Trails For Hurdles example essay topic

It was our secondary school's orientation day and we, as first year students, were supposed to go for trails and pick our core curriculum activity (CCA) for the year. CCA is a after class activity which is compulsory to every student and at the end of the year, based on each individual achievement and attendance, you will be graded gold, sliver or bronze. I already had in mind that I wanted to join the Track and Field team and wanted to go for the trails immediately so that I could go home earlier, but my friends pulled me with them and I remember going around the school trying out all the various activities such as band, girl guides, St John ambulance Bridget (S JAB), basketball, dance and many more which was quite an experience. Ironically, the first trail that I had wanted to go became the last which was Track and Field. I wanted to join the Track and Field team as I was a sprinter during my primary school days; I decided to carry on running.

It was something that I excel in and something I could be proud of as I was only an average student in my studies. Furthermore, my parents love to see me run in competitions and win medals. I even have a glass cupboard at home specially to display my trophies which my parents would proudly show to their friends when they come to my house. The Track and Field had many stations unlike the rest of the activities.

They had running, high jump, long jump and hurdles. I went for the sprint trail and was selected to join the team. I decided to challenge myself with hurdles, something new other than running. I was scared of heights therefore I did not dare to try high jump and my legs were not long so I did not try out for the long jump. The trails for hurdles were done in batches. Five people will try out each time and there will be a five minute interval before the next batch.

There were two batches before my batch to try out. I decided to have I drink in the canteen instead of watching how the others perform. Finally, it was my turn to try out. While I was walking to the starting point, one of my friends who was a Malay, Riza, whispered into my ear "break a leg, you can do it!" I was thinking to myself, what was that for? Cursing me before my trails?

I did not understand and thought it was a Malay culture blessing sort of thing. Before the trails, the instructor started explaining what was hurdles and what we were supposed to do. The students in my batch were listening intently as though they were in a lecture, absorbing every single word. I, on the other hand, was giving my pals winks and thumps up sign absorbing bits and pieces of the instruction. I had glimpse of hurdle competitions before in the past and was confident I could do it.

It seemed easy all you have to do was jump over the hurdle and run and jump all the way. I thought I knew how to do it. Boy was I so wrong. I was in the lead during the short run before reaching the hurdle but when it reached the hurdle, me feet hooked the hurdle and both me and the hurdle fell. I looked around and saw the rest of the students in my batch had cross all the hurdles and was embarrassed. I begged the instructor for another chance and assured him that I would perform better.

This time, I listened to the instructions carefully and realized there was I specific distance before jumping across the hurdle. If one jumped too early, it is very likely that one will fall and if one jump too near, then one's momentum will slow down affecting the timing. I realized my mistake that I had jumped too early in the previous attempt. I managed to get into the team in fact, I had the best timing out of the rest of the participants.

I blamed Riza for my failure for the first attempt that it was because she had wished that I break a leg which I almost did. All my friends laughed which I did not think there was anything funny as I could have been hospitalized or maybe paralyzed because of her three words "Break a leg!" She explained to me that break a leg means good luck but I did not believe her. Break a leg is a bad thing how can it possibly mean good luck. My friends just laughed and none of them answered me nor bother to continue explaining the meaning to me.