Write Out S3

Hi my name is Natalia and I am going to be talking about my experience with audience.

Moments before the gunshot went off, I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins as my body prepared itself to compete in a three mile race. As I looked around, I could see I was surrounded by my teammates. My team, my coach, and my supporters are all cheering me on and motivating me to take my place.

Although this isn’t a conventional audience I will illustrate why my team and its supporters can be classified as one and tell you three ways my experience in cross country has impacted me in a tremendous way.

One: Motivation

*explaining how audience pushed you, like”pressure” which was beneficial

Who was pushing you to succeed? Coaches .. give examples. Cheering you on, they evaluate your ability and give you workouts based on how well you do (this is your audience)

Coach would be watching you during your race, friend and family, and teammates. This motivates you to work hard.

Before each race I always felt the pressure to do well not only for myself, but also for my team. Based on my speed I was depended on by my teammates to earn a certain place and time in order to score for my team. During a race rather than pressure being stressful, it became a motivator. Having your teammates and coaches cheer you on in the middle of a race is extremely motivating; such an audience reminds you of the school you represent and all the people who have confidence in your abilities. Thus, the pressure I felt was beneficial; it was able to propel me to work harder because I knew that each race was not only about me, but my audience: the people who support me. The people who expected me to do well drove me to improve each time I raced and to become a better athlete.

Two: Setting goals

*explaining how audience taught you how to set goals

What are some of personal goals

What did the audience do specifically that made you learn to set goals.. (they showed how goals actually work. Every race you got faster bc every race you had a new time to beat/work towards)

In order to meet my coaches and my peers’ expectations, I had to learn how to set personal goals for myself after each race. I tried training harder during practices and setting times that I should be able to achieve during my races. I was also able to apply this goal setting technique into my academic life. I utilize my time wisely whether it be with homework, jobs, classes, or internships. As I set these personal goals for myself in practices, workouts, and meets I sat that my audience’s expectations were exemplified. Thus cross country ultimately allowed me to become a more goal oriented person.

Three: Confidence

*explaining how audience taught you to have courage

Go back to your audience. The team would cheer you on to go faster, pass people, push all the way to the finish line…

Becoming part of this team allowed me to open up more. During races, I was always to afraid to cut people off or to run right in front of them. But after awhile I was able to gain confidence to run faster and not be afraid of passing people by. I developed a mindset that forced me to think like a competitive athlete. I went from being afraid to compete at my full potential to continuously progressing throughout the season.

I feel like these three things have contributed to who I am as a person now and I think they have also helped me especially in this public speaking class. I am always finding new things I can fix about the way I talk and how I present and setting goals for myself helps me do that. Even with talking about confidence in the class, each time that I go up to talk I get less and less nervous because I already know what to expect. Therefore, my participation in cross country has helped me become a more confident and competitive athlete and student.

Leave a Reply