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For the most part, most of us are exposed to a large variety of sports within our lifetime. Whether it was through the passing down of participation from our parents our siblings, or learning the joy of a particular sport while in a Physical Education class in public school, we all found that there was one sport that fulfilled our needs for a fun and exciting physical activity.

I started with swimming. When a pool opened up in our town my eldest sister had signed up for the first season of our town's swimming sports, and eventually the participation in the swim team was passed down through siblings, all six of us. I swam for 8 years, taking a year off during middle school. It was fun, being in a sport with all of my siblings and many of my friends. It was a common activity that we were actively involved in all year-round.

In a small off season, I played soccer in the fall and baseball in the spring when I was young. My father coached the soccer team, and it was in this sport where I really excelled, all the way through high school. Baseball, meanwhile, I found to be boring while all the sitting and standing around. I dropped out after three years.

During intermediary school, I did a season of basketball upon the encouragement of some of my friends. I could do the fundamentals, passing, dribbling, shooting, etc. But I didn't excel, and despite all of my efforts, I sat on the bench. Figuring there were more sports were I would actually play more, I quit. I'm still quite thankful for that season, and those in baseball also, because now I can play a pick-up game of either with my friends and be quite competent.

To fill the space of a spring sport in middle school, I found a new passion in running as I joined the track team. I found out on the very first practice I was quite good at distance running, beating all 50 of the athletes, minus one. I regularly then ran the mile and half-mile and did quite well. Running gave me something to do in the summer vacation, or just when I was doing nothing after school. The rhythm of my feet hitting the road let my mind concentrate on other things.

Coming into high school, I felt that with my newfound talent and passion in running I should join the cross-country team. But with a family history of bad joints, and some of my own knee-problems coming up, I decided to go with what roots I had and go with soccer. It was a great season, a the first winning one for a decade. But it hadn't been as much fun as it was in my youth. I decided next year I would find something new to do.

In spring, I went a new path and joined up with tennis. I was horrible at first, like everyone is. But after a week, my shots and serves started landing in, and I learned to love tennis above all things. I found my best friends in tennis, and the coach was more than just a coach, she was a role model that I talked to about anything.

So, the next fall, instead of doing soccer, I helped manage the girls team, occasionally playing with them keeping the shack organized, and watching every match with my friend, keeping stats and overall, learning what strategies work best on the court. It was watching that really helped me improve my game.

My favorite sport is definitely tennis, but it's among many. Every once in a while I'll hit the road with my iPod and live the days of being on the track team, being one of many star players on a soccer team that was best in the state, hitting home runs in baseball, the rush of being on the basketball court, or the explosion when you started a race in swimming. And occasionally, I still do go back to the pool and practice with the team. They don't mind, and we still have a great time overall.

Learn more about this author, Ethan Park.
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