Out of all my sports I have ever played, there has been a common theme. I love the sport because of the people I am around. One of my favorite memories was when me and my tennis team were on the bus going to a tennis match. We would sing together and jump up at the back of the bus whenever the bus was about to hit a bump. Everyone was laughing and we always had a great time. We were all equal. My two main sports I played in high school was cheer and tennis. Being in different types of sports including coed and all-girl teams has helped me become a stronger female athlete. Also being able to balance school and sports while being successful in both feels great and empowering. Being on an all-girl cheer team gave me confidence in my own skin. I felt empowered to be a girl and felt that I had worth as a woman. Going through the season from summer until the end of February, boys would try to do what we did. Every time they would try, they would tell us that it is very hard and they could never do what we do. Cheer is a complex sport that requires you to be very fit physically, but is the most mentally challenging sport I had ever done. On top of that, it is one of the most time demanding sports as we had to learn sideline cheers and dances for games on our own time, go and cheer at others sports and their games, and had long practices after school for the competitive side of cheer where we would learn the routines we would perform at competitions. When I first joined tennis, it was confusing because there are different categories with in the sport. These categories included, boys doubles, girls doubles, mixed doubles, boys singles, and girls singles. I played mixed doubles where I had a male companion as my partner. I felt that I was equal with my partner who was not any better than I was and was not any worse. I felt that I could be just as good as any boy on that team because if I am determined, I can do anything I put my mind to. While in cheer and tennis, I learned how to have self-discipline and time management. Throughout the year, I would not procrastinate any of my homework. I knew my school schedule as well as my sport schedule so I could plan ahead. Every week on Fridays I would get all my homework done no matter the due date so I could focus on my sports for the weekend. I would talk with my teachers and took time out of my day to get the help that I needed to be successful in my academic portion of school. I would also ask help from other students as well as tutor them which gave me more practice in my homework. Sometimes if I could not fit both school and sports into my day, I would wake early in the morning to make sure that I knew everything. Sports taught me lessons that school could have never taught me alone. Sports have taught me that I am worth it and no man can tell me I am not good enough.