I decided to start playing beach volleyball in high school with my friends as a natural extension of my love for volleyball and my desire to challenge myself both physically and mentally. Having played indoor volleyball throughout high school, I wanted to develop and further my skills with beach volleyball. However, I still had to learn how to adapt to its unique rules, play style, outdoor weather conditions, and older competition on top of being undersized. Playing on sand with a different set of rules helped me learn how to conserve energy, play a more creative style, and more quickly read the offense or defense while also strengthening my body. Furthermore, it forces you to improve in all aspects of volleyball, such as passing, serving, blocking, and setting, where even one weakness in your volleyball abilities can cause you to lose. At first, I really struggled with having to cover more area and learning how to play the front row by myself, as I was used to having five players to help me with defense instead of one. Overcoming this challenge helped me develop my communication and leadership skills, as I am always constantly calling things out, giving hand signals, and making constant adjustments on the go in order to work together efficiently. From my experience, I developed a deep appreciation and joy for beach volleyball as it pushed me to really grow as an athlete, improving my volleyball intelligence and skills while also shaping my mindset to be the best by being competitive, resilient, and creative. Applying beach tactics and strategy into indoor sports made it easier for me to compete at an open or national level during tournaments, even despite me being at a height disadvantage. I embraced this new environment and challenge, which fueled my motivation and drive simply to get better. Beach volleyball allowed me to continue and practice my passion year-round, applying the lessons to life and hopefully one day bringing me closer to playing at the collegiate level. After college, I aspire to become an orthopedic surgeon in order to help save lives and create a positive change throughout the world. At a young age of 7, I experienced my grandma's passing, where I witnessed doctors trying their best to save my grandma. This left a lasting impact on my younger self, sparking motivation for me to work in the medical field one day, as I vowed to try my best in the future to save the lives of others and to prevent my family from suffering. Ever since that day, I have been trying my best to be involved with taking care of and monitoring my other grandparents' health by helping them take medication, perform daily activities, and even learning how to use basic medical tools to check for blood pressure, heart rate, sugar level, and more. I regularly translated for doctor appointments and checkups, so I often had an opportunity to learn, interact, and ask questions from doctors about medicine. Even joining a Biotech Academy at school to gain skills in a lab setting, getting real practical applications experience, and expanding knowledge on microbiology and molecular biology needed for medicine. An orthopedic surgeon is the career path I wish to pursue after medical school and residency to improve the well-being of others and to create a positive, meaningful impact on the patients I treat.