While growing up, some young children can inherit a timid nature whether it’s from their parents or from their peers. As a child, I was a very shy person and it was very awkward for me at times. When I started first grade, it was then when I first realized I was shy. That shyness carried over to my junior high school years. After years of diagnosing my problem, I’ve been able to overcome my shyness once I reached high school at the Academy. Many people can relate to the way I’ve felt because at one point of a person’s life they have been in an awkward situation where they become very timid. Being shy as a child has taught me that I can now have confidence in whatever I do, ignoring whatever people say.

As a child, being shy and nervous is a normal feeling as you walk into a new environment. For me, it started in first grade when I was seven years old. My teacher was Mrs. Kang and she helped me settle into the class when she found everyone sitting at their desks except me. I was hiding behind the closet door hoping that she wouldn’t be able to find me, but I wasn’t so lucky. She told me she had seen me walk behind there once I put my backpack in my cubbie. The first assignment she gave us was to color some pictures and at this point I still haven’t said a word to anybody in the classroom. I was sweating since I was so nervous about my first day of school and the situation was very awkward for me. As the days went on in first grade for me, I started making a lot of new friends but I was still nervous about meeting new people. As my elementary school years started to go by, I began becoming less and less nervous and shy than I was when I started first grade. A lot of changes occurred between those times, but I was still a timid child. As a child, I wanted to be part of the “popular kids” group, but I was afraid people wouldn’t consider me cool because I didn’t talk to many of the popular kids at the time. I started to gain my recognition in school once the kids found out I played tennis. As soon as everyone found that out, people wanted to start becoming friends with me left and right, but I wasn’t ready for all that attention. The friends I started making in elementary school changed the way my junior high school experience would be for me.

As I walked into junior high school, it was a very different atmosphere for me. Junior high might have been one of the most stressful times of my life as a 13 year old kid making his transition into junior high. Many people referred to me as the “tennis kid” around school, but I liked being called by my own name, Lamar. It was a real change for me since many of the students were older than me and I had no idea who they were. The junior high times were very overwhelming for me since we had all these different classes and the teachers started becoming more strict about attendance and our homework. Meeting all these new people from the other school made me feel a little bit nervous about junior high because students had to be more independent to survive in this type of environment. Once I started getting settled into my classes and made new friends, I liked joking around a bit more and started to become a much more open person than I was when I was a kid. Another factor that had played into my maturation were girls as they started to become more attractive to me. There were a few heartbreaks for me, but my mom and dad kept on telling me I was too young to be trying to date girls as a 13 year old. This taught me a valuable lesson as I started growing up because sometimes girls are what can set an athlete back. At the start of seventh grade, I had to make a really big decision in my life. I wasn’t used to changes a lot, but the one change my parents and I decided would have a permanent impact my life forever. I had completely no idea that I would ever leave my little town to venture off to the world’s toughest playground know as the Tennis Academy.

When I took my first step into the Academy, it was excitement and nervousness mixed all into all one feeling. This feeling changed me by making me realize that I’m now training at a tennis academy where a bunch of former number one players have trained. Hoping that I can someday reach that amazing feat, I began doing a bunch of different workout with my coach from back home. My whole training regiment had changed and a few of the coaches took notice of the fact of how hard I train. As the coaches took notice, my other peers started taking notice too and I made a lot of new friends who I probably won’t ever forget in my life. I wasn’t known as the “tennis kid” anymore since I wasn’t the only tennis player at my new home. My freshman year at the academy was where I learned how to relax and not think about what people say. I was no longer nervous about asking for help and started to make my mind more open to any changes the coaches may give me. Managing my time better was something I had to learn over time when I first arrived. Balancing school and sport is a difficult task especially if the classes end so late. It’s tough to have a social life at a place where work is so demanding, but sometimes its the friends you make here that help you get through those tough times. If I was still shy during my first few years at the Academy, I would still be wondering how I survived so long. The Academy has a very college feel to it although it is a high school because not many high schools have half the day training for you sport and the other half working on school and doing homework. Having late nights and early mornings is the process to make it to the top, so I had to adapt to this new lifestyle if I wanted to reach my goal as a professional tennis player. This change for me was tough, but it was worth it because I learned that confidence can take you places instead of being a quiet, shy person.

When ignoring the critics and having confidence, people are able to live their lives more freely instead of listening to them tell you how to live. During my elementary school years, I was able to accept the fact I was a shy person and had to start making different changes when transitioning into junior high school. Junior high school had prepared me for the challenges of meeting new people and making new friends in high school where people aren’t always as nice as they may seem. High school is where I learned to become more open to changes and start becoming more social around campus which leads me to where I am today. Whether a person is timid or confident, there’s gonna be a time in their life where changes are going to occur.