Fourteen years of my life. Fifty two weeks of my year. Five days of my week. Four hours of my day. This is what I have given to the sport of gymnastics. Friday night football games. After school clubs. Sleeping in on the weekend. This is what I have sacrificed in pursuit of my passion. Perseverance against adversity. Dedication throughout hardships. Discipline in body and mind. These are the qualities this sport has engraved into my being. There is not a time I can remember when I was not involved in gymnastics. When I reflect on the milestones of my life I don’t reminisce on the loss of my first tooth or a move to a new house, but instead I recall my first trip to nationals and mastering my back tuck. Gymnastics is the foundation of who I am. My experience has shaped me, challenged me, and inspired me. …show more content…
Perseverance, dedication, and discipline, these are the qualities that have been instilled in me throughout my training. My sport requires failing repeatedly until consistency is found in perfection. Therefore, perseverance proved crucial as I attempted skill progressions and difficult routines. Dedication was essential whenever I watched others miss practice for social events. I didn’t recognize the immediate benefits of my deep rooted commitment until months and years later; now I have applied this devotion to every aspect of my life. My time, energy, and heart go into all of my endeavors. Discipline was taught through the balance of academics and athletics. Gymnastics helped me perfect the art of time management. I am thankful gymnastics has given me all of these
In fourth grade I took gymnastics. I really like it, and had a lot of
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.
Kerri Strug is remembered today for her performance at the 1996 Summer Olympics, but very few people know the rest of her story. Kerri was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. The Strugs were a family of five, and Kerri was the youngest. She had both an older brother and an older sister. Although Kerri had many outstanding accomplishments as a gymnast, her vault on July 23, 1996, earned her a place in gymnastics’ history. Kerri was limping because on her first attempt she fell and sprained her left ankle. After she finished somersaulting through the air, Kerri stuck the landing on one foot and then collapsed in tears. Kerri’s story is one of great courage (“Heart” 12).
sports I play and take it beyond that to practice it during my free time to be the best I can.
Fraser, Allen. “What a great gymnastics movie should be.” The New Yorker. conde Nast, n.d. May. 17 Feb. 2014
She tried, tried and tried again, for a hole two months, but she wasn’t getting any better. She wasn’t as graceful as the other gymnasts, or even her friends.
I had always been pretty flexible and every year as I was the olympics it intrigued me. The first day I went was all mixed emotions but I was crazy excited. We started off with stretching which made me realize that there were others that had no flexibility in their body whatsoever. The staff was quite impressed on what I was able to do, which made me feel ten times better. Yet I was lacking in the arms for I had “noodle arms.” Pulling up on the bar made my arms wiggle, and was impossible to flip over. Embarrassed that I had no upper body straight made my confidence a zero, until I got to the beam not that was my jam. Right on the first day I was able to do a cartwheel of the 4.1 feet tall beam; now that made my confidence shoot up to a ten. Sore from the first couple of days I got used to it by the second week. After the course was done I had… a six pack and I was around twelve years old. Those classes made me
The sheer energy of a gymnast alone can be felt by audiences of all ages, but what the spectators lack the ability to feel is the pounding of the bodies that bear the impact of the athletes in action. Gymnastics consists of a mixture of acrobatic performances of four different events for females, and six different events for males (Gianoulis 1). Gymnastics is demanding in a multitude of ways, including: physically, emotionally and mentally. It requires countless hours of dedication. The concerns of most gymnasts are moving up to the next level, or getting a more advanced skill, while the concerns of the doctors, coaches, and parents revolve mostly around the athlete’s health, which is put at stake for the adored yet dangerous sport. Injuries are common among both male and female gymnast alike, but due to the fact a female gymnast’s career peaks at the same time of major growth and development, a female gymnast’s body as a whole is more likely to undergo lifelong changes or affects (Gianoulis 2). Among the injuries of the mind blowing athletes, the most common ones affect the ankles, feet, lower back, wrist, and hands of individuals (Prevention and Treatment 1). From sprains, to the breaks, the intriguing sport of gymnastics is physically demanding on a gymnast’s body.
