My Senior year started off rough after getting hit by a car during cross country but I was still able to bounce back towards the end of the season and finish off strong. Being in sports such as Cheer, Dance, Cross Country, and Track has shaped my identity by teaching me who I am and what I’m capable of accomplishing. These sports have all shown me that I am strong, mentally and physically. They have shown me how to never give up and how to handle critiques from coaches. They have taught me how important it is to have self confidence, if you keep saying or thinking you can’t do something then you won’t be able to. Especially while in track this sport is alot of mental so it taught me how to mentally prepare myself for a race and just truly believe that I can do whatever I put my heart and mind to. In track and cross country, I learned how to push through super tuff moments such as having a bad race and or practice, not seeing my times drop, feeling tired and fatigue, and I even felt like giving up sometimes but this sport taught me determination and to push through even when things get hard. Running long distance or sprinting against the clock taught me success that comes from hard work. Mentally & physically this sport has taken a toll on me when I had my bad days but I always pushed through because i i knew I would get better and stronger. Throughout my years and seasons I’ve always improved my performance but by being determined and always putting 100% effort on and off the track. Cheerleading and competitive dance is how I learned the importance of self confidence and how to perform under pressure and as well as engaging a crowd. Before I started dance I was very shy and introverted, if you knew me today you wouldn’t even believe that by how much Ive grown socially. Dance taught me to embrace who I am, expressing my emotions without words and just by movements and facials, and also seeing improvement from when I was a beginner to now being advanced. It helped me break out of that shy young girl I was to now a Confident self loving determined young lady. Balancing all these different activities in school taught me how to time manage efficiently, where I can study hard in all my assignments and classes but also make sure I am not falling behind in sports and Vice Versa. In the world of male dominance I was still able to push through all these stereotypes especially during track & cross country. These sports taught me Women are capable of achieving and excelling just as a man can. In this world today women often have to prove themselves, these lessons also taught me how to be powerfully mentally and physically. Competing in these sports showed me that strength is not limited to one gender, any gender can achieve anything they put the hard work into. Cheer taught me leadership and teamwork and how to always support others even if you aren’t as much successful as your teammates yet. Ive learned how to speak up for myself and never let anyone belittle my dreams and what I know I am capable of achieving.