Utilizing Opportunities: A Valuable Life Lesson by Kailey

Utilizing Opportunities: A Valuable Life Lesson by Kailey - November 2013 Scholarship Essay

The most valuable lesson that I've learned in high school is to take full advantage of the opportunities offered to me; specifically, help from coaches and teachers in order to better myself.

I learned from an early age that talent alone would not suffice to help me succeed at the levels that I set for myself. This applied first and foremost to my athletic career. I decided when I was eight years old that I wanted to play hockey for as long as I was given the opportunity to, and this meant being the best player that I could physically be. However, I quickly learned that the game was equally mental. My physical talent proved not to be enough - I had to learn the game inside and out. I was fortuitous enough to find coaches in Minneapolis who knew exactly how the game functioned and had a passion for teaching it to the promising players that they coached. They told me several times over that I though I was the youngest on the team, and hadn't developed as much physical skill as the others, I was coachable. In their opinion, they explained, that counted more than ten players who had all the physical skills but no trainability. From that point on, I soaked up every bit of advice my coaches gave to me, and have since become an exceptional athlete. Though physical talent is important, I also now know how important it is to hear and absorb the advice given to me from my coaches. Therefore, I first learned how to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves to me through athletics.

I further learned just how important taking advantage of opportunities is when I applied it to my academics. Many of the teachers that I have been lucky enough to have in class have been willing to go above and beyond their job requirements to help students. It is my job to go to them every time I have a question or a predicament; as a result, I have noticed how important it is to utilize the generosity that the teachers offer with their time and knowledge and how this directly affects my grade. The knowledge my teachers have is priceless; therefore, it would be ludicrous not to absorb as much of that knowledge that I am given the opportunity to while I am in their classroom. In a similar way to using the advice given to me by my coaches, the advice given to me by my teachers is equally, if not more, important to take advantage of. This has made me both a much better and resourceful student and a more skilled athlete; therefore, through many helpful coaches and teachers, the most important lesson that I have learned during my high school career is the ability to find and utilize the opportunities that are presented to me in life.