Athletics has made a difference in my life through its redefining of the word “success.” Before I got involved with track and cross country, success was measured by goals I set and achieved for myself that made me happy. Since then, I have realized that success is much more gratifying when it is dependent on making those around me proud. In track, success is when I have trained hard enough so that I am able to help my relay team win a race or break the school record. In cross country, success is when I have built up enough endurance to contribute to the team score and help my team move on to the state meet. This mentality has translated to my daily life, as I am constantly working hard to please those around me. At school, I always do my homework and get good grades so that my teachers do not have to focus extra energy on getting me to do my work. At work, I strive to go above and beyond my typical duties so that I can lessen the responsibilities of my co-workers. At home, I help out with chores without being asked so that my parents can have one less thing
I walked towards the gym red nosed and puffy eyed. My tears had finally subsided, but they would return. I accepted that once I left Oakland Gymnastics that day, I would never return. I knew in my mind that this day would come, but I hadn’t expected it to be so soon. I wanted to move on and try new things, but the thought of leaving the place I spent the last 12 years of my life made my heart shatter. However, I finally made the decision that I was going to quit club gymnastics, but continue on as a high school gymnast.
When I moved to Germantown Hills, I immediately joined dance and tumbling classes because I had so much fun in them. I went to Gym Corner for gymnastics until I was in third grade and went to Mrs. K’s studio held at a school in Washington. I was close friends with Anna Shallat at this time, and we went to all the
The worst words I’ve heard in my time fencing. These words sparked a long and boring two months of nothing. No running no fencing, no unnecessary movement. This long sabbatical has sparked great change, transcended my athletic self and influenced who I am as a person, through the ways it unleashed a new level of work ethic in my athletic self. Before I was injured I had it quite easy, do to a large amount of time I had spent fencing I could obtain success with relative ease. But now, I have no such ease. I had lost my point control and most of my footwork. An average person may have seen this as terrible and an end, but I’ve seen it as a beginning of new potential. This beginning has forced me to work at a redoubled rate, pushing myself to great extents to achieve the prowesses I once held. I developed habits of work, the days of half-assed practices and little effort are over. I have been motivated in a better way to change my habits and force myself to attain the greatness I desire in even better ways than before my injury. Not only did I apply this to my fencing life, but I have applied this to who I am as a person. I have taken the lessons learned in diligence and applied it to my school work, in any class where I have any struggle I make an appointment with the teacher and I complete every homework assignment as soon as possible. I have made the worst moment of my fencing career into the best. This is how
The start of the 2002 track season found me concerned with how I would perform. After a disastrous bout with mononucleosis ended my freshmen track season, the fear of failure weighed heavily on my mind. I set a goal for myself in order to maintain focus and to push myself like nothing else would. My goal for my sophomore track season was to become a state champion in the 100 meter hurdles. I worked hard everyday at practice and went the extra mile, like running every Sunday, to be just that much closer to reaching my goal. The thought of standing highest on the podium in the center of the field, surrounded by hundreds of spectators, overcame my thoughts of complaining every time we had a hard workout. When I closed my eyes, I pictured myself waiting in anticipation as other competitors names were called out, one by one, until finally, the booming voice announced over the loudspeaker, "...and in first place, your 2002 100 meter hurdle champion, from Hotchkiss, Connie Dawson." It was visions like these that drove me to work harder everyday.
In March of 2015, an important event was scheduled in my calendar under the title “Varsity Cheerleader Tryouts.” I had been a cheerleader competitively up until that point, and I was planning on concluding that piece of my life after the season ended. Though I had been a school cheerleader for two years already, I was anxious about the tryouts. If I didn’t make the varsity cheer squad, cheerleading would have had no part in my life for the next year. I could not tolerate the thought of having such a gap in my daily activities. As the week unfolded, I braced myself for some of the toughest days of my life. All of my preparation through the years would be tested on a single Thursday night.
When I did gymnastics I felt empowered. When I did gymnastics I felt happy. When I did gymnastics I felt alive.