There are many words to I could use to describe myself but I’ll start with I’m a 16 year old rising junior at Spaulding High School from Central Vermont. I am 5’11” and have always had a love for sports. Before I could even talk I had a golf club in my hand, a baseball bat, or I was kicking the soccer ball around. I could not stop playing sports.
I currently have a 3.9 overall GPA and am ranked 6th in my class. I have a very rigorous course schedule, maxing myself out on AP and honors classes to fully take advantage of the many challenging classes my school has to offer. I was recently elected as Student Council Vice President. I am very blessed to have three sports as an outlet for all the stress that goes along with the high standards I set for myself.
As an overly rambunctious and wild three year old, with bounds of energy, my parents signed me up for gymnastics classes at a local gym. During my preschool classes I would pretend I was walking on a balance beam, and practice spins around my room.
From that moment on, I was eating, breathing and sleeping gymnastics. When I was four years old I made the pre-team. There was nothing I wanted more than to go to the Olympics, I trained every day at home or in the gym. That following year I skipped level 4 and went straight to level 5, finishing first at the first meet I had ever competed. This led to over half a dozen state championship titles, as well as at least 13 event titles, countless meets won (most notably a second place finish at the Aquafina championship, the largest meet on the east coast), and my favorite, a third place regional title to make my state proud.
I would consider myself a perfectionist. Growing up in the world of gymnastics, I learned very quickly that I could settle for nothing less than the best. Striving for perfection became not only a way of life but my personality complex. I will never attempt a challenge without getting the most that I can out of it. I am extremely motivated and organized and will stop at nothing to improve my skills on and off the field.
My background in gymnastics has helped me immensely as an athlete. Whether it’s being able to do more chin ups than the football team, having a seven goal game in soccer or beating 11 players to score a goal in lacrosse, gymnastics is the underlying cause. Gymnastics taught me the determination and the strength I need to perform well in other sports, as well as my academics.
However, at 5’11”, gymnastics not only becomes much harder physically, but you begin to put everlasting damage on your joints that can never be repaired. I was racking up frequent flier points in the emergency room. This is when my love for soccer and lacrosse began.
I had been playing soccer for as long as I can remember. Until my freshman year, I averaged 6 or 7 goals a game despite usually being taken out at half time. My freshman year I averaged 2 or 3 goals a game. As a Sophomore I moved to midfield and lead the team in assists, while still being in the running for top scorer.
I loved the team aspect I had in soccer, so freshman year I decided to try out for lacrosse. After three games I was moved up to varsity defensively. Things began to change. I fell in love with lacrosse. I began playing in New Hampshire and Massachusetts to see how I matched up to competition and I was beginning to get very good. After having a successful sophomore season I made the decision to play at the college level. Everywhere I went nobody could match my speed, athleticism, strength and agility.
I now train three days a week for strength & conditioning while working on speed and agility two days a week with my trainer, life coach, and biggest role model David Ball, former NFL wide receiver. I work on stick handling almost every day with the hopes of someday playing at the division one college level. There is not a time that I play lacrosse where I do not feel as though I am expanding my skills. I am getting better exponentially every day, and plan to continue this. Although in lacrosse you cannot receive the elusive ‘perfect ten’ I will achieve extreme excellence regardless of whom I play for.
