Draft 1 400 Words
Casey Jordan
Professor Miller
CMM415
Sports have caught my attention since as early as I can remember. So I can confidently say that sports are a piece of my identity, and without them I would be missing pieces of who I am today and who I will be in the future. When I say that I identify myself heavily with sports, its not for the fact that I think they are fun to watch, play or give me a certain status. Infact I dont like the idea of peoples first impressions of me being an athlete, or that being what I am known for in peoples minds at all. Although I am a somewhat reserved person, I have much more to be known for then just an athlete. I take steps daily to become more confident, open minded, a harder worker and a reliable friend. Ultimately, I want to make sure that I can do something every day that can help me be a better version of myself. Sports gives me a vessel to work on these self improvements. I am challenged mentally and physically almost daily because of sports. While the younger me would shy away from being constantly challenged. I have grown to be extremely thankful for the hard times sports have given me and will continue to give me. Because now I can look at any challenge or low period in my life, and know that I will come out of it stronger. For example, messing up during practice and getting chewed out by my coaches used to get to me personally. It would make me feel terrible and like I was incapable. However it would make me focus harder on what I needed to do to make that play the next time. And when the next time came, I could always do it. As ive grown up I relate situations like being challenged in sports to lifes challenges. Ive seen that I can get knocked down in sports and come back stronger, so I believe in myself to come out stronger when life gets hard. This has helped me gain confidence in myself on and off the field. As ive proven to myself that I am willing to work hard because I know it will always pay off in the long run. Whether the hard work makes me better on the field, or just teaches me something about myself.
Draft 2
Casey Jordan
Professor Miller
CMM415
Sports have caught my attention since as early as I can remember. So I can confidently say that sports are a piece of my identity, and without them, I would be missing pieces of who I am today and who I will be in the future. When I say that I identify myself heavily with sports, its not for the fact that I think they are fun to watch, play or give me a certain status. In fact, I don’t like the idea of people’s first impressions of me being an athlete, or that being what I am known for at all. I want to be known for my qualities, much more than just an athlete. I take steps daily to become more confident, a harder worker and a reliable friend. Ultimately, I want to make sure that I can do something every day that can help me be a better version of myself. Sports give me a vessel to work on these self-improvements. I am challenged mentally and physically almost daily because of sports. While the younger me would shy away from being constantly challenged. I have grown to be extremely thankful for the hard times sports have given me. Because now I can look at any challenge or low period in my life, and know that I will come out of it stronger. For example, messing up during practice and getting chewed out by my coaches used to get to me personally. It would make me feel terrible and like I was incapable. However, it would make me focus harder on what I needed to do to make that play the next time. And when the next time came, I could always do it. As I’ve grown up, I relate situations like being challenged in sports to life’s challenges. I’ve seen that I can get knocked down in sports and come back stronger. This has helped me gain confidence in myself on and off the field. As I’ve proven to myself that I am willing to work hard because I know it will always pay off in the long run. Whether the hard work makes me better on the field, or just teaches me something about myself.
Sports have also helped me build strong relationships and work on my social skills. Every single one of my best friends has come from playing football. Not just because I met them on the same team, but also because football challenged us together and made us form a unique bond. Because we have seen each other conquer challenges, I know I can count on them for anything, and they know they can always count on me to be there. Those kinds of friendships are rare and I am grateful that I have multiple of them because of sports. I don’t know if I would ever have friendships nearly this strong without football forcing me to meet people. I have always struggled with approaching people and putting myself out there. Entering freshman year of college football was an extremely difficult time for me due to my reserved personality. While I saw others building friendships, I felt left out at the start. My grades also suffered from this because I didn’t want to ask for help or contribute in class. Eventually, I decided I had to become more confident in myself and get out of my comfort zone to grow. Having nearly a hundred teammates helped me tremendously with this. Whether it was just saying hi to them when we passed by each other, or cracking jokes. I slowly was able to warm up and find more of a voice at school. Since freshman year, I believe my social skills have improved, and I realize that you have to put yourself out there and can’t expect help to come to you. I try to challenge myself daily to be more outgoing, although it’s even more challenging than playing football for me. While I’m still fairly reserved, my social skills would not have come nearly as far without football.
