essay, report & composition writing?

I was deemed hopelessly unathletic by a jury of elementary schoolers when I was six years old. Before I ever had a chance to learn how to kick or dribble or catch. I'll never forget how it felt to be picked last by my peers during P.E., day after day, year after year, as I waited in line until I was inevitably left standing alone, again. As a result of such early rejection, I never tried out for any sports teams or learned to do anything but struggle to endure most forms of exercise. That was until joining the Skyline Crew team my freshman year of high school; thinking that rowing a boat couldn't be that hard. It would be a quick and easy way to making new friends and to have spent more time with my best friend, Kate.

The first two weeks of practice were unapologetically brutal. During one more unforgettable practices kate and I were in a double, The Kat named after our head coaches wife so that meant we had to be particularly careful. But Kate and I were anything but that. Once we got in and pushed of the dock we did the sidestroke, which pulls the boat sideways. We did the backstroke which makes the boat reverse of course. We also did the classic forward stroke to go forward. We became quite proficient in the art of spinning the boat around in circles. The numerous people who were floating close by laughed at our unique practice of paddling.


Before we headed out our coach had told us
“Argo is lined with many root wads (root wads are clumps of tree stumps and whatever else might float down the river) along the banks. So stick to the right side of the river.” As we neared the end of a long straight away in the river, I noticed the speed of the water was increasing exponentially. A look farther down the river told me what I had been dreading this whole time, we were going into Argo from the wrong side of the river!
“Kate! backright stroke! backright stroke! hurry! Don’t you see that we’re going in the wrong way?” I yelled as a rush of excitement and worry hit me.

“Hey, relax. We can do this. We’ll just paddle like crazy to the other side. Got it?” was Kate's usual calm reply to my frantic outburst. So we put our backs into it and made it to the other side of the river. Before we knew it we were moving faster than than I could run, and without incident steered the boat away from the maze of root wads and headed for the right direction.

The rest of the float proved to be very relaxing. Spending the remainder of practice enjoying the many wonders Mother Nature had provided the river with. I took in the smooth rainbow like palette of rocks that lay beneath the sparkling transparent waters of the river. Then watched the fish catapult themselves out of water in a spray of tear like gleaming water to invite low flying insects home for lunch. I studied the movements of the cotton candy clouds that mirrored the river. That day I knew that I had accomplished something that would provide me with a little bit of pride in myself anytime I needed some cheering up. Much like the calluses that had formed on the palms of my hands, I too had toughened.