life. The upperclassmen liked to pick on me and the other freshman, but that was to be expected. The captain, Jake, was the only senior that was nice to us freshman. Before we started he took us aside and said “I know you’re all scared of the upper classmen, but they all just started out like you did. If you try hard enough you’ll end up being on varsity and playing awesome.” After that the rest of practice was brutal. It was a scorching hot day at nearly 80 degrees and having to run drill after drill didn’t make things any more bearable. I knew I’d need to practice hard since the championship was already a month and a half

Then our coach who has a very shiny bald head called us in for a 1 minute One time my friend called him bald eagle, but he heard it. Uh oh. Anyway, coach started his speech saying in a very sympathetic, calm, and gentle way which was actually surprising. “Um… I just want to say play your best and let's go

My spine felt as if was going to shoot right out of my neck. No, I wasn’t being tortured or anything, although sitting in this cramped airplane might just be the next closest thing to it. The stranger next to me was a middle-aged woman with bleached blonde hair and a penchant for snoring, extremely loud.

Learning something new every day seems really boring to high school students. But, looking back to when we were younger, it was very exciting for some of us. One of the roughest things I had to learn was ride a bike. I was excited to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels, so I could be like my brother and dad. The thing I didn’t know is that I would be a confident and adventurist person. I learned that doing what your parents says is the safest way to doing anything.