Adapt and Overcome

Family

From an early age my dad has been there to install values and morals into my older sister

and me. Many of his ideals he gave to me were based in his faith as a Christian man and as a

soldier in the United States Army. The most reoccurring message that seemed to be said and the

one that I seem to have taken to the most was an old army saying, “Adapt and overcome!” Being

a child, I would often here it in situations when I faced a small issue such as forgetting my

baseball glove at practice, which were easily solved by borrowing a teammate while he was up to

bat. As I got older there were many times when I had to face situations where I would have to

apply myself to more significant problems and either stubbornly feel pity for myself or resolve to

adapt to the situation and make the best of it.

School

In Elementary school, I was identify as being advanced in math skills, so I was placed in

the gifted program. From third to fifth grade I was removed from the general student body and

went to a special classroom with several other students and we were put on an accelerated plan

of learning. As a young kid I saw being in the gift program as an excuse to not try to learn math

since I was “gifted”. This worked through the remainder of elementary school but didn’t work

once I reached middle school. Going into six grades, I was not put into the pre-algebra class but

instead placed in the general math class. I was upset because I had an idea in my head that I was

special and deserved to be in the advanced math class. For a while I can remember being

ashamed of myself and not willing to put any effort into school since I was no longer “gifted”.

One day after school I had come home to my dad and older sister talking about my sister not
making varsity soccer and had be on the junior varsity team. My dad of course told her the

normal dad thing and reassuring her, but he added at the “adapt and overcome”. I thought about

their conversation decide that like my sister I didn’t have to be content with my current situation,

but I had a chance to make the best of what situation I was in. For there I was determined to

prove that I had the ability to be in the highest math class so I began to work hard at being the

best math student I possibly could be in the class that I was put into. At the end of the year I had

a meeting with the school counselors who suggested to my parents that I be put into Algebra in

seventh grade. Of courses my parents agreed, and I was in that class the following fall. I realized

that the way to success in school wouldn’t be because some proficiency test said I was advance,

instead it would be because I had put the effort into it.

Football

I have always love football since I began to play in first grade. Once I reached high

school, I was eager to play high school football. My first year of high school football I on the

school’s freshman team and started at my position. This game me a feeling that the rest of my

high school football career would be just as successful. Unfortunately, I was not the tallest,

fastest, or strongest player on the team, rather I was quite average. My sophomore year I played

JV along with many of my close friends in my class. As a junior I was still not able to make

varsity and had to play JV unlike many of my teammates in my class that made the varsity team.

I yet fallen short of my goal of starting on the varsity team, so I decided to have a talk with my

coaches to understand what was keeping me from being a part of the varsity squad. My coaches

were honest with me and said that I was just not the right size for the position and that my other

teammates were physically better for the position.

 With the knowledge of the things that were obstacles to me playing the position that I

wanted to I decide that I had to improve my strength and speed but also I had to be better that the

things that were not preventing me from playing. Over the course of the off season I was

dedicated to not missing a single work out and taking every opportunity to engage as member of

the football team in the various volunteer opportunities the team was involve in supporting.

During the spring and summer workout program I had become a group leader that was

responsible for leading a group of teammates in the weight room and on the field for

conditioning. I had successfully physically transformed myself into gaining twenty pounds of

muscle and had become significantly stronger by the time the season started. I had also spent

much time studying the play book in and out so that during practice my other teammates would

come to me and ask questions if they didn’t know what to do on certain plays. Through the early

practices I wasn’t in the first group of players, but I was still determined to earn a spot. Over the

course of the early season I wasn’t given the starting spot but was substituted in the game on

both side of the ball throughout the game. I decide that my role as part of the team was to be the

next man off the best and a special teams player and if that was what my team need of me, then I

would give my best effort at it. We continued to win games and I was a part of it.

Later in the season my teammate that started at my position was ineligible for a big game

against a team that had beaten us the year before. The news that he wasn’t going to play in the

game, and I would be starting was announced by the coaches the day of the game since that is

also when they found out. I was finally given my chance to start on Friday night football for my

team. I then went on to have a great personal game and were able to beat our opponents.

After the season I looked back at my high school football career and realized that if I had

been discouraged by not starting varsity then the moment my team need to depend on me, I
would have been unprepared physically and mentally to play at the level that my teammates

deserved. While I may not have been a starter my entire senior season of football, I did earn lots

of playing time, I was elected as team captain and after the season I was awarded the “Coaches

Award” by my coaches for being a coachable player and a leader among teammates. This was

one of my proudest moments because I had failed my initial goal to start varsity football but I

had put so much effort into trying for it that even failing I had accomplished so much in a

different role on the team. I was also reward for my efforts by given a chance to play college

football at Capital University.

Work

During the summer of my sophomore year of high school was searching for a fun

summer job and I had a cousin who had worked in the summer camps of the Parks and

Recreation Department of my home town and said that it was a fun job and that they could try

get me an interview but I was only sixteen and the position was for people eighteen and up.

Deciding to give it a shot, I went to the interview and gave them my application. To my surprise

I was offered the job and was nervous because I thought it was unlikely that I would get the

position. The position was to be a camp counselor for a weekly summer camp, and I would be

responsible for not only running activities and games for the camper but also for their safety. I

took my job of maintain the safety of my campers very seriously during the week of training by

learning as much as I could in first aide and our safely policies. Feeling confident that I was

ready for the first week of camp, I had no idea how much I would grow in my understanding of

what it meant to be adaptive and able to respond to any situation. Over the summer I was faced

with issues as little as forgotten lunches and kids not sharing which were challenging, often

requiring critical thinking by me and other counselors. Many days require a more serious
reaction and answer on my part where I had to think on my feet to avoid trouble. Events like

campers not liking the planned activities for the day, small injuries like scrapped knees, more

serve issues like allergic reactions and conflicts between campers require me to be able to adapt

from the plan for the day and be flexible enough to uphold my responsibilities as camp

counselor. Along with learning to be extremely adaptive to changing circumstance of camp, the

job also helps me develop skills in interacting with many different kids from different social and

economic background and their parents.

College

More than ever has the advice to adapt and overcome been more relevant than in college.

Since I am a full-time student, an Army ROTC cadet, active member of Cru and a college

football player, I have had to be able to thrive in various situations and overcome many

obstacles. Being able to effectively use my time is curial since I have many daily obligations. I

have been able to maintain academic success while still putting full effort into my bible studies,

athletic event, and ROTC training by utilizing my time efficiently. A key to success has been to

not put off any obligations until the last minute so that if, as it often does, another obligation

arises and requires my immediate attention.

Conclusion

If anything has been taught repeatedly to my during life is that being able to adapt to any

situation that I find myself in is the key to overcoming the things that prevent me from

succeeding even if my original goal is different from the actual outcome. Being willing to change

my way of thinking and acting also has taught me skills of leadership, self-discipline,

interpersonal communication, and lots of others.