Personal Statement
Playing hockey for so long has not just taught me a lot about the sport, but also about life. Something I learned through playing hockey is that setbacks make my accomplishments even more rewarding. I first realized this after my team lost to Edina in a U10A hockey tournament. The loss was upsetting, but because we were able to keep our heads up the rest of the tournament, we found ourselves playing for the championship. This game was especially significant not only because we were battling for first, but because the game was against Edina. This was our opportunity for redemption. I don’t remember everything about this game, but I do remember that Edina was a very good team, and the cards were definitely stacked against us. Although despite this, we managed to battle hard and score a lot against them. My team and I eventually went on to win that game, which to this day, is one of my most memorable hockey wins. Not because we won first place, and not because we beat a talented team, but because our previous loss against them meant that beating Edina was that much more exciting.
Something that I think is a unique characteristic of myself is that I always strive to be the best I can be. This characteristic has shown itself to be both good and bad. It is a good thing because it has made me create goals for myself that can lead to success in my future. An academic goal that I made for myself going into high school is to earn A-Honor roll all 4 years of high school. I was able to successfully do this my freshman year and I continue to work hard in school for this goal. However, my will to constantly be my best has also shown it’s bad side. In the beginning of my sophomore year of hockey I found that I would constantly get down on myself for every mistake I made. This quickly became an issue because I started to have a negative attitude towards myself which made me play even worse. However, with help from my coaches, I was able to learn that it is ok to make mistakes. I also learned that it is more important to learn from the mistakes I make on and off the ice, than to be perfect. This lesson I learned through hockey has changed the way I look at both the sport and life as a whole. Because of everything I have learned, I truly believe that I have the talent, mindset, and attitude to be successful in college level hockey.
