- November 2018
Personal Statement
I pride myself on being a good student, striving, and in most cases achieving an A in the top classes offered in my school. Most of that success came from a strong work ethic and drive to be the best. Sports have challenged me to compete where everyone gives an A effort, and there is only one A to hand out. Sometimes you get the A, sometimes you do not. It is how you react to the result that determines one's character. Sports have taught me the importance of resilience.
One of my first competitive sports opportunities came when I was ten years old on one of my first basketball teams for town rec league. I certainly was not one of the biggest players in our grade. Looking back on my old photos, I can see why one may have dismissed me as quite ordinary. Our team, coached by my dad, was a middle of the road team in our league. Worse yet, I was forced to play point guard and I hated all the attention as I could only dribble with my right hand.
We were scheduled to play the best and undefeated team in the league after winter break and had no practice scheduled until the game. I felt powerless, angst ridden as the primary ball handler about to play this Goliath of an opponent. I resolved to do my best for my team and get better. But how do you do that with no gym access? I took my ball to the basement and cleared furniture for space to dribble and practiced dribbling moves from YouTube for hours every day during vacation, blasting Beyonce' songs in the background, developing a left and right hand dribbling moves. I may not have been tall, but I was fast, very fast with the ball. That was how we were going to beat teams. We lost to that Goliath team in the regular season, but it was a lot closer than anyone expected and I crossed up their best player on a fast break making her fall down trying to guard me. We went undefeated for the rest of the regular season, and I was the best ball handler in my grade and defenses began to focus on stopping me. In spite of losing 2 of our best players and having only 1 sub, my team made it thru the playoffs and to the finals where we faced the Goliath team again. I wish I could tell you were David for this Goliath team and won the Championship...
yet we lost...
However, I still improved my game. That improvement helped my team ascend to an unexpected level. Although we did not win, did not get the "A"... we did great. We were resilient, and it was still a great season, perhaps the one where I learned most about competition.
Thank you,
Isabel
