Personal Narrative: Surfing

After much practice, I decided to join the high school surf team and compete in the high school events. As a freshman, it was very intimidating competing against older girls, but from many talks with my family, I learned to not worry about other girls and to focus on myself. The most important information I was given was not to do my best, but to have fun. With that in mind, I surfed my first high school competition and resulted with a second place. This was one of the most exciting, thrilling, and fun competitions I had ever been in, and I continue to compete in these kinds of competitions today. Surfing is an important sport to me, and though I have won several events and even took home the trophy for first place overall in both longboard and short board for SSS my sophomore and junior year, the accomplishments I have made in my surfing career are not what is most important to me about surfing, but the love for the sport and the fun I have every day that I do this sport, is what is most important to

It wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school that a group of seniors first asked me to go surfing. I mean, I’ve lived on an island for 12 years. How could I have not tried surfing? I had this fantasy in my head that it would be the easiest thing in the world. However, it was anything but. Even on the tiny four-foot waves, I could not stand.

My parents tell me that I took to swimming like... a fish takes to water. It is a safe place where I can float free of worries. Driven by passion and dedication, I decided to begin swimming competitively. Competitive swimming requires an intense level of determination and discipline. Forcing myself to get out of my warm bed at 5:30 in the morning to put on a still-slightly-damp swimsuit and stand in 40-degree weather waiting for practice to start. Putting up with limited lane space and irritating swimmers who think they are faster. Making a conscious effort to work on my stroke form, turns, touches, and techniques. The water becomes a whirlpool of injuries, losses, wins, friendships, enemies, and sickness. The water becomes home.

It was sometime around 6:00 p.m. on a Thursday night in the middle of January 2016. There was a swim meet going on and it was just about to start. The teams were warming up and getting ready for the meet that was due to start in the coming hour. I was warmed up and concentrating on the race listening to music in my newly acquired platinum studio beats. The music was loud and the nerves were setting as I walked into the locker room with my friend and teammate. As we passed I said good luck to our teammate who I was racing against in the 200 free style. Then out of know were he pulled my friend to the side and whispered something in his ear. I didn’t hear what was said as I had continued to walk. My friend came over to me and I asked what he had said and he told me. He told me

When it’s lacrosse season, I know I have to make sacrifices and manage my time wisely. It is important to me that I remain dedicated to lacrosse when I make the choice to play because I not only made the commitment to myself, but more importantly to my teammates and to my coach. Swimming is another activity that exemplifies my dedication. I have been swimming on Three Village Swim Club since I was 10 years old. There is no doubt that Three Village requires the highest level of dedication. With deciding to continue to swim each year, I commit myself to practice 2 to 3 hours a day, 7 days a week. Over the many years I have been a team member, there were definitely times I wanted to just quit and give up, but I knew this was something I loved to do and I would have to overcome the hard times in order to continue doing what I loved. Swimming allowed me

White foam spreads across a carpet of clear blue. The carpet rises, and the foam curves off the back and crashes to the ground. It travels back across a desert of sand and repeats its actions. The morning sun meets the surface, bouncing off and chasing the reflection of the birds flying. Screams of excitement run past me, their bodies wading into the deep blue. Fiberglass skimming across the top, breaking the perfect surface. There was no looking back now. My heart jumps as i follow closely behind. My arms moving fast, diving deep into the warm liquid. Eager to get to the Hawaiian Dives. We start to slow, the sharp, brown rock, marks the bottoms of my feet as i run across. My hands grip onto the rock as i throw my body up to stand. You could see everything from up there.

She persevered. Surfing was Bethany’s passion, her life-long dream. Failing to get back in the water was not an option. Bethany trained hard, hurdling over her life-obstacles and soon was back on her board, competing.

Her parents were passionate about surfing and they passed along their love of the beach to Bethany and her brothers, Noah and Timmy. When Bethany was eight, she joined the competitive surfing circuit. Her whole family became involved in her training. Her dad taught her techniques and surfing tips while her mom, Cheri, homeschooled her. Cheri was a strict teacher and made sure that Bethany never fell behind on her work while her brothers toughened her up for all her competitions. Bethany’s family taught her that it was okay to lose sometimes because there would always be a next time when she could win. Bethany’s attachment to surfing was in her blood as she said “Surfing is a force that moves your body and soul.” (Hamilton, 122). She practiced for hours everyday and loved everything about her surfing world especially her friends. As she began winning competitions, Bethany’s brother Noah started sending pictures of her surfing to various companies that manufactured clothing. Soon after that, the company Rip Curl sponsored Bethany and gave her free clothes and equipment to use while she surfed. Bethany was a rising star in the field of competitive

I am known to be extremely clumsy. With that, it’s expected that I often end up in awkward situations. In the past I have called numerous teachers “Mom,” fallen down while walking up stairs, almost fallen off a cliff; and it can be assured there were many more instances where my embarrassing clumsiness had led me into awkward, sometimes life threatening, situations. One moment that stands out in particular takes place in every marine animal welfare activists’ “favorite” place, Sea World.

The journey of competitive swimming started at the age of eight for my local `neighborhood team. I exhibited great potential for the future, for I won nearly all my races. This seemed like the sport

We deal with conflict everyday. Whether it is a kid at school that you just can't stand, or a family member. Heck, it may even be a random stranger at the store and he took the last LEGO set that you wanted. Whoever it is with it is still conflict. And when you get conflicted, you don't handle it too well (don't lie to yourself, everybody does it). When people are angry at one another, they want to show that they’re mad. This doesn't just happen in real life though. Conflict and reactions are shown throughout our culture. It can be a book, movie, picture, or even history. No matter what, conflict is all around us, and how we deal with it is very important.

In the picture I chose, I am doing one of my passions, kayaking. I have been involved in kayaking for 5 years. It is a large aspect of my life as I spend between nine to fifteen hours a week training and have traveled across Canada for various competitions. When I started kayaking, I went to a weeklong summer camp and fell in love with the sport. I then joined racing program, which lasted the entire summer. During this time, I had the opportunity to begin training in various team boats. As I spent more time training, I became stronger and faster so my coach invited me to join the developmental high performance group. In this group, I spent more time training vigorously and became

“I could not help concluding this man had the most supreme pleasure while he was driven so fast and so smoothly by the sea,” Captain James Cook. To my audience, I know I don't have to describe what surfing is, how you do it, or what it looks like. But many take for granted the existence of this magnificent sport and form of art. Where does it begin? How does it have anything to do with American History? How did it become what it is today? All your questions will be answered.

First of all she shows great determination. When she was in the hospital she said she would be back out on the beach by thanksgiving. When she got out of the hospital she was back on the beach a day before thanksgiving. She also tried to quickly learn how to do everyday things with on hand like tying her shoe and doing her hair. Once she knew she could surf again she started training to get as good as she

By this time I had started to go through puberty and became taller which enabled me to swim faster. The morning group was full of dedicated swimmers who were crazy enough to get up every morning to go jump into a pool and practice. Of course I was no different, but during April of that season I had started to lose my motivation. I began to skip practices and gave my parents excuses, which then they told me to take it easy. After two months of periodic practices, I realized that swimming was an activity that I wanted to do and that I loved, and I decided that I would not allow myself to quit, no matter how hard it became. When the new season started, I started to push myself, trying to keep up to the faster swimmers. I became close with my team mates as people who go through pain together get closer. We started to have more fun together from going out, to having funny conversations in the locker rooms. I also began to do travel meets where we would spend a few days together, eating, sleeping, and swimming. I spent more time out of the pool with my friends and even became romantically involved with one. Now, swimming has become one of the most important things to me, it has been the activity that has the most influence on my life. From my work ethic, sleeping habits, to my choice of friends, all of them are tied to