Personal Narrative: How Sports Have Changed My Life

In order to understand how sports have changed my life, I must explain first, who I was before my sophomore year. In elementary school I was bullied: physically and verbally. As a young child, this destroyed my self esteem for years to come. Throughout my school career I never did anything that would put me in the spot light and because of my lack of confidence, I did not perform well in volleyball or track. I was extremely shy and never participated in anything unnecessary. Not only this, but I did not care about my education; I did not make the best grades. Needless to say, I did not make school a priority. Ultimately, my character was not outstanding.

My freshman year of high school I did get discouraged with sports when I did not succeed

But the sport itself taught me a lot. Many times, during races, while a competitor was passing me, I would hear, “you’re doing great, keep going,” and this very fact taught me the greatest lesson sports have to offer: sportsmanship and leadership go hand in hand. From then on, I encouraged every person as I knew it made me a better athlete and leader. Moreover, it is not unknown that running long distances can be very difficult. There were many times while I was running that I felt I could not go on anymore and just wanted to quit. With every sport comes its own special lesson, with cross country this lesson was perseverance and motivation. During these moments of doubt and dwindling strength I needed to tell myself to keep going and push past the pain, and so I did. It was during these times that I learned of perseverance. Because of cross country I know what true strength and determination mean and have implemented it into my everyday life. When adversity hits, I don’t give up, but I push harder, I push past it. This lesson has been very important in my school career as it helps me push past stress to get things done as well as doing one problem over and over until I understand it. There is a direct correlation with Cross Country and my improvement in school. Because of Cross Country I am number 2 in my class, President of National Honor Society, and a member of 4