Childhood Memory Research Paper

I used to be able to run so fast I could fly. Racing through the woods behind my house I was untouchable, unbeatable; I imagined I was a graceful as a fox and as fast as a deer racing over bushes, logs, and ditches. Running served as an escape from the perfect student, perfect manners persona I adopted in the classroom allowing me to break out of my shy shell and go from being ¨the teacher’s pet¨ to ¨the fast girl.¨ My love of running-- as well as my parents-- drove me to play soccer; I ditched my goody two shoes for cleats and never looked back. I could chase down any opponent and outrun any defender, through sports I completely let my boundaries down.

I have always been told that I got blessed with my genes. Everything I do athletically just comes natural to me. I have had the opportunity to play multiple sports whom of which I have had success in. In all of the sports I’ve participated in I have loved soccer the most and track is just the most natural sport for me. I’ve played soccer for over half of my young life. Soccer just makes me happy when I play. I have also been blessed by being average at soccer too. I didn’t do well my 9th grade season so coming into being a Sophomore I wanted to change that. I worked hard in the off-season and I became a varsity Captain and I finished the season 3rd in the area for assist and was a 2nd team All-District player. I was proud of myself but i knew I didn’t give it everything I had.

My family was born to play basketball, both of my brothers had the size and athleticism to play professionally, and my dad towered over others standing at 6’6”. At a young age I was expected to follow in their footsteps. However, I did not have the size that the rest of my family did, and struggled to compete due to my small stature. In the seventh grade I tried out for my middle school basketball team and was promptly told I wasn’t good enough to play. I came home crying feeling that I disappointed my family. The next year, during the eighth grade try-outs, the coach said the same thing and broke my heart for the second year in a row. Dissatisfied with these results, I promised that I would make a change before entering high school.

When I started track and middle I never knew what track was or how it even worked but I needed a sport that I could do. Even though I would have people from my middle school who would try to discourage me from running and even call me slow and the process but I continue to go through with track. But those people that talk and say they were going stay and track but didn't and I stayed and continue running and learn how to use the words they called to me to discourage to fuel my running to where I was winning medals and showing it in school. Then between eight grade to tenth grade I begin to have problem with my hip and which cause me to slow my time down but I still stayed in the sport. Even switching from different high school was tiring

Back in my country I love running, but we don’t have a good coach to coach us better. Coming to America I was so happy to join the track team in my school even though the practice was harder than I thought. It formed me to be the person I am today, not giving up in anything tough. It gave me the motivation to move forward in difficult moment, for instance the first week of track practice I got shin splint, that is not a thing to get if you are a runner, so I met my doctor and she told me to take two weeks’ break. I know it’s easy

In the novel “W, or the memory of childhood” written by Georges Perec, we see the story of a Jewish child that lived through his childhood during World War 2 and the time of the Holocaust which was a depressing time for Jewish people. This is an autobiographical novel which uses alternating chapters to help better describe his journey through this depressing time as a child, with trauma comes emotional and psychological harm which causes you to do whatever it takes to numb the pain, whether it is to find the source of the pain or to submerge them deep inside your heart to forget it. In this case, Perec used alternating chapters

Middle school is full of good and bad memories. After being here for four years you develop all sorts of memories that you may not even want to remember. There is one memory from my eighth grade year that I will never forget. Being a water girl for the middle school football team was one of the most exciting extra curricular activities I did.

I remember when I turned five, something in my mother’s head clicked. She wanted me to join track. I did not understand the point of running just to reach the finish line. Other sports like football, soccer, etc. have something to run for, but what does track have to run for? Yes, it’s to reach that finish line, but what is that going to do for me? That was the first thought that came to my seven-year-old self. Let’s just say for the first couple years my thoughts about running were far from being changed.

A fundamental aspect of human memory is that the more time elapsed since an event, the fainter the memory becomes. This has been shown to be true on a relatively linear scale with the exception of our first three to four years of life (Fitzgerald, 1991). It is even common for adults not to have any memory before the age of six or seven. The absence of memory in these first years has sparked much interest as to how and why it happens. Ever since Freud (1916/1963) first popularized the phenomenon there have been many questions and few robust empirical studies. Childhood amnesia is defined as the period of life from which no events are remembered (Usher & Neisser, 1993) beginning at birth and ending at the onset of your

As an individual I love staying active, socializing with others, being dependable, and keeping busy. Playing Basketball for Flour Bluff ISD, since the seventh grade, has granted me the opportunity to achieve all of these goals. For some peculiar reason I have consistently felt that I lacked experience of which my peers had, and that I would never be able to acquire it. Soon after I started playing I became intimidated of my fellow teammates and worried about the time I felt I lost, due to beginning so late in my childhood. Without fail, I always feel a sense of accomplishment after making it through tryouts every year and as I approach my final season, it has become clear just how much of my life was devoted to Basketball, that I truly love it and how I am thankful to be a part of something much more than just a team.

During my childhood years, my parents use to encourage me to join in many of physically demanding activities there were for kids. It was sports that drove me to be a very competitive individual and my father’s insistence on playing sports, was welcomed by me from the start. I used to play baseball, tennis and volleyball. Although I did suffer some minor injuries and setbacks, I pushed myself to achieve faster and farther goals every time I played. My teams had won many games, and I feel that my physical abilities as well as teamwork, contributed to our countless victories. Being physically active throughout my childhood years influenced me in many ways; even though I do not play sports that much today because I’m busy with work and school, I still love to remain physically active. For example, on the weekends, I usually get-up early in the morning and go for a two mile run, despite the weather. The area where I live, has some excellent areas for running, and I use the terrain to my advantage. The summertime is the best, however, to go running. The warm, crisp, morning air, still recovering from the night before, is still free from all of the morning rush-hour smog. This is drives me for the rest of the day until the next

My most significant childhood experience is when I came to the United States for the first time. I was born and raised in Cali, Colombia for 12 years. For most of the people outside the country, who is struggling financially, coming to this country is a dream full of opportunities. It was a long process to come here, since my biological father was a homeless person, and I needed permission from him to come here. Thankfully after two years of dealing with lawyers, my sister and I made it to get our visas. It was my first time in an airplane as well, so everything was an adventure.

There’s a saying that everyone’s said at least once in their lifetime, I’m sure. It’s so cliché, but now I know that there is so much truth behind it. “Believe in yourself.” Rather than giving up on yourself, use your failures to make you better. Learn how to bounce back from adversity and learn from those experiences. This is called using your growth mindset. According to Carol Dweck, research psychologist, in her book Mindset, “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” It wasn’t until the summer between my junior and senior year of high school that I learned this and of course I learned it the hard way. I had played club basketball for four summers in a row with the Longmont Rush basketball club. I loved the game of basketball and I had spent countless hours working on my skills on the court. I even wanted to play in college. I already had schools scouting me. Unfortunately, in my final season, just before my senior year, my biggest fear came true.

My earliest memory I remember as a child is around the age of two years old. My Mother would put me in the playpen but I refused to stay. I was able to climb out of it. I remembered my Mother’s face expression that let me know that I better not climb out of the playpen again. This was one of my earliest memories of her setting her boundaries. When I got older, my Mother told me about the situation. She needed to clean and/or cook so she had to put me in the playpen. At the age of two years old, I just wanted to explore and didn’t want to stay in the playpen. This set the tone between us moving forward.

When I was a young child I would love to hear my parents tell me that we were going on a trip. I would be full of excitement, because I knew that we would be going to a place that I had never seen before. My parents, my brother, and I would pack our luggage and venture out in our small gray minivan. Three of my most cherished memories in our minivan are when we went to Disney World, the beach, and the mountains.