Sports Day - Personal Narrative Essay

On February 28, 2005, I experienced one of the most exciting events that anyone could ever experience – winning a State Championship. The day my soccer team made history is a day I’ll never forget. However it is not just that day we won the title, but the whole experience of the preceding season that got us there. From start to finish, my team’s 2004-2005 season taught me that the platitude is true. You can do anything you set your mind to.

September 20, 2011 was the day that everything changed. Practice that day was long and excruciatingly hot. My coach did not let me take a rest as I was the only full back we had at the time. Hit after hit, it started to add up and my world was spinning but coach told me to keep going, so I did. The very next snap my world got wrecked. My form became lazy because I was beyond exhausted and dehydrated, my head lead my attempt to break the tackle and the kid making the tackle lead with his head as well. Just like that my body went numb, everything was dark, my eyes were open but I could not see. I had no sense of where I was and where I was going. My name left me. At this point I did not know if I was dead or alive. This was the last time I was ever able to strap up and play the game of football. This is what happens to the millions of kids who play football on a daily basis. Somebody was there telling them to go back in even when they were showing early signs of a concussion. The athlete takes one more hit straight to the head out of poor form or exhaustion and then everything goes from bad to worse. These events take place at such a young age that the long term side effects can be fatal.

Football is a game of passion, a time when nothing else matters and the only thing that matters is going out there having fun and fighting for the guy next to you. Football has always been something that I loved and had a wild passion for. I’ve made friendships and memories to last a life time and I can always be grateful that football did that for me. Now of course I’ve had some bad memories during football as well, I remember walking out of the film room on the last day of spring ball and having Coach Antle grab me and say “Gage, I think I want to try you at a new position, I want to put you at defensive end. We need you more there and we think you can really excel there.” I remember being so furious, I had played linebacker ever since I could remember and now the last day of spring ball my senior year everything was about to change.

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.

It was a chilly Monday night as I finished putting on my baseball uniform. I was nervous because it was the championship game. We were playing our rival team, the Yankees. My close friend Tom was their pitcher, and he struck out a lot of people. Tonight, I was going to get a hit off of him. At least I hoped so. I heard a beep in the driveway and realized it was my mom who was ready to go. ¨ Coming Mom!¨ I shouted through the garage door. As I jogged to the car, I could not stop thinking about getting a hit off of Tom.

The air was cold and eerie as my teammates and I got ready to take the field for baseball practice. Our coach called for a night practice in the middle of September following our devastating loss in the championship game a few weeks ago. “Let’s go! Start running laps around the field!” my coach shouted as players were still getting dressed and warming up. Most of my teammates still shattered by the championship loss weren’t feeling enthusiastic about practicing. We finished running our laps and moved on to the next portion of our practice which was long tossing. I wasn’t aware that such a routine practice would be the one to change my life.

We had just started the last summer break before our first year of high school starts before Michael started interfering with our relationship. Bradley is a lover of baseball and has baseball games every weekend, but I, Kelsey had either basketball or volleyball practice or a game every day of the week day. Considering we were both busy at different times it made it hard for us to see each other. We tried to go to each other's games as much as possible, but one baseball game changed it all.

I looked him in his eyes before I shot him. I can still remember the bullet hitting him straight in the chest and the blood hitting my face. It was warm and felt good in the face biting cold. I felt like I was crazy for liking the feeling of the blood. After a couple more miles my lungs burned and I wanted to quit.

I pulled my red socks up over my right shin guard, then my left. I slipped on my shoes, making sure they were knotted extra tight so they would not come undone. After I brushed my hair back into a ponytail and fixed my headband, I was ready. On the bus, everyone chattered about the upcoming game, music blaring, loud with excitement. The game featured my soccer team, Oak Hills, and one of our rivals, Ursula. Ursula, known for their great passing and winning record, was very well going to be one of the hardest teams we had to play. But, we were prepared and nothing could stop us.

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

On Sunday, NFL night, me and my friend were at the buffalo wings restaurant. It is the best place to watch games while eating. We were watching Panthers Vs Broncos super bowl. My friend also invited one of his friend Kirtan Patel, to hang out with us. I have never met him before, but can already tell that he doesn’t care about others. I am a panther’s fan and they were losing that night. I was already mad and my friends friend, who was late, made us wait for about 40 minutes. That 40 minutes felt like 4 hours, 4 hours being hungry. At one point I even felt like I was going to faint. So, to keep myself alive I ordered some drink. It took me one coke, one dr. pepper, and one glass of water to survive. Oh! He finally showed up, after I was almost

I just got it last night and I have already gone through it. What am I going to do? I go through all of it like it is candy. I need to start pacing myself or this is going to get out of hand. I get more tomorrow but if anyone found out, it would be bad. I need to make sure no one is around this time. Last time, I almost got caught. Maybe I could get him to give it to me before the football game.

I began playing Basketball freshmen year as a way to release my emotions and forget the thoughts that gave me stress or made me overthink. My coaches gave me the nickname of “Mean Darline” because of how tough and aggressive I would get when being on defense. Little did they know that I wasn’t good at that position because I loved Basketball but because it maintained me calm and allowed me to express myself in a socially approved activity. When the season was finished and I retired from Basketball after my sophomore year I went back to going to the gym three to four times a week. Gym workouts or any physical activity is great to rechannel one’s unacceptable impulses without others criticizing us for our actions.

I first started playing volleyball at a very young age. I was in the seventh grade when my volleyball career started. My sister started playing in the seventh grade and I just wanted to follow her footsteps. My seventh grade year was ok because I had just started out and really didn’t know the game. There was A team and a B team, where A team was better than the B team. I tried my best to be on the A-team, but guess where I ended up, on the B team.

A major role in my life would definitely be sports. It is almost as if I look up to sports because I could not live without them. Sports pretty much define me as me. I love to play sports as well as watch all kinds of sports on T.V. and if I could ever go to a game and watch the players play live I would be thrilled. Basically sports define me because I am ambitious, I finish what I start, I set goals for myself, and I am a fierce competitor in which I love to win and I hate to lose. The greatest part about sports to me is living for the moment when the game is on the line and the pressure is on can you come through and make a play for your