Ice skating was one of the many things I had always wanted to do when I was young. So, just as I wished, we headed up to Atlanta. It was mid-december and the weather was perfectly cool. There was a light breeze and happy vibes surrounding my family and I. As soon as we arrived, I threw on my skates and headed towards the rink. Just as my skate touched the the ice, my hand immediately shot towards the rail. My legs went out from under me and the realization hit me, I had no idea how to ice skate. Similar to most 8 year olds, I felt as if it was biggest problem I had ever encountered. Although help was offered, I had decided I could figure it out on my own, but unfortunately, that was not getting me anywhere. I struggled as I made my way around
Success is not given, it is earned. Waking up for a 5am skating practice is nobody’s ideal Wednesday morning, especially for a hormonal teenager like myself. However, satisfaction of landing a new jump or learning a new spin does not come from letting our ‘wants’ buyout our dreams. “By the time we’d finished, we were amazed at how much the book had taught us: about ourselves.” I don’t always succeed, nor do I always expect to. Throughout all the morning practices and late night workouts, failure is something I have learned from. I remember giving up on myself countless times after falling on a jump or not turning my edges properly, as if I had ‘writer's-block,’ feeling completely numb. Nevertheless, succeeding was the easy part, it was learning to grow into the 6 year old singing, confident, child again, and defeating the numbness. I have learned, along the way, people are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your hard work. However, it is the end product that matters. It will be I who knows how to complete a program, or I who knows how to work hard. Staying focused as the athlete I am, not letting people side track me, builds the confidence to know ‘I finished the
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.
So they started taking skating lessons at the local rink. They loved the ice. As time went by, they became skilled and learned moves. Later, they took private lessons with coach Derek James to learn more advanced moves. Michelle fell many times on the cold and hard ice.
After being mesmerized by figure skating at the age of eight, I became a member of the Markham Skating Club. As a competitive figure skater, I must perform various jumps and spins in a choreographed program. I have participated in numerous competitions in Central Ontario and have received multiple medals for my achievements. Yet, my achievement as a figure skater stem from the adversity that I faced throughout my skating journey. This sport has imposed challenges to both my mental and physical strength that have ultimately constructed the qualities of dedication and humility within myself.
That thing was probably the most horrible thing I have ever seen. I have never been in contact with such a space consuming thing. It moved with a lack of elegance and fluidity. Snowboarders are probably the most annoying people on the earth. Don’t we have enough board related sports? Who had even invented the art of snowboarding? I had first learned to ski at the age of six, and had never even thought of learning how to snowboard. I was even annoyed at other snowboarder’s presence on the slopes and their laid back way of life. All I knew was skiing, and I loved it. When I asked my family what they thought about my skiing they said that I had a certain unique touch to it. Ever since I had learned how to ski, I had just wanted to get better and I was
I have been playing ice hockey since I was seven years old. By age ten, I knew I loved being a hockey goalie more than anything else. I dedicated my time to achieve my goal of playing at the highest level possible. Over the years, I worked extremely hard to learn my position. I took private lessons,
I don’t remember the exact time when I was first introduced to skateboarding, it was probably around 6th or 7th grade. I remember my “skater” phase well (face palm). Anyway, fast forward a few years and I’m off to college. I was at Auburn University. The campus has lots of hills and slopes, very rough on the shoes. One of my friends, who also rode boards, would let me borrow one of his boards to ride around sometimes, and he would try to teach me how to control the board better. One day, he came to the student center where people often hung out to do work and whatnot with a new board he just bought. He got it from Goodwill, practically new, and since he had a lot of other different boards, he let me have that one. I was pretty psyched, I wanted
As a 29-year-old medical school applicant for which I have spent 23 of them in the world of competitive figure skating. For 19 years I was a competitive figure skater, competing at both the local and national level. Figure skating was my way of life, it guided every decision I made, whether I could go hang out with friends, go on family vacations, or what types of activities I could do so that I would not become injured, hampering my skating career. In the middle of my season in 2009 such injury occurred, I was diagnosed with a bulging disc partially caused by a grade one spondylolisthesis between my lumbar and sacral vertebrae. I was told that this was the end of my skating career, I would never be able to compete on that sheet of ice that
There I was standing on the hill. Hands gripped to my skateboard in fear. My friend staring at the road to warn me of cars. I set my skateboard down on the newly paved road and started down the hill flying past the trees and houses. Until I saw it, the line of cars heading my way. My legs and board shaking. I fall and summersalt down the hill. I stop myself and crawl into the wet grass. I grab my board, hands shaking and scratched. I lay on my back, head throbbing in pain, knees gushing blood, and clothes ripped. I close my eyes because of embarrassment and anger. The feeling in my chest I couldn’t comprehend. It was a feeling of hurt, I had failed at my favorite thing in the world and I never wanted to feel that again. That day I decided to turn my failure into success by practicing and accepting my family’s teaching me to never give up.
I have been involved in many activities throughout high school that have shaped me into the person I am today. These activities have exposed me to an immense group of different and diverse people. I’ve played hockey since age three, it is more than just a game. It is not only about playing hockey, it is about learning life skills that I will carry with me throughout the rest of my life. I have learned how to work as a team member no matter if things are going well or if they are not. You also build bonds between teammates throughout the years and make memories that will never be forgotten. A very big importance of the game of hockey is being able to represent my home city of White Bear Lake. Nothing is better than going out to represent our city in front of an arena
stood upon, was frightening. The only was to go was down. I took a deep
But there was just something about the cold air nipping at your fingertips or the constant chill at your spine- that's the way Tumblr described it anyway.
I tried to write this essay about my visit to the FBI, but failed. I tried again to write it about my letter to the bishop, expressing my disappointment with a Catholic Church in my town, and again I failed to fully express my beliefs on the matter. From these failures, I learned that it is extremely hard not to write about something that brings me so much joy and has controlled my life for the past 12 years.
After several weeks I had mastered all but one of the tricks; The Drop. The Drop had always terrified me because the first time I attempted this trick I landed awkwardly and badly hurt my leg. I never had to guts to try it after that. A month or so later after my leg had fully healed I started to think more and more about The Drop and whether or not I should try it again. I started to see ramps everywhere I went, and imagined racing down them and jumping into the air magnificently. I also found myself getting distracted in class because I was daydreaming about completing the most epic of leaps. However, I was still crippled by fear when I contemplated actually reattempting this stunt since it had ended so disastrously the first time. I eventually built up my confidence and told myself that I simply must go back, and try successfully perform this trick successfully at least once. So one warm, sunny day I packed up my skater gear and walked back to the park. I felt the balmy sun beating down on my face and it felt as if each sunbeam was encouraging me an...
My love for tennis blossomed at the young age of eleven. During middle school my peers knew me as the boy who was remarkably talented at tennis and I savored that title. Butterflies floated throughout my youthful body whenever someone complimented me. As the years passed, my dad nurtured me into a top player. Before I knew it high school arrived and it was time to compete at a higher level. My excitement was out of this world, but I knew my dad could no longer push me forward and my future was up to me. However, the ego I developed over the years blocked what lie in front of me. I wasn’t looking at the bigger picture; the hard work demanded of me, teamwork, and the motivation to reach an ultimate goal. Throughout my four years of participating