Personal Statement
My name is Rachel Robbins.
Growing up, there wasn’t a sport I didn’t enjoy. I participated in soccer, swim team, tennis, taekwondo, gymnastics, cross country, track, and softball. The day after I qualified for state gymnastics in 5th grade, I went to my brother’s “welcome back to hockey event” for his mite team. After 10 minutes of skating, I went up to my dad and told him I wanted to play hockey. This came to a surprise to my dad because I hadn’t skated since second grade. The Pee-Wee teams were already determined so the Wildcat organization said I could “try” hockey at the next practice as long as I paid USA Hockey dues. Wearing my younger brother’s gear, I stepped out onto the ice, being one of only two girls. It started out a little rough, but once I started to get the hang of it there was no stopping me. That’s where my love of hockey began and since that day I’ve never hesitated for one moment that hockey was the sport for me.
Through the sport, I’ve learned many things about myself and also about friendship and value of hard work. I’ve also learned about determination, and how the only way you can get better is through determination and hard work. I’ve used what I’ve learned in hockey and have applied it to school in how I strive to be the best I can be.
Since I’d started the sport at an older age compared to some of the people around me, there were many obstacles I had to overcome. One is that since I was one of two girls I wasn’t taken seriously by the other boys on the ice. Knowing that was very hard on me because all I wanted was to be taken seriously by my peers. From that point on I tried my hardest to show that I could be as good as the boys around me and that I should be taken seriously.
I use hockey as a way to relieve all the stress from my day. When I step onto the ice the only thing I worry about is giving my best effort and preforming to my best ability. Hockey means so much to me.
I would like to play hockey in college and major in environmental science. I'm hard working on and off the ice. I give my best effort in everything I'm doing, no matter the situation.
Off the ice, I enjoy playing soccer. I also love music and play the clarinet in marching band and play the bass clarinet in concert band. I also love hanging out with my friends on the weekends. I'm active in the following clubs: Pay It Forward, Relay for Life, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I belong to Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church.
