Personal Narrative: San Diego Tournament

In summer 2015 my brother had a baseball tournament in Branson, Missouri. So our family drove to Branson and went to Sam’s first game. After the first game we went to check into the hotel, and our parents said they had a surprise for us.

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

Ever wonder how I did at my league tournament for wrestling? If you don't then you should. First, I walked on the mat for my first match. The first match was probably the hardest match of the day. I had to wrestle a kid named karson Brandt, he was from holton. I beat him 9-1 in a three period battle.

There are many teams that I’ve loved being a part of over the last three years of high school. The first is the golf team. I was blessed to be on the Junior Varsity team during my freshman and sophomore years, and this year I’m now on Varsity. The first two years were incredible. I was with Coach Al VanderHart, and we had such incredible seasons, especially sophomore year. I was blessed to be a team captain with Natalie Mason, and I grew so close to the girls on my team. We had so many traditions, including dressing up on match days, bringing food to the Town Square at Break, devotions before every practice and match, and much more. Another reason my team and I became so close was through the tragic loss of Coach Al’s son. We all surprised Coach by going to the funeral as a team. It was one of the moments in my life where I could feel God the most. Our team gave a big group hug, and we all started crying together, including the coach. It felt so good to lean on each other as a team for support, and it showed me just how powerful God is through the people

Gabe’s quote that he chose that best represented his presentation stood out to me. I can relate to these words of wisdom with volleyball. Getting to the State Tournament is never easy for high school volleyball. My sophomore year we fell short in the second round to qualify and that was so disappointing for our team. The next year we came back with lots of intensity and drive, but fell short in the last game before qualifying. Fortunately, we took all the anger and disappointment and worked our tails off. We ended up qualifying, it was one of the coolest experience that has happened to me, and it shows that hard work pays off in the end, and to never give up.

Once I released the baseball my heart dropped and I hoped for the best. It was one of the most stressful moments i’ve ever had in baseball. But first we should go back to when all this first started. It was a perfectly normal saturday we had a tournament like most weekend over the summer but not until I got to the field and and everyone was talking about the game did I over hear someone say this is the state tournament. This tournament ranked us in Illinois. We played the first two teams with ease we were up by five and they couldn’t seem to keep up, but the last game of the tournament was us versus the Plainfield Tornadoes. I remember that team very distinctly because of the circumstances I was in. I had pitched the first two games we played

But the game's not over yet we were only winning by one goal. The cool thing about getting a goal to, is you get to keep the puck, and I was really excited about that.

The pressure was bearing down on me like nothing I’d ever experienced. My entire year, I thought, hinged on this one debate. My partner and I had put so much work into it, and I couldn’t bear letting him down. Then, everything fell apart as they announced the decision. “Congratulations to both teams for reaching the quarterfinals of the UGA Tournament, it is a 2-1 for the Affirmative from Gulliver.” We had lost. I lost. As soon as those words were delivered, my heart dropped into despair. Never mind that I had reached the quarterfinals, all the work and success that my partner and I had gone through felt erased with that big L.

When I was younger, every summer my travel baseball team participated in the conference, regional, and hopefully state. But this particular summer in 2012 on our “U-14” travel team, will never leave my memory. As most might think, baseball is not always the most intriguing sport, but the series of events leading to the most exciting time of my life could leave even the most “baseball-skeptical” person speechless.

It was a hard loss Friday evening. What was projected to be OUR year was stopped in the semifinals unexpectedly; to a #8 seeded Austin Peay. The Bruins fought hard and brought it to overtime, but the 97-96 loss is going to be remembered by this team for a long time.

We had to go to bed early because we knew the next few days of competition would be long and tiring. Once the next day came around we woke up and prepared for our first two games of the tournament. I was nervous, this was my first time playing in a "AA" provincial championship. Many of the teams we would be facing this weekend we teams we had won and lost too. But some of the teams had never even played against us. These two days of round robin competition had put us into 4th place which meant we would be going top the semi-finals. The pressure to preform grew even greater as we went up against the top seated

This summer my family traveled to my brother's state tournament. His 17U baseball team for our school had been qualifying for the state tournament. We were so excited and proud of the team. They were so happy when they won the district tournament. I was excited about going to Troy again.

I have always believed that all people should be treated the same regardless of who you are, what you look like, or where you're from. Quite recently, towards the beginning of my senior year golf season, we obtained some new players; as a leader of the team, I figured that the best way to get to know each other would be to organize a bonding event. During the activity, a racist comment was made towards another member of our team. The comment shocked us all; however nothing was said or done about it. While on my way home with my fellow team captain, we discussed the matter and felt that it needed to be addressed. The next day, we pulled aside the girl the comment was directed towards and explained that the situation was uncalled for and needed

Bleachers crowded,parking lots full,smelly gym room, and lots of kids! That's a tournament for you. If you have siblings or a relative that wrestles you know what it's like to be in a smelly room with annoying kids waiting for almost three hours just to get your trophy or look at a bracket.

I was so excited I ran down to the Gym and put on my equipment. I raced onto the court got a puck and shot it. It felt nice coming off my stick, I could also feel my stick flex it felt awesome. This was only evaluations so we didn’t actually play a game the coaches just looked to see how good we were, so they could pick the teams. I ended up being picked early in the first round so I had a feeling I was going to