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Here it is my UC application Personal Statement.
Spending almost eight hours a day in a classroom does not
make a person who they are. What I do outside the classroom on
my own time tells more about me than any grade or standardized
test ever could. Like most of my friends, I am involved in athletics.
I have played football, but track and field is my cup of hot
cocoa. I am a big kid, and it is customary for the big kids
at my school to take a shot at the throwing events in track and
field. I have enough coordination to throw a twelve pound ball
and a three and a half pound Frisbee. It doesn’t sound like
much, but those two events have created much of my character.
Throwing made me part of a team and as part of a team I became
part of something bigger than myself. I have learned that with
the combined efforts of many I can achieve more. My team won
the league championship, and by myself I could not have won the
championship. Since everyone achieves more together we won a
championship as a team.
Being part of the group has also helped me develop my people
skills, especially my skill in being able to rely on others.
When we won the league championship as a team I had to be able
to rely on the other athletes on my team to do their jobs. I
had to have confidence in them or otherwise our team might have
lost morale and we may not have won.
Being part of a team has helped me learn how to be a leader.
I am the captain of the throwers, who are a subdivision of the
track and field team. I help in the stretches that we perform
every day before practice starts making sure everyone is on task.
Being a team captain has encouraged my growth in taking responsibilities.
When the team goes to a invitational it is my job as a captain
to make sure we have all our throwing implements. I also have
to make sure that all the other throwers know when their events
take place so that they can properly warm up.
Being a captain also requires that I make sure everyone is happy
with the way things are going as well as encouraging other athletes
to do better. I listen to their conversations to make sure they
do not berate and belittle each other. This ensures that the
team has a good morale and strives to better. If the captains
let the troops get depressed will they want to go engage the
enemy? No, instead the troops will not perform at their maximum
and we will lose.
Before you can rely on others, others have to be able to rely
on you. I have met this task and excelled in it. At the league
championship meet I was relied upon by the team to win the shot-put
competition. All I had to do was win shot-put and the team would
have been contented. But, I did better than win shot-put; I also
took sixth place in discus, earning the team another point.
From track and field I have learned that most importantly I
must do my job. I need to do what has to be done, and do my best
at it. If throwing sixty feet requires six months of training,
then I have to go through six months of training. Doing my job
requires that I do all the necessary prerequisites. I can’t
pick up a hundred pound dumbbell unless I can pick up a fifty
pound dumbbell first.
Track and field is a major part of my life. It has sculpted
my outlook on health and happiness. It has changed the way I
live. This sport has become a central unifying entity in my life,
and without it I might not have any drive or motivation. Track
and field explains more about me than any test or survey ever
will.
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