Why bother?

Dying your hair just seems so pointless to me. I am not sure why people do it. I look at my hair and think, “Wow I am glad that I did not do anything to my hair because it is a part of me and who I am.” Some people think that dying their hair makes them look better, and for some people that is the case. For me, I am too much of a chicken to do anything about the color of my hair. I always think “What if my natural hair never comes back!?” or “What if I do not like the color on me?” The things that I think are the things that keep me from dying my hair.

            Coming into school some days I see people complaining about how they did not get the color that they wanted. If I were that person, I would probably never do that to my hair again because maybe your hair just does not adapt to color very well.

            Another reason why I will not do anything to the color of my hair is because of my mom. If I ever did anything like that to it she would give me the longest lecture ever. That is just something that I would just like to avoid. Although she dies her hair, she still thinks it is a bad thing for me to do.

            To be honest, I am not sure if I will ever change my hair color. It would just take so much time to get used to it. It wouldn’t feel like me anymore, and I would probably think I look weird. That is the biggest reason why I will not do it and I will most likely stick to not changing it. I am not saying that it is a bad thing, but I would not do it to myself.

Word Count: 317 words

Socca

To other athletes, soccer is not considered a hard sport. Well those people do not realize how tough it is to run for anywhere from ninety to one hundred and ten minutes with no breaks. It is a very mental and physical game and I just want all athletes to appreciate how hard soccer players work just to get a tiny bit better at what they do. There are many to things to do, even in off season. Some examples are weight lifting, long distance running, sprints, shooting, and foot skills.

Weight lifting is a key part of soccer because it helps you defend your own body against players that are bigger than you. It also helps you with shooting because if you have strong legs, you can shoot the ball really hard which makes it harder for the keeper to save.

Long distance running is very important. If you are good at running for a long time, then you will be able to make it throughout the whole game without stopping. But if you are bad at it, you will not do well in a game because you will get tired after barely any running. Running also keeps you in shape. Getting in shape is the best thing you can do for yourself. It helps you keeps a solid weight and it makes you love the game of soccer even more when playing.

Sprints help you in many different ways. For example, in soccer you have to change pace a lot, so it makes you unpredictable. It also helps you change direction really quickly and that will make it hard for your opponent to catch up to you or keep up with you.

Foot skills are what make you a tricky or sneaky player. When defending someone with great foot skills, it is very hard to figure out what they are going to do next. That is why dibbling also plays a role in foot skills, because if