High School Sports

Image courtesy of Park City High School

Once you are in high school, things change. You start to have grow up as grades count, responsibilities multiply, and your future seems to constantly loom over you. But high school is also a chance to try out for things like sports teams. There are many sports that our high school has teams for; cross country, soccer, softball, baseball, track and field, football, swimming, tennis, golf, lacrosse, and more. These teams give us many new opportunities to show what we can do and connect with others. There are many good reasons to be attributed to one, or more, of these teams.

The first reason is to show off your work ethic. Being on a sports team, or multiple, for four years straight shows commitment, skill, and the ability to do hard work. Going to practices after school, five days a week, how many weeks depending on season length, for four years is impressive. Your resume will look even nicer with that on there. Plus, colleges LOVE you to have loads of extracurricular activities! (Because we, students, totally have time to belong to multiple clubs and teams after going to school for seven hours, and then doing the hours and hours of homework our classes give us. Well, we do have time, but only after giving up things like friends and sleep!) Seriously though, sports teams can look really good on records, speaking of records...

Like my segue? I know I did! Now, onto what I wanted to talk about. You don't even need to be super talented when you're starting a sport to succeed in it. With a high amount of practices, plus great coaches, you can get really good really fast. If you get good enough to set records, personal or statewide, that also looks good. It chiefly helps if you want to be on a college level team when you get older. Setting records in high school can also just be really cool :).

Last, and I think most important, is the teammanship (yes I made that all one word). Belonging to a team and having to work with that team gives and develops skills. Skills like how to work well with others, how to integrate yourself, and how to make, and keep, friendships. During the swim season, I gained so many incredible friends. Belonging to a team that work well together and care about each other is a great feeling. Mostly I loved the difference between the water and land. If we were at a meet, we competed against each other. In the next lane over your best friend in the world could be swimming, but you would still try and kick their butt. Then, after the race, you'd be congratulating each other. I liked this because it showed that we know how to work hard and that we value our individual goals, but also that we can value each other's goals too.

High school sports teams are pretty great. You gain skills you never would have alone, and you get a great sense of belonging. Just maybe don't try diving anytime soon...

Image courtesy of You Can Be Funny

Community

“We are neurologically hardwired to seek out people like ourselves. We start forming cliques as soon as we’re old enough to know what acceptance feels like. We bond together based on anything that we can - music preference, race, gender.” -iO Tillett Wright

Communities are formed by many different things. Neighbors, sports teams, musical preferences, interests, etc. Throughout life, we will each belong to many communities. These have many different people in each of them, and they shape who we were, who we are, and who we will become. The people we spend our time with can directly influence our decisions and personalities. I believe that communities are very important in people’s lives. They give you things that you can’t just give yourself.

Image courtesy of Ignitum Today

First, just the act of having people around you is beneficial. Humans are very social beings, we like to have companionship throughout life. Without companionship we may feel left out, excluded, and lonely. Loneliness actually has physical effects on our bodies. Remembering a time of loneliness can make people estimate that a room’s temperature is significantly colder than it actually is. It can make our actual skin temperature drop. It also makes our bodies feel under attack. Loneliness increases our blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Loneliness also “activates physical and psychological stress responses.”

Image courtesy of Daily Mail

Second, having people who care about you around you is spectacular. We all have times that are scary, sad, stressful, and hard. Having people who will help you through it, or just give you a hug when you need one, is amazing. Knowing that you can rely on this community for a "good morning," or a "how are you" is incredible. Once again, having the companionship of these people is incredibly beneficial to your mental and physical states.

Image courtesy of Keene Trial Consulting

Last, but not least, is that a group of people can give you things you can't just give yourself. The biggest of these is a feeling of acceptance. Yes, you can accept yourself for who you are, but we as people need others to feel truly accepted. Exclusion is not a very good feeling. Being pushed out or away from people makes you feel unwelcome and unwanted. Exclusion can lower self-esteem and even lead to depression. But when you have people around you who accept you for who you are, you don't have to feel that. You can know that you are loved, wanted, and needed.

Being in a community can be an amazing feeling. Whether it's for a couple days, weeks, years, or life. You should treasure when you find a group of people who you fit with. I know I do.

The TMJH Library's Breakfast Club

Everything's better, down where it's wetter, under the...pool!

Image courtesy of Disney Wikia

Today we shall talk about swimming, my dear readers! On top of taking up two hours a day of my life, it is my favorite thing to do. To give you an inside look at a BIG part of my life, here are the main reasons that I get in the pool everyday.

1. The water- I LOVE the pool! Honestly, it's my favorite place. The water is cool and refreshing, and it's a place to just let the stresses of the day flow away. Sometimes the water is a little too cold at first, but once we start working, it feels good. Once I start swimming, I get into this rhythm that almost counteracts the chaos of the day. As I go along, I can feel my body relax and let my mind wander. Sometimes I think about what I need to do after school, sometimes I think about problems my friends or I are having, or what I'm going to eat next. The latter seems to be a favorite topic of my brain and stomach.

2. The people- Everyone on the team is just amazing. They are all sweet, kind, caring, and want to help others in every way. Team dinners are a good example of that. Once in a while, we have a team dinner where everyone gets together, usually at a team captain's house. There is tons of food and everyone just hangs out and relaxes. These dinners are usually right after practice, so almost everyone who can't drive needs a ride from someone on the team. There have been times where people literally fought over who they wanted to drive. Another time my team mates are especially amazing is at swim meets. If you get a bad time or seem sad, they will approach you as soon as they notice and make you feel better. However, if you get a new best time, they will be just as excited, if not more, as you are about it.

3. The benefits- There are many benefits of swimming, but my favorite one is the ability to eat whatever. Swimmers may be skinny and strong, but it's definitely not because of small eating habits. It's the contrary. Any swimmer on my team will tell you that they eat a ton. The only reason that I get away with eating my body weight in food every day is because I swim. If I stopped swimming I would balloon up and gain just about four-hundred pounds, give or take. At every practice I burn an insane amount of calories (remember, sweat is just fat crying).

In conclusion, yes, practice is hard everyday, and yes sometimes I don't want to even touch the pool. But I love swimming too much to ever quit it. Even if I didn't love swimming, I wouldn't want to leave all the amazing people who are on my team.

What's Your Favorite Sport?

As some of you may know, I LOVE to swim! It's my favorite sport. During the last school year, I swam with PCS. During the summer, I swam with the MARC. But on Monday (Sept. 8) I am trying out for the PCS Imagination team so that I can do the musical in November, then after that I am going to try out for the High School team!!!!! Comment your favorite sport below, and if you don't have one, then just comment your favorite thing to do :).

My (fabulous) tan lines

GO PACKERS!!!!!

As with the coming of every fall, it's football season! My family's personal favorite team is...wait for it...the Green Bay Packers!!!!