Common App Essay

Passion drives and motivates you to achieve more, aiding and shaping who you are as a person. I discovered my passion for tennis at a young age, but at the time I did not know the effect it would have for years. At the age of three, my father decided he would begin to educate me about the game of tennis. With a basket of balls and grinning determination, he took me out to the courts, setting me off on a life-long journey that demanded hard work in order to obtain perfection. This continued on for a number of years until my father determined I was old enough to take lessons from a tennis pro, but unfortunately I never really took to the game, and I would just fool around at practice. At thirteen, my coach asked me how committed I was to tennis. This posed a bit of a dilemma, for I really did enjoy the sport, but I had yet to really put all my heart into it, into anything really. I had quit Boy Scouts, swimming, and piano, and I was tired of quitting things I had started. Tennis, I decided, was the sport for me. No more would I throw in the towel when the tough kept on coming; no more would I just quit when things were not easy; I would not give up on tennis. Thus the transformation of a recreational player who had come to the courts at whim became a serve-smashing, forehand-bashing, grinding, grueling player. This is the player that I am today.

            I ran endlessly to put my body in top form and to decrease the necessary time to recover in between points. I performed crunches, Russian-Twists, and leg raises until my abdominal muscles were aflame to strengthen my body. I sweat pools and pools all in the effort to hone myself into the player that I needed to become; the desire for excellence became a necessity. The more I poured myself into the sport, the more I improved, and the more matches I won.

            Today tennis defines who I am; I do little else aside from my schoolwork. After I get home from school, I immediately head over to the tennis courts for hours at a time, working on perfecting my technique, gaining more and more experience, and fueling my drive to become the best tennis player I can be. After this, I go home and rest up before walking to the gym for weight and cardio training, specifically designed to enhance my tennis playing abilities. All of this pays off; I can see the results. I can watch my serves transform from small punches into the box into blistering rockets. My forehand, once a small looping ball, becomes a powerful driving force, vital to my arsenal of shots.

            The passion and drive I have for tennis comes into other aspects of my life. I am equally passionate about learning. I am taking the most difficult schedule I can possibly take my senior year. I am taking AP Spanish because I long to become bilingual. I have friends who are bilingual, and I hear them speaking to their parents in other tongues. I feel a pang of jealousy. I want that. AP Spanish ensures that I am properly setting myself on the course to fluency. I have a perfectionist mentality about my math tests; I loathe letting go of my paper without going over everything twice. And I have a passion for excellence, not only in myself, but also in everything around me. I want to help those around me flourish in the way that I have, so I tutor after school in an effort to do so. Between my passion for excellence in what I do and my work ethic towards what I love, I feel that the only limitation I have for success is how much of myself I am willing to put in. And I put in as much as I possibly can, only stopping when it is clear I am becoming dangerously close to being consumed by what I love. I am willing, however, to walk that fine line between passion and overwhelming obsession if it means that I will meet my goals.