Final Draft
Casey Jordan
Professor Miller
CMM415
My Relationship with Sports
I have had a hunger for competing in sports since as early as I can remember. So I can confidently say that sports are a piece of my identity, and without them, I would be missing pieces of who I am today and who I will be in the future. When I say that I identify myself heavily with sports, it used to be because I thought it would give me status and make me more likable. As I have matured, I don’t like the idea of people’s first impressions of me being an athlete, or that being what I am known for at all. I want to be known for my qualities as a human, much more than just an athlete. I take steps daily to become more confident, harder working, and more social. Ultimately, I want to make sure that I can do something every day that can help me be a better version of myself. Sports have given me a vessel to work on these self-improvements, whether I always realized it or not.
From the time I started playing football at ten years old, I desperately wanted to be my high school’s Varsity Quarterback. This challenge consumed me; it was all I could think about. It quickly took over my identity as it was the only thing that mattered to my younger self. I thought that if I could achieve this goal, I would be liked by everyone and my life would be perfect.
Through my first three years of high school, I was faced with the challenge of there being better players than me. I worked hard at getting better, but I never compared to them on the field. This affected me mentally, I thought because I wasn’t a good player, my peers would think less of me. Every mistake I made fed into my insecurities. Eventually, I had no confidence, and I didn’t believe in the results of hard work. I view this time as a turning point in my relationship with sports. I could either give up on what I have wanted for so long, or adapt and work harder than I ever have.
I dedicated the offseason before my Senior year to improving my nutrition, athleticism, and most importantly, my headspace. Still, all my hard work came from the motive of being liked by other people. Nevertheless, I challenged myself mentally and physically every day for months on end in pursuit of this goal. By reading books to understand my mind, and training multiple times a day. Seeing myself start to conquer these challenges in football started to build my confidence back up.
By the time Football season came around, I was a version of myself who was confident in my ability. Throughout Football camp, I solidified myself as the Varsity Quarterback, and I accomplished what I set out to do since I was ten years old.
While the younger me would shy away from being constantly challenged. Once I finally accomplished my goal, I started to be thankful for the hard times sports have given me. I realized there is a translation between handling struggles in sports and in life. For example, messing up during practice and getting chewed out by my coaches used to get to me personally. It would make me feel terrible and like I was incapable. However, it would make me focus harder on what I needed to do to make that play the next time. And when the next time came, I could always do it. This led to an evolution of my mindset that helped me gain confidence in myself on and off the field. I’ve proven to myself that hard work does pay off in the long run. Whether it makes me better on the field or just teaches me something about myself.
The next turning point in my relationship with sports came when I got the opportunity to play college football. I currently attend The University of New England to study Communications and keep playing the sport I love. Joining a new football team handed me another slate of big challenges. I tried to use my confidence learned from high school football; however, it was depleted when I realized I wasn’t that special compared to everyone else on the team. I quickly realized nobody was going to like me just because I was the Varsity Quarterback one time in high school. I started to fall behind socially and became more reserved than I already was. My grades also suffered from this because I didn’t want to ask for help or contribute in class. I had a completely new set of challenges to overcome.
After falling very short of my academic and football potential in my first semester, I decided I had to become more confident in myself again. I tried to push myself to get out of my comfort zone and work on my social skills. Having nearly a hundred teammates helped me tremendously with this. Whether it was just saying hi to them when we passed by each other, or cracking jokes. I slowly was able to warm up and find more of a voice within the team and at school.
Along the way, I was able to build some of my strongest friendships. Not just because I met them on the same team, but also because football challenged us together and made us form a unique bond. Because we have seen each other conquer challenges, I know I can count on them, and they know they can count on me. Those kinds of friendships are rare, and I am grateful that I have multiple of them because of sports.
I believe that because of Football and the environment around it, my social skills have improved tremendously. I realized that I have to put myself out there more in order to grow, and can’t expect help to come to me without asking. I try to challenge myself daily to be more outgoing, although it’s even more challenging than playing football for me.
Football has taken me on a journey I will always be thankful for. By changing my relationship with sports in a way I never would have imagined when I was ten years old. However, I think it was a much-needed change. I now recognize sports as the ultimate vessel for self-improvement. Through sports, I have been able to find a version of myself beyond being an athlete that I am proud of. Since I started playing football, my confidence, work ethic, and social skills have come very far. But they still have plenty of improving to do. I hope in my last two years of playing football, I can learn even more about myself. Which I believe is the most rewarding part of this great game.
