Ever since I was a little boy, I have always been involved with many activities and had many diverse interests.  I had always skipped around from one thing to another that I “loved,” but I had never truly committed myself to a single sport or hobby.  That is how it was until I began to play lacrosse.  I instantly fell in love with the sport and continued to feel the same way for many months.  It was a feeling I had never experienced before and I really felt like I would never get bored of playing.  Playing lacrosse showed me what it meant to be passionate about something. 

My passion for lacrosse started when I was 8 years old.  I had grown tired of baseball and wanted to play something new.  I told my Mom this and after talking to some friends of hers, she signed me up for my town team.  When I first started, it was very difficult, but I was determined to improve.  I had a very good coach that taught me a lot my first year and when the season ended, I did not stop.  I practiced on my own and attended clinics and camps throughout the year.  By the beginning of the next season, I was much better and was anxious to play.  Even with all the clinics and camps, I still struggled with playing, but I kept working at it and I slowly saw my skill improve.  Over the years I continued to improve and I eventually could see myself getting better than the majority of my opponents.  Because I never gave up on the sport, I am now the captain of my high school team and will be playing next year in college.  I believe the reason why I never quit lacrosse was because it was a challenge.  Other sports that I had played were easy for me and became boring very quickly, but lacrosse was so different and difficult that I felt I needed to master it.

Now that I know what it means to be passionate about something, I am able to use that knowledge to find other things that I enjoy and to focus on those.  One of those things that I like to do is to create things that help people.  So after doing research, I found the major in college that would allow me to do that.  I now know that I want to major in mechanical engineering and knowing this has helped me to find better schools that will provide the best education for that major.  Being able to narrow my search has removed a lot of stress from my life and has made it more enjoyable throughout the application process.

Lucky for me, I was able to find a passion of mine very early in life.  I don’t know how differently my life would have turned out if I hadn’t been able to relax so many times on the turf.  Finding something that you are passionate about is necessary to being happy in life because “if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.”