Personal Narrative: My Life As An Athlete

“Sprinters don’t even do anything,” is what the distance runners say. “You guys hardly even run,” they go on. As a sprinter, I hear this a lot. Every year we get grief from them about how they think we don’t do anything and it’s very agitating. Track and field is supposed to be a team sport, although people do run in their separate events. Having the long distance runners always talk gossip and tell us we never do anything is just adding unnecessary drama. I hope some day they can learn to stop making perceptions of us.

What is the only thing harder than disciplining a dozen ten year olds? Disciplining them on ice! All throughout my life I’ve played sports, and no matter what sport it was, there was always one person who seemed to have it out for me…the referee. The referee is one of the most hated people in the world of sports, but is also one of the most crucial. I grew up with the mindset that the referee was the enemy. Whenever they made a call against me or my team, they were always wrong, no matter how obvious the penalty was. But one day, my whole perspective on referees changed---the day I became a referee.

What was the best feeling you felt? Mine? I made a game-winning shot at basketball game. Why did you ask? Perhaps, because there can only be a handful of situations chance to be able to make one. While my emotions fluctuated at the beginning, during and at the end of the game, the game-winning shot gave me one of the best feelings I felt as an athlete.

How did Roger Banister break the 4 min mile? How did Dennis Kimetto run a marathon in 2:02:57?

My clinical rotation for the fall semester of my junior year is with the King’s College Men’s soccer team. As an athletic training student, I hold a lot of responsibilities regarding the prevention, evaluation, diagnosis, management, and treatment of these student athletes. Most of my daily activities can be separated into three groups, the pre-practice, pre-game, during the activity, and post- practice and post-game.

As a track runner, it is a necessity to be relaxed yet focused and determined. When I participate in track meets or even at practices, I receive a comforting warmth just by stepping onto the track. I feel as though burdens and worries temporarily lift from my shoulders. One may wonder how this can make someone content with their surroundings instead of nervous and uneasy based upon their environment and luckily for me this is an uncomplicated notion to explain. Unlike particular people, the track calms me and gives me a place to clear my head. I work relentlessly to achieve my goals, nevertheless it also gives me the clearance and space I need to effectively work my hardest whether it be a physical goal I am working to achieve

After waiting three weeks, I was finally cleared to play basketball again only to suffer another one. I was out after receiving an elbow to the head in a previous game giving me my first concussion. Walking onto the court at Eden Valley High School, I could feel the nerves rush through my veins. The whistle blew and the game started. I was going up to grab a pass when an opponent ran into me. Black. In those moments I was unconscious, I could only remember colliding with my opponent. I woke up in a car, my head aching as I sat up and saw bright beams of light off the street lights. The light stung my eyes and made me feel like the world was spinning a million miles per hour. “Stay awake sweetie we are almost home,” whispered my mom. Every heartbeat thumped in my head like a bass with the music to loud. I was so discombobulated and hurt I just laid there in the back seat

Instead of feeling pressure to conform as a student at the University of Georgia, I have found that being in college has made me value the importance of a higher education more so than I ever had before. During high school, my primary goal was to play well enough to receive a football scholarship. At that time, my focus was not on academics. However, since I've arrived at the University of Georgia, my entire concept of the value of a college degree has slowly changed. Rather than seeing just football in my future, I can now picture myself as a football player with a college degree. Consequently, instead of having a negative impact on my personal growth, college has helped me broaden as a person.

My plans when I get older where like every other child's. I want to be in the NFL. To get where I am you have to start at a young age. I showed up at practice everyday and on time. I also studied the play sheets and went through all my routes. I studied day and night to be where I am. It wasn't easy. There was no time to play games get in trouble do drugs or hang out with friend on an everyday bases. You have to tighten up be a man. It's not like I woke up one day and I was starting running back I had to do what's right stay in school not miss a day because that one day could have been the most important day ever and I wouldn't have even known. You know why?? Because I was and didn't show up to school. Don't be that person I used to be.

I was not actually planning to do this event, but I have to be honest, after 65 OCR’s in 2015 I am burned-out both physically and mentally and I just wanted to have an amazing weekend with both amazing people and amazing obstacles and both Canada and Dead End fit that need very well. I cannot say enough good things about my time in Canada this year and was very happy to be able to go and cover this event on short notice/request.

It was a warm summer morning on August 28, 1998 when my mother went into Sioux Valley hospital to give birth to a baby boy. After an agonizing 15 hours in labor, I was born. They named me Bryce meaning “Nobel One.” My full name was Bryce Jay Edberg, I got this middle name after my father, which his middle name was also Jay. Being born at exactly 4:03 a.m., with a staggering 23 inch body and weighing 10 lb 4oz the delivery was nothing less then painful.

As a little girl, I was the child who would never let go of my parents. If anyone ever glanced over at me they would catch me either wrapping my whole body around my Mom's legs or begging my Dad to pick me up and hold me. Even worse, if any adults dare took the chance to come over and talk to me I would hide my face, thinking they couldn’t see me so I would never have to talk to anyone. I was shy. Simple as that, talking to people was something I feared the most.

Since freshman year, I have been actively involved in my school's Medical Society, a unique organization allowing students with interest in a medical profession to explore the healthcare world. Freshman year exposed me to mammal anatomy with guided cat dissections, while sophomore year allowed me to expand on this knowledge, performing structure-function labs, researching an organ system or medical procedure, and then performing a hands-on lab investigating it. Junior year, I gained a firsthand perspective of the life of a doctor, participating in rotations at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. There, I witnessed procedures ranging from a reverse shoulder replacement to routine breathing treatments. This year, I will conduct microbiology and

I will never forget the day that I abandoned my trophies. They formerly stood, luminous yet dust covered on the highest shelf in my room, tall and proud, unlike my contempt. Gilded basketballs no longer rounded, resembled deflated balloons. As I ripped them off their ledge, lint covered my hands, reminding me of wiping my shoes off every chance I could on the court. But, that life was long gone, and it didn’t have the power to affect my future anymore.

One phrase to describe myself would be: an athletic musician. I am a sufficient cross country runner, wrestler, and MMA fighter in the evening, but during the day I am a musician. I am self-taught in 3 instruments, the violin, the trumpet, and the guitar. I have also been playing the trumpet for 5 years, the violin for 8, and the guitar for 1. I am apart of my high schools marching band, jazz band, and concert band. I play the trumpet in all three music groups. Music has always been a significant part of my life and I plan to keep it instilled for the rest of it. Since my school began providing iPads to faculty and students, I used an app in which I could compose my own music. Using this app further augmented my love and knowledge for music.