"Sport" by chesterridenour

I am an athlete and love to play and compete in just about any sport. I love the bonding that goes on, the team work, the hustle, the workout, the sweating, the fighting for the ball, the adrenaline, the competitive juices, getting down and dirty, laying your body out there, sacrificing it for the team, being sore and playing through it, the smell of shinguards, of hockey equiptment, the quench of a well-deserved drink of water, the triumph of winning, the agony of defeat, being a sportsmen and a gentlemen in either case, the championships, the overtimes, the fouls, the hits, the bruises, the post-game showers, re-telling past game stories, immaculate catches, hail mary's, presses, slide tackles, spikes, checking, all of it! That is sport for me, and is a part of me.

Even playing for fun, joking around, with friends, getting to know people, it's amazing and i love it, I love sport.

Soccer or Futbol is perhaps the sport I excel in the most, suprisingly though as I have little to no skill, but I make up for it with height, passion, aggresiveness and anticipation, that and running around like a chicken with its head cut off most of the time!

My fraternity hosts an event called Puddle Pull, which is basically a big Tug-of-War event. Two teams of 8 guys, sit in a row, feet placed in pre-dug pits and execute a serious of holds, pulls and hits in attempt to win the flag to their side. It's two minutes of grit-your-teeth passion. While strength helps, speed and timing are more important and a less physical team can beat a bigger, stronger team if they are effecient and smart.

Participated in a 3-on-3 Wheelchair Basketball Tournament for Charity with some friends. It's amazing to think that some people spend their whole lives in these chairs. It makes you appreciate what you have, respect those who are in them and bring about awareness for those with physical handicaps.

American FOOTBALL is one of the sports I thrive most in. Being tall, quick and good at anticipating, I can catch the football as both a wide reciever and a safety/defensive back. Being a skinny kid, I would not hold up in a real tackle game, as I would be mangled by the tough tackles, flag football does the trick, but backyard pickup tackle football is also my style!

I love Volleyball, preferably outdoors though and on the sand. There aren't many things better than playing with friends on a hot summer day, sweat dripping down your back, shirt off, bumping, setting, spiking, and then digging and diving for balls in the sand, getting up covered in sand that won't completely rub-off, then doing it again and again. Can you hear it? "Playing with the Boys" is on the radio in the background, just like a scene out of TOP GUN!

Having moderately high blood pressure, it is important that I get regular cardio-vascular exercise. I use running to meet that requirement. Participating in local 5K & 5mile Runs, allows me a competitive outlet in which to train for, while giving back to the needy causes they support. I can usually keep a pretty good pace and love to spring up hills while I train, and the last leg of races to the finish. Hearing the spectators and my friends and family yelling and cheering, as I sprint to the finish, and loving impressing them, having the stamina and strength for one last push after allready having run 3 or 5 miles, what a rush! I can't wait to do it again!

My freshman year of college, a bunch of ex-high school athletes got together to form a beginner's hockey team. None of us had every played before. Ever.

Four years later, we had played 8-10 seasons together. Had won a championship, twice lost to the champions, but had many great memories and experiences as a result.

Hockey is a great sport. For ~ 2 minutes a player will go out there and give it his all, often skating/sprinting at full speed for a puck, only to have to skate back the other direction to play defense, it's fast, it's tough and it's challenging, but what a rush.

My favorite time is when my team gets a penalty, and we're down a man, playing 4 on 5. I LOVE to be the forward that chases down the puck and puts pressure up front. Often times i make the other team mess up and often end up killing much of their power play. Having the odds against me and my team, busting my ass and winning vs. a team with more guys, now that's excitement and something i look forward to every time! Hoo-Ahh!