Fouled Out by Kathryn

Fouled Out by Kathryn - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

Kathryn Rhoads - Varsity Tutors February Essay – “Fouled Out”

Ever since I was five years old, I have had a basketball in my hand. Between my love for competition and my dad’s love for basketball, the game and me were inseparable. I made it on any basketball team I tried out for throughout my adolescence, with ease. I trained many times per week and even sometimes shot around in the dark before supper. During my freshman year of high school, I did what very few girls get to experience; I made the junior varsity team as a freshman. For my high school, freshman girls barely make the freshman team, much less make junior varsity. I was ecstatic. Immediately after the coach told me, I ran to my dad, who was waiting to pick me up from tryouts outside, to inform him. He seemed to be even more ecstatic than I was! He finally got the chance to watch his own child, as I am the oldest, play the game he so dearly loved at an elevated level. This happiness continued throughout the season and into the next year’s tryouts during my sophomore year. I had even higher goals of making varsity, but to my dismay, I was placed on junior varsity, again. Although at first I saw this as a downward trend for my previously exponential playing ability, I soon found that most of my close friends, who had played on the freshman team the year before, would now be my teammates. This fact lifted my spirits a little more about the fact that I made junior varsity, again. I also found myself in the position of being a leader. The season played out better than expected, as I had more fun on junior varsity my sophomore year than I did my freshman year. When the season was over, I waited anxiously for my junior year season to start, as I just knew that I would make varsity for sure. But to my surprise, I was offered another spot on the junior varsity team, yet again. My exponential growth of playing ability had now turned into an exponential disappointment. Unlike the year before, all of my close friends quit playing basketball, so I would be, by far, the oldest on the team. I did not appreciate that fact one bit, and I felt my growth, progress, and hard work was all for not. I did not appreciate it so much that I was forced to give up my life-long love of the sport of basketball. I was crushed. More crushed than me was my dad, who would never see his daughter step foot in a varsity game during her high school years.
Although I had to give up the game I loved, I learned a very crucial lesson from my entire high school basketball experience. First, I learned that no matter how much effort and time you put to something, there will always be someone better with less effort and less time put in who excel, and that’s just called talent. This lesson was especially crucial to learn when I talked to my coaches about the reasons behind not letting me play at the varsity level. Their response was, “There are just better players for the team.” At the time, their response was not the response I wanted to hear. It crushed me. But in the end, it was the response I needed. I always thought that I was the best at everything I did. It was just my competitive nature. But with this eye-opening experience, I realized that there will always be someone better and that is crucial information to understand when continuing on into adult life. It made me focus on what my “talent” was – the talent to be motivational and influential in my leadership. I have been able to take that talent and lead Student Council, be an officer in my business club, win and compete in state and international business competitions, and create inspiring marketing materials for school events. Ultimately, I won, as I have now been accepted into a prestigious business school for marketing and will be able to follow my passion and talent.