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Personal Statement

Tai Smith, the name of a student who attends the University of Mount Olive or the name

of a young man whose journey started in Glendale, Arizona. The world is filled with obstacles

that take on various forms. In my case these obstacles were in many of the environments that I

was exposed to. Some of my family members were involved with illegal substances. A family

member of mine abused a legal substance. A teacher told me that since I was not doing well in

8th grade, then I would continue to struggle later on in life. The environment outside was not to

be considered safe, which meant that something as simple as going to the park to play basketball

worried my mother. Rather than be consumed by the world around me, I observed those around

me and learned what not to do in order to succeed.

Something unique about my personal history is the role that running played in getting me

to where I am today. Without running track and field along with cross country, I don’t believe

that I would have attended any university or college. Grades are a huge determining factor in

whether or not someone can attend a school. For me personally, finances were a limiting factor

in my search for a school. I knew that a 3.5 grade-point average would not be good enough to get

me into a school and receive a lot of financial aid. So, I aspired to be good enough at running to

receive a full-ride to compete on a college team. I worked very hard every day to become good

enough at running. Even though I hated running at times, I still continued to do it because I had

faith that my hard work would pay off. Eventually it did and I got a scholarship offer to attend

the University of Mount olive. However, it was not a full-ride scholarship. So, I worked even

harder until I earned a full-ride. Now, I continue to work this hard in every aspect of life.

Psychology has always been an interest of mine because my father was diagnosed with

post-traumatic stress syndrome after retiring from the Army. My participation in track and field
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furthered my interest in psychology because of how my coach emphasized the role of the mind in

relation to competition. Since then, as I’ve studied psychology, the parallels between psychology

and sports have become clearer to me. So, I have decided that I want to study sports management

to gain a better understanding of sports in general. Wingate has a nice master’s program in sports

management that will offer me the knowledge that I seek. A degree in sports psychology might

be in my future as well.

I still do not know exactly what I want my career to be but, I do know that I want my

career to have something to do with sports. The reason that I have for wanting a career that has

something to do with sports is the personal connection that I’ve had with sports. More

specifically my connections with cross country and track. Running is the reason I’ve been able to

get where I’m at today and believe that I can use it to get where I want to be in the future.

Hopefully, running will be my way of paying for a master’s degree. Hopefully, I will do an

internship that will help me decided what I really want to do after I obtain a master’s degree.

In order to be accepted into any program I feel like it is important to recognize any traits I

possess that might be considered strengths, weaknesses or significant. My only unique talent or

ability is my ability to run long distances. A strength that I possess is my ability to continue

working hard at a task, regardless of whether or not I want to. I ran every day, even on days I did

not want to. I stayed up late doing homework after practice, even though I did not want to.

Another strength that I possess is my desire to complete any given task the right way so that I get

the desired results. When I am completing a task, I need to be sure that what I am doing is

correct. I am not afraid to ask questions because the knowledge that I gain from asking a

question will help me obtain the knowledge I need to complete a task. One of my weaknesses is

that I require very specific instructions. At times a simple task will prompt me to ask many
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questions. If a coach said, “go run”, then I would have to ask a lot of questions in order to make

sure that I do the right thing. I would ask about the pace, distance, duration, and purpose of the

run. That may be an inconvenience to people around me. However, the reason that this weakness

exists is my desire to succeed.