Tennis Personal Statement

Since early youth, my predominant interest has remained sports; in fact, that interest is now a deep and abiding passion, the only arena in which I envisage spending my professional life.

I started playing tennis when I was 5 and took to the game like a duck to water. My coach, impressed by my rapid improvement, suggested that I start playing tournaments. I found that even at that young age the desire to compete and win was strong within me, and, very soon, I won the first trophy of my sporting life. I threw myself wholeheartedly into improving my game and performed very successfully in several tennis tournaments at district, state and national levels. Throughout my journey, my parents have remained the pillars of my strength, my motivation to succeed.

While I had certainly reached a very satisfying and successful sporting pinnacle, I was also inadvertently becoming a not-so-admirable individual. Winning had become my life’s compulsion; if I lost, I became sullen and demotivated. In one such moment, I crashed my racquet down in impotent fury and frustration. I was immediately appealed by my unsporting exhibition because the essential me was not a tantrum-throwing prima donna! Ashamed and contrite, I understood that to be a respected player I needed mental stability and the capacity to handle even adverse situations positively and gracefully. I think that it was here that I began to consider sports psychology as a career. I saw that I could then really help other sportspersons to deal with stress and assist them to get back on a positive