My family has always been a sports family. Ever since I can remember the entirety of my life outside of school has revolved around sports. Ever since I could walk I have had a burning desire to play hockey. Hours of running wildly around my house dressed in makeshift hockey equipment, finally convinced my parents to sign their 5 year old up for Timbits hockey. I enjoyed playing the game for many years, and still do to this day, but there came a point where it was no longer fun. It was at this point when I made a seemingly small decision that forever changed my life. For the early stages of my hockey career, I played just because I enjoyed the game. I played for the feeling I got when I skated down the ice and the rush of energy that flowed through my body when I scored a goal. When I played hockey I felt free as a bird, with no worries in the world. But I never had any desire to improve the level at which I played and see where I could go with the sport, I just wanted to play hockey. Around three or four years later I did …show more content…
I found that the goal for the team was no longer the development of the players, but now to win at all costs. By the time the playoffs rolled around any part of me that wanted to continue disappeared, I was tired of the hardcore mentality of the team and wanted the season to end. A few months later, during tryouts for the following year, I decided to drop a level in search of a more relaxed season. I was hoping this next team would consist of players whose parents did not think their child was going to be the next Wayne Gretzky. But like the previous year it too was not what I had expected. I grew sick of the atmosphere of the hockey world, and as hard as it was for me to articulate how I felt, I wanted out. I lost the love of the game. It was at this point when my sporting career completely turned
Originally born in Moscow, Russia, I came to the United States fourteen years ago with my parents along with my unrelated brother as their newly adopted children. Transitioning to a new country can be hard, but not knowing the language is even harder. For the first few years of my life, I struggled to speak, write and read any English. Since then, I have become acclimated to the American culture and state of mind and learned English proficiently, but, lost touch with my mother tongue because I spoke minimal Russian. I have always been proud to acknowledge and tell others that I am adopted from Mother Russia. However, over the past several years my curiosity and desire to learn about my native homeland have increased significantly. My interest in the Russian language reignited last year when I overheard a Russian and Kazakh having a conversation in Russian. I soon found myself listening to anyone anywhere, who spoke Russian.
Every time I play lacrosse I feel like I am a part of something greater than myself. Being a part of something greater than myself, being changed in my life forever has made me think and feel whenever I play lacrosse. When I was younger playing lacrosse was a learning experience. Playing with more skilled or less skilled girls in lacrosse and playing different positions except for one every game, practice and scrimmage all the time makes me get a different perspective. Playing lacrosse for quick sticks has changed my life forever.
I also decided to keep playing, as many people do quit, and I kept trying harder in Baseball, and instead of giving up; to push past that and to keep getting farther in the Sport. It changed what I do after school, it made me also think about what I like to do in my spare time, to what I should do in my spare time. Now, I do baseball whenever in my spare time, which helps me reach my overall goal in playing the sport. It used to be for fun, but now I am trying to go farther than just having fun in the sport. I have had to do many things to get where I am, but I do not want to be finished yet, I want to keep going throughout my life and keep succeeding. “Baseball is a good thing. Always was, always will be.” – Stephen
I have had a lot of interests and hobbies throughout my lifetime but no interest has stuck with me like my passion for hockey has. Hockey has transformed me into the person I am today and has shown me characteristics such as how to be successful, how to take responsibility for my mistakes, and always giving my best effort at anything I attempt.
Sports play a very important role in my life ever since I could walk. My interests in playing sports began at the age of three as my parents signed me up for soccer, flag football, basketball, and lacrosse. First grade started my competitive edge as I began to play for travel teams in various sport tournaments. This competitive edge transferred from the sports field to the classroom having teachers and coaches helping me be the best I can be. Sports have continually well-shaped and defined my character by teaching me how to accept a win from working hard, also how a loss is an opportunity to learn and fix mistakes.
After four years of a new team every season, I went into my first practice of my fifth soccer season expecting the same to be true. Play on this team for one year and then be randomly placed on a different one the following year. Little did I know this team, especially the coaches, would leave a lasting impact on my life. I gained an invaluable support system that has stuck by my side for an upwards of nine years.
I have throughout my whole life been playing sports. I still play basketball competitively and now it’s at the university level. Basketball though was not my first love when it came to playing sports. It has though become my true focus since junior high school. Coming from Canada everybody plays hockey. Its almost as if as soon as you learn to walk you learn how to skate. Whether it is at the recreation centre or at the shinny rink around the corner everyone plays. Eventually I abandoned hockey to play basketball which I have done so for the last twelve years of my life and hopefully a few more years into the future.
I took a chance on a high school hockey experience, but my sophomore year was a big adjustment from the style of play I was used to. Driving daily 50 minutes each day was hard on me and my family and I didn’t feel much like part of the team at first. The attitude of the players was not what I expected. They didn’t seem to care as much as the teammates that I was used to. It was harder than I thought
If I stopped playing, there would be a major hole in my life. To succeed you have to try. You can’t be afraid to fail. If you do fail, you have to try again. I know in the next stage of my life I will learn and experience a lot of new things.
Friday night rolled around, it was the game we had all been working so hard for. Knowing we were seniors, we knew it would be the end of the journey.
To reach my goals, I’ve faced many challenges and have learned to be mentally tough. It’s one of the fastest and most physically demanding sports with extraordinary fitness and strength requirements. I learned to overcome pain, illness, injury, frustration and fatigue to put the game and the team before myself. I left home at an early age, living with host families, to pursue my goals and play high level hockey. Hamlet said, “We know what we are, but not what we may be”. Leaving home, I knew I could handle it but I never knew then that what challenged me would give me strength. I didn’t know then that living without my family, feeling alone at times and struggling to become self-reliant would help me become who I am
Hockey. A sport I have always loved ever since I was a kid. It was when my dad had taken me to an open ice skate when my hockey life began. I had my first pair of skates as a present when I was four years old. I never really knew of the sport at the time, but now I was able to expirence it. No one was present on the ice as I entered the rink. The cold of the ice ran down my back as I took my first steps on. The cold didn’t stop me though. As I stepped upon the ice, I had a feeling of relief. Hockey is what let me go fast. Always have I been the fastest kid in my class and hockey let me expand on what I loved to do. One stride at a time I went, until I was able to glide upon the ice. My blades of my skates sunk into the ice like a lion tearing at its prey. As the frost beat against my face, I soon realized that I was able to skate. Even though it was all fuzzy in my memory, I remember feeling all types of joy rush all throughout my body. It was the first sign of potential in hockey. It was a first omen.
Everything happens for a reason, or at least that what I had been told multiple times before. Sometimes is takes time after to figure out what that reason was. The reason why I wanted to quit was clear. I was depressed and I started not loving life anymore and what I was doing in my life. To me playing a sport during that time seemed silly because I knew I wouldn’t try my best, because I was barely trying in my own life anymore.
The ball was coming slightly wide towards me,I tried to take the catch and took the catch,but this catch changed my life. I was an active sports player since my childhood, I participated in different sport at different levels. I loved the things that included work related to my games, as I was the sports manager of my house for two years. The most favourite game of mine was CRICKET,my first love.
Although, I am not an athletic individual when I became an older sister to two young boys my involvement in sports changed drastically. I started to attend their hockey, baseball and soccer games, sports became the primary conversation at the dinner table and sports television quickly became the main source of entertainment in my household. What started as a great activity to bring our family together, as I grew older it quickly started to make me want to distant myself from the athletic scene. The start of this distancing was due to a conversation that I witnessed my father and oldest brother having,