You cannot always wait for the perfect time, sometimes you must dare to jump.

-Anonymous

When I was in middle school, I wanted nothing else than to play basketball in college. It was my dream. I had huge aspirations to play at Michigan State and play there for four years. One thing I did not account for was running… and the fact that there was no way I’d be able to play at Michigan State. Although I was tugged back and forth about what sport I should continue to do, I loved basketball but had way more success in track and field. Even my basketball coaches would always say how good I’d be at running and I just felt like my destiny was already set before me. One thing I did not expect, was high jumping. High jump is a part of track and field that involves running and jumping off one foot to clear a bar (picture above). I had no idea where it would take me, but I knew my coach wanted me to try. Throughout 7th grade and I experienced a lot of success, including winning the middle school state meet. As 8th grade started, the first meet I broke our school record and set a standard that was second in the nation. I knew that now high jumping was in the mix of my every day life.

My point is that you should welcome the somewhat strange or new and give it a try. Trying something new can be scary, shouldn’t stop you from exploring new avenues of fun. I’m so glad that my coach threw me into something like high jump that I wouldn’t have tried if my coach didn’t encourage me to. you never know how far or high you’ll go so shoot for the stars.