I wish I could include a picture of me playing soccer with this essay because that was all I did from age five to fifteen. Soccer was life for ten years so most people are surprised to hear that the fall of my senior year in high school I will Captain of my high school Cross Country team. How I became Captain of a running sport is an accomplishment I never saw coming. If you had asked me in elementary school, middle school, or even my first two years of high school if I would do anything but play soccer I would have said never.
I am the youngest of three boys. My oldest brother was a successful runner all through high school; captain of the cross country and track team, and now runs in college. My second oldest brother had the same success.
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I had been working hard and really felt like a part of the team. The first real challenge I faced was trying to live in the shadow of my older brothers. Who both had success in their running careers. It was the third race of the year and I was running in the varsity race against our conference rival. To me, this race was a chance to prove I was an important member of the team and could possibly lead the team as captain in the future. This was the first race that I experienced the difficulty of being a runner. I had placed 17 and had the worst race of my short career, My older brother placed third and was thanked by coaches, parents, and teammates for leading the team to an outstanding victory. My second oldest brother was captain of the team and was always relied on to lead the team. Watching my brother during my first season of cross country taught me a lot about leadership.
After I started cross country I learned about the leadership and experienced failure. Cross country has helped me with my transition from childhood and adulthood by teaching me that success is earned through hard work, determination, and leading by example. That's what I did after my first bad race, I worked hard and continued on my quest and showed my coaches and my teammates that I could lead the