I love competition. Always have, and always will. It’s the main thing that motivates me to get better. If competition is involved, I will work my hardest and try every strategy so that I can win. 

As I got older, my sister Ava and I started competing against each other. We would see who could get the highest score in games or get the most tens when we were judged by the lifeguards at the pool on our jumps. It was easy to compete against each other since we have always been in the same sports and activities. Gymnastics, which she was better at, theater, which I was better at, and then lacrosse, which we are still competing with each other about.

In sixth grade, when I started, I was awful. In seventh grade, I played an entire season of attack with no goals. When Ava started lacrosse, she was her team's main scorer. As we got older, we started to get compared. Who was prettier, who was taller, who was smarter and—most of all—who was most athletic? I compared myself to her. She has long dark hair and dark brown eyes. I have light brown hair, dyed blonde, and hazel eyes that look light brown in normal lighting. She is 13 and 5’7” while I am 16 and 5’6”. In middle school, we both had GPAs of 3.9. She can run faster than me, but she gets tired quicker and I can run for longer. 

We have never gotten along and I blame that mainly on our need to be better than each other, but, our competition pushed me to work harder to be better than her and in turn made me better for myself. I started to practice lacrosse more, and I noticed improvement. 

Covid ruined my 8th-grade season, but I didn’t let it ruin me. I was determined to be the best. I practiced in between my multiple daily naps and I worked on my mindset. When freshman year came around I didn’t play very well in tryouts and made the JV team. Little did I know that it would be the best experience I’ve ever had, and my favorite lacrosse season. I started every game and acted as a team leader. By the end of the season, I had the second most goals on the team behind a junior, and I felt I had truly shown what kind of person and athlete I was.

Fast forward to my sophomore year all I wanted was to be on varsity. Tryouts came around and I played below what I thought was my best but I still felt good about my performance. The teams came out at 3:00 that Friday, and I waited anxiously to get the notification. I made the varsity team and was ecstatic despite having practice later that night. I continued to put in the work but ended the season not 100% satisfied with myself, also because I knew my sister had just played the season of her life.

Going into junior year, I knew I needed to put more work in if I wanted to be the best I could be but, at least better than Ava. I continued to practice until my arms felt like they were going to fall off. The season started and there were challenges but the team and I got through them and it led me to have the best varsity season of my life.

Even though me and Ava aren't the closest we'll always have our competition in common. People say that competition is a good and a bad thing but for me, it's almost entirely good. Competition keeps me and my sister from killing each other and gives me motivation to be better. Competition brought me closer to lacrosse and deepened the love I have for it. I wouldn’t be where I am today without competition.