The ear splitting sound of my alarm clock breaks the silence that overpowers my room, and as I struggle to open my eyes, an immediate thought dawns: "What am I doing?"
It is 5:30 AM, all is dark and still. My body feels completely drained of energy and I am overcome with a feeling of lethargy. Phrases of “Perhaps I should call in sick” roam my mind, but despite all my musing, I manage to rise each morning at this ungodly hour to join the nationally ranked cross country team in rigorous training.
Cross country. a sport that requires the fusing of body and mind, strives to maximize one’s physical ability by testing one’s mental tenacity. Every day represents a new struggle to beat yesterday’s maximum output; an issue of mind over matter. Through pains and strains, and adverse weather and unfavorable conditions, I run because I made up my mind four years ago to succeed.
When I first joined the team the summer prior to my freshman year, I had no previous experience with running, unlike the majority of the team. Such an adversity only made my experience more challenging. In addition, constant injuries seemed to have an affinity towards me, to the point where I was forced to stop running
…show more content…
A few weeks later, similar injuries impacted my body, so I immediately decided to go to physical therapy in order to get me back on my feet - literally. All in all, I was fascinated with the work physical therapists did: From treating injuries, to rehabilitation, and to providing individuals with the confidence to continue with their passions. As a result of this experience, I proceeded to taking a class within my school, known as Regional Occupational Program, that dealt with healthcare professions. Little did I know that I would discover a philanthropic side to me that would lead me to want to pursue a career in the healthcare
After months of little physical activity, caused by the accident and the events after, Tom’s body starts declining. He doesn’t eat as much and stops playing his sport, Rugby. But family and friends bring back Tom’s motivation and he begins running and becomes more invested in rugby, creating noticeable changes to his body. ‘Today I noticed my arms weren’t looking bad. I gave my muscles a flex and there was a bicep sticking up on its own.
I magically picked up my sports shoes again, finally decided to continue my run. And when I finally went back to my team with Coach Chavez, I 'm even more determined that it 's indeed an unexpected luck for me to meet such an inspiring coach who led me to the eventual realization about myself, how I was encircled and almost suffocated by my narrow ego which I looked upon as wisdom. With her, I recognized that in the running towards one 's pursuit, only with the commitment and efforts to one 's utmost, victory could be achieved. And now, as I look up to those athletes, not only that I no longer detest their opinions, I too, join their camps, looking forward to run once again to my heart 's content, with the beginning
In life, even though we are told not to do so, a lot of us “count our chickens before they hatch”. We make assumptions on things before they happen because we believe that if something seems so likely, it will happen. Well, that is what my Liberty High School cross country team did my sophomore year. Going into the year, we not only knew we were going to be strong, we thought other teams were going to be weak. The top teams from the state finals the previous year had all lost most of their key pieces.
Broken bones or raging fevers,The two jobs that I chose to further gain knowledge of is a physician assistant and a physical therapist. As I was doing my research I wanted to see the extent of requirements that each occupation requires while seeing overall which job sounds more appealing to me. As of right now I am leading towards the physician assistant job as I have always been interested more of the prescription medicine side of things. In the future I have to decide whether or not I want to more personally in to the range of motions of people who have been injured, or look in to a more personal connection with the medicine side of things.
The repetitive stress of utilizing certain muscles year round has led to everlasting affects many athletes are unable to overcome. This has led to many athletes seeking constant medical attention from chiropractors. This discovery by Tommy John has allowed for many skilled chiropractors to recommend to their clients the everlasting affects they may experience from specializing one sport. Along with chiropractors, similar career paths such as doctors have found a manageable solution to repetitive stress on young athletes muscles. The Leners Children Pavillion believes that “if they (Young Athletes) love baseball, they play that sport for two seasons.
Being over six feet tall, Author of Born To Run, Chris McDougall was constantly being told by his physicians to stop running. However he defied the odds when he overcame his injuries by using as minimal equipment as possible while running. McDougall describes his encounters with various runners, especially the Tarahumara indians, to show runners that attitude is more important than expensive equipment, in the interest of proving that all humans are born to run. McDougall does not possess the typical “runner 's body.” He describes a time when he visited his doctor, Joe Torg, to ask what he could do in order to minimize his injuries while running.
As the third day of scrimmages approached, I felt a slight soreness in my ankle. Halfway through the second scrimmage of the day, I was exhausted and could feel the sore tension in my ankle festering. The thought of sitting out flashed through my mind, but was quickly overcome by the overwhelming desire to get through this game and make the team. This desire, however, would be my downfall. In the final minutes of the game, while I was running up the right wing, dead-set on finishing this
The only time I can think of when I had grit was at a cross country meet. A few days before the meet I couldn’t breathe very well, and my stomach hurt a lot. At first, I thought it was just nerves and excitement for the race, which was at Starmont. For that race I was on varsity and as soon as we started the race and got into pace, I knew something was very wrong. I was wheezing and it was agonizing to try and breathe, I thought I was having a heart attack.
I ran in my middle school’s track team for two years. I ran the mile, one hundred meter dash and triple jump. Out of all the events I participated in I absolutely despised the mile, I hated the aftermath the most. The feeling of my lungs burning, legs aching from the long run and the heavy asthmatic breathes. Although the mile had several cons, I loved the challenge and I was too stubborn to quit.
I am sprawled out on the grassy area encapsulating my school's track, my second home, under the shade of a sizeable tree. My team has just finished a grueling workout consisting of mile repeats. My eyes are closed so that the sweat does not trickle into them. This is my favorite feeling in the world. This is what I think of to calm myself before races.
The fact that learning never stops, that you work and collaborate with some of the smartest minds around, and the uniqueness of each patient gets me very eager to enroll in a challenging DPT program with proven student success. I am very thankful for the experience I’ve had so far observing physical therapy and studying the sciences in my undergrad. I don’t think as many other careers are so open to allow students into their workspace and I look forward to one day being able to spark another young student’s interest in rehab therapy. Before my sophomore year in high school, there was little I knew about the physical therapy field but since then I have spent a great deal of time observing physical therapists and from all that I’ve learn I know that I want to become a physical
Becoming an occupational therapist is my passion and my long-term career goal. Since a young age I have been incredibly inspired and motivated to befriend and help disabled individuals. Having grown up with a disabled mother who benefited from the services of occupational therapy I had the opportunity to see first hand how the experience gave can give individuals like her fulfilling and productive lives. With both parents working as healthcare professionals, including my mother who is now an occupational therapist herself, I see every day how rewarding the field is. Through my life I have had unique personal, professional and educational experiences that have shaped me into a strong candidate for an advanced education in occupational therapy.
My passion for track and field began with a Nike advertisement. At age ten, I opened the newspaper to a two-page spread of the hometown distance running legend Steve Prefontaine overlaid by a paragraph of inspirational copy. It concluded asking, “Where is the Next Pre?” The story of his small town Oregon roots, gutsy racing style, and ambition to be the best resonated with me like nothing ever had before. I told myself I was the next Pre, and then tore off for my first run through the streets of Eugene, Oregon – “Tracktown USA”.
I have run cross country for four years. It has been one of the biggest obstacles I have had to face. Cross country is one of the most challenging sports. Runners must learn how to pace themselves and be able to keep that speed going for a little over three miles which is not easy. My first cross country season was extremely difficult.
Prior to my first day of practice I mistakenly prepared myself for failure. I remembered my coach telling me at the minimum we would be running four miles a day I order to get prepared for our first meet. By the time I finished pondering how long four miles would take, my team had already vanished and left me behind. I knew I had only been running approximately five minutes, however my body felt as if it had been running