Sports teach important lessons in leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship.

How have
you embodied these qualities on your team AND in your community? (Your community
could include: your volunteer experiences, any leadership roles at your school or youth
groups, and/or any other projects or efforts you think we should really know about!)
Suggested length: 300-500 words

I fully believe I would not be the person I am today without sports. Competing in several
sports throughout my childhood and adolescence has taught me life-changing lessons in
leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship.
In ninth grade, I took up mountain biking with my local high school team and embraced
this new, nontraditional sport. In biking especially, good sportsmanship is a trademark quality. I
can clearly remember an especially frustrating race in 11th grade: I hadnt yet won a high school
race, but I was determined to finally snag a Varsity win. For most of the race, I was in the lead
with my friend Sienna close behind. Just 100 meters from the finish, however, Sienna made an
aggressive outside pass that knocked me over, breaking my bikes derailleur in the process. As I
scrambled back onto my bike, I watched her cross the finish-line cheering. Although
disappointed, I showed nothing but support for Sienna at the finish. I recognized that in bike
racing, anything can happen, and the stars simply werent aligned that day. Moreover, a dispute
over race results was not worth jeopardizing my friendship with Sienna. I was awarded a Spirit
Award for my good sportsmanship after the race.
Im also committed to sharing my love of cycling with others and helping those in need.
Im a volunteer coach for a local organization called Trikes to Trails, which aims to teach kids 612 years old the fundamental skills of mountain biking. This summer was the inaugural season,
and every week I led my group of kids up trails and around bike parks. I had to be patient and
encouraging, cheering kids up steep hills and consoling them when they crashed on the
downhills. I also spent several summer afternoons in 2014 building trails with my teammates
from Summit Bike Club. Together we built several miles of new trail in Nordic Valley, a new ski
area in northern Utah. Our teamwork made a huge project possible in just a couple months.
Though my sports are considered individual, theyve taught me a lot about teamwork
and leadership. Im team captain of both my high school mountain bike team and swim team,
and Ive found that a cohesive, respectful team environment is essential for success. For both
swimming and biking, Im in charge of organizing team practices when coaches are absent,
coordinating team parties and events, and welcoming new athletes to the team. Mountain bike
race days are long events, often times lasting from sunrise to sunset. The entire time before and
after my own race, I make an effort to cheer on my teammates and encourage others to do the
same. I also organized a large group of my bike teammates to volunteer with me at Free Bikes
For Kids, a new nonprofit in Salt Lake City. Our collective efforts helped to fix, clean, and
assemble over 200 bikes to be donated to needy kids this Christmas.

Describe a defining moment in your life that has helped to shape your dreams and plans
for the future. (Be sure to lay out your academic/career goals and identify any challenges
youve faced or are currently facing and how they have shaped your aspirations).
Suggested Length: 300-500 words

Just this fall I was invited to compete for Team USA at the Mountain Bike World
Championships held in Andorra, a small principality in the Pyrenees. Not only was this my first
international race, but it was my first time out of the country alone. As a girl whos lived in Utah
all her life, my solo trip to Europe came as quite the culture shock. It was also a defining
experience that shaped my goals for the future.
My first revelation on the trip was both terrifying and exhilarating: I was 5,000 miles
away from home and entirely independent. I thought about my parents journeys across seas. My
mom and her family moved from Laos to Utah after the Vietnam War ended. She grew up in a
rural desert town near the Ute Indian reservation. Meanwhile, my dad was a refugee who
escaped communist Czechoslovakia when he was only nineteen. He risked his life to cross the
border hidden in the back of a truck. After spending six months in an Austrian refugee camp, he
arrived in the States alone, with zero English and only a couple hundred dollars to his name. The
stakes were high when my parents left home; I at least rested easy knowing Id return to Utah
soon.
I spent an entire week in Andorra with Team USA, getting to know the professional
American racers that Id admired for years. The World Championships that year had attracted
some 35,000 spectators and 900 racers from 55 countries. Beyond the diversity of the race
though, I was also exposed to the different lives of Europe, from the amiable shopkeepers
manning their tiny stores, to the homeless families that lined the streets near the Barcelona
airport. The trip inspired me to one day travel the world and further expand my viewpoints on
life. I also aspire to help those in need. My parents both defied all odds to graduate from college
and work in the medical field. My goal is to graduate from a good university and go to medical
school. When Im older, I want to go on humanitarian trips throughout the world, providing free
medical services to those in need.
My race at Worlds was the most difficult Id ever experienced. For over an hour, I battled
fifty of the worlds best junior riders across a steep, muddy course. I finished 23rd in Junior
Women, a solid result for my first European race. Immediately after the race, with the insatiable
appetite that is intrinsic to success, I began planning for the future. One of my childhood dreams
resurfaced as an actual plan of action: I aspire to one day compete in the Olympics. Given my
results in a relatively short time mountain biking, I figure that the Olympics is a difficult but
realistic goal.
Unfortunately, biking is a nontraditional sport in the sense that colleges dont offer
athletic scholarships, even though cyclists are some of the most motivated, diligent people I
know. Though I plan to train as hard in my sport as the other athletes on campus, I wont be
recognized as a student-athlete. Of course, school will always come first, and Ill have to
expertly manage my time if I want to juggle life as a full-time student and professional bike
racer. Still, I am willing to do what it takes to become a doctor and ride for my country at the
highest level of competition. Though now these seem like mere dreams, Im determined to make
them into realities.