I started weight training my junior year of high school. I knew that if I wanted to focus on volleyball; I needed to become a stronger athlete, so I started to do weight training. I was super reluctant to look into it because I would have to balance junior year and sports; once I got to the gym i was immediately intimidated. There was music blasting, people from the ages 9 to 22 working out, and a lot of equipment that I never knew existed. Although I was intimidated, I was extremely motivated and inspired to try and achieve what these other student athletes were doing. Within a couple of months, I had become a completely different athlete; I was stronger, more confident, and healthier. This decision was really hard for me, because I have always been very indecisive. In the past I would juggle different activities without wanting to pick one. It has always been hard for me to make big decision and be confident in it without the validation of my parents or friends, but this year that changed. This one decision that I made changed who I was for the better; It allowed me to grew into a better athlete, helped open up a lot more opportunities, and made me start to become more confident in myself. Since high school volleyball season was done, it was time for club tryouts and basketball season. I decided that I was going to try and play basketball depending on what club team I would make, but self consciously I knew that it was never going to work out. On the day of volleyball tryouts, I had planned to tryout for two clubs that are not as competitive. I ended up making both teams but I did not feel satisfied, so I ask my dad if I could go to tryout at the best club in Atlanta. He was hesitant to agree but I did not want to have any what ifs or regrets. I went to the tryouts and somehow made the third level team for the 17 year olds. This was a shock to my dad and I, but I knew that if I wanted to become the best player I can be and if i want to pursue volleyball in college then we had to take this offer. This decision was one of the hardest to make because I had to tell my old club and the basketball coach that I wasn't going to play there. The other club understood, but it caused tension between my former teammates and I for a couple of weeks. After that, I told the basketball coach. The coach was negative and later on I found out that she did not think I could play in college, but I didn’t let this bring me down, instead, this motivated me. Although I was unsure if I had made the right decision, I was motivated to prove to myself that it was the best option. I was willing to be pushed out of my comfort zone because I didn’t know anyone and the negative stories associated with them. The practices were intense, which was fun to me because of how much I love the sport. These accomplishments made me become a more confident, decisive, and hard working. All of these decision that I made payed off, the weight training helped me make my club team, the club team made me a better athlete, which made me more passionate about volleyball. I made all of these decisions without the influence of others; I was able to figure out what I wanted, and work to achieve my goals. This year I was pushed out of my comfort zone with weight training, learned how to work with a ton of new people, discovered the balance between academics and sports, and also matured into the person that I am today.
Explanation of my Wild Card
This essay is a good Wild Card because it really showed my growth as a writer. In the past I have struggled to be able to have a deep reflection of myself and show the reader the feeling that I am trying to depict. In this essay I was able to tell a story that happen to me and show how it affected me rather than directly saying how I changed. This essay also shows how I can better organize my essays and switch up my different sentence structure. After looking back to some of my essays from last year, my growth as a writer is more obvious. I am now more aware as a writer of how to support my claims and keep my essays more organized. Another reason I picked this essay is because it shows who I am as a person. This year was the first time that I had to right multiple essays where I have to convey a person's personality and describe a story. This essay shows what I am passionate about and my personal development throughout this year. Usually I am barely able to meet the limit of words for an essay but for this assignment I went 200 words over and I had to cut stuff out. This showed me that I am becoming a better writer and how I need to stay organized in order to make it make sense.