Personal Statement: A Career As A College Athlete

Growing up all I ever wanted to be was a professional football player, my dream was to make it into the NFL and repay my parents for all they've done for me. My whole life I was told to find something I love to do and stick with it, that's when I knew that football could be my free ticket out of Hawai’i. As my knowledge grew, I started to realize the struggles college would put my parents through financially, and that's when I decided football was the way to take care of that all. But as a kid, you don't see the full picture and you honestly never will, but all I knew was that I hated school and loved to play sports. Growing up I've always had people tell me to take care of my school work and be a student first. As a kid, you understand what

When I started my soccer career during my freshman year, I began in the junior varsity team. I was not so familiar with sports until I started playing football and soccer. I once believed that I was not good enough to join the team, but after committing myself to conditioning and being determined to give my best to every practice, I proved myself wrong. Not only did I make it to the team, however I was also a starting player. For the following year, my sophomore year, I transferred into a different high school. There, I played in the Varsity team as a right defense for my sophomore and junior year. This year, 12th grade, I will be a captain for the soccer team. I was able to not only build strong friendships with my teammates, but also with

I believe my talent is time management, working hard, and helping others. Being a student-athlete I had to develop time managing early. When I made the girl's varsity basketball team my freshman year I realized just how time-consuming it was. There were days where I woke up at four in the morning to do homework and study for tests, after getting home from a game at nine pm. Learning to handle this full schedule challenged me as a student. It gave me the confidence to go take harder classes after freshman year. Sophomore year I took AP World History and three Honors classes. Junior year, I did so as well. But I’ve really pushed myself this year, because I am taking four AP classes: Environmental Science, Psychology, Calculus, and Government.

For as long as I can remember, my profession of choice has been an occupation in the healthcare field. My dad often reminisces on when I was three when he would ask me “What’s your name?” I would reply with “Dr. Peppers.” Well sixteen years later my dream of being a doctor no longer exists, however my goal to become one of the best athletic trainers in the country is burning with passion. Growing up I wanted to be several different occupations like a trauma nurse, an obstetrician, or a physical therapist, before realizing after two years of high school sports medicine that athletic training was my niche. In coming to better comprehend athletic training as a career, my experiences in my classes and clinical here at Winthrop along with my high school experience in sports medicine has shaped my understanding of the athletic training world.

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

“Fumble! There goes Salem’s number 69, Jonathan Haddad with the football, he’s home free!” I recall the PA announcer. That specific moment was probably the most memorable highlight of my high school football career. Seconds later, my football career would come to an end as the opposing running back lunged at my ankle and I felt a snap and crackling sensation, causing me to immediately fall to the turf. Turns out I broke my ankle and that it would take months to recover before I could even walk. Frustration, anger, and denial were the main things on my mind during those few months. I thought about how hard I worked in the summer; busting my butt to get ready for the season, and wasting a ton of time and money on something that would end in an utter failure.

Even if I was given an opportunity to make a play, I would follow a simple routine of receiving the ball and then immediately passing it away. For years I believed that my only job was to relocate the ball to another player, usually male, who I thought possessed the ability and skill that I lacked. For several years I failed to even give myself a chance at improving my skills, and I let the boys on our co-ed soccer team overshadow me. It is only recently when my school's first female Varsity team was formed that I realized exactly what I was missing out on.

I remember the first time I set a goal, I was watching a college football game. Texas A&M’s quarterback Johnny Manziel was running down the sideline and the crowd was going crazy. In an upset fashion Texas A&M beat Alabama 29-24. That’s when I realized I wanted to play college football. I think with time,dedication, and persistence achieving any goal is possible.

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.

Portfolio 3 was a struggle because I was out of class for all of it. Even though it flowed from Portfolio 2, it still took me a while to understand what a literature review was and how to turn my prezi into one. I tried turning into a review by basically allowing a paragraph for each topic, introducing evidence/research and then explaining it. I think there might be a little bias in my review, just because a majority of my data collected was the negative side of being a collegiate athlete. After my first draft, I adjusted to add more opposition and benefits of being an athlete to show both sides. I think the review speaks to high school students, college students (athletes and non-athletes), parents, and sports professionals because they

Ever since I was a kid, I always enjoyed watching sports, especially with my father, but I also always watched in interest when someone got hurt and the medical crew had to go help. I’ve always really liked the idea of helping others with medical needs but was never sure what field might fit me the most. During seventh and eighth grade I had an ankle problem known as an os trigonum; it is essentially a bone in the ankle that didn’t fuse with the rest of the talus and can pop out causing a lot of pain. In the summer transitioning into high school, I had the bone surgically removed relieving the problems I had with it. Ever since that incident I taught myself how to tape my ankle during track season to help me, and that’s when I gained interest in the field of kinesiology and sports medicine.

Since I was five years old, I have played baseball: a sport I have been passionate about which has led to wish to obtain degrees in sports management and economics in order to have a front office role for a team. I learned from an early age that setting goals for yourself and others derives from having an instilled work ethic along with resiliency and ambition to excel. As being considered a team captain and my position being pitcher, I sought to make those around me better and perfecting craft of my own - control, velocity, and movement. Being deemed as a crafty-lefty and a kid who possessed talent that seemed to be a rarity to few, I pushed myself vigorously which ultimately, caused myself to suffer an injury to my ulnar nerve inside my elbow.

Prospects: The first job is coaching. There is a lot of different coaching jobs such as the ones for different sports like football, baseball, volleyball, track, and the list goes on. Then there are coaching jobs for school academics like debate and forensics. Coaches are not needed just for the sports, they are also needed for different types of levels. The levels are elementary level which are grades kindergarten through sixth, then the middle school level which is seventh and eighth grade. After that there is the high school level which is ninth through twelfth grade. Then there is the college level and the professional level which is the final level. Now first off, it takes more than just being there to be a good coach. The main thing needed

College can be daunting, especially when it comes figuring out how to finance it. For myself, I will rely heavily on scholarships and financial aid. Saving and making money over the next years will be crucial for myself. Financing my education may cost a decent amount of money, but the rewards that I will obtain from a college education will be far greater.

I am a team player and comfortable with talking to people with different backgrounds. I am on the Women’s Varsity Tennis Team, so I will able able to reach out to athletes and promote the spring conference more. I would ask my friends to spread the word with their team and thus, increasing the number of people who will acknowledge spring conference's benefits. I love designing and planning things ahead. With my background in athletics, I am very disciplined, precise, and hardworking. Therefore, I will do my best in completing each task perfectly and on time. Moreover, I am also an amiable and positive person. I will try to create a positive, energetic, and fun atmosphere when I am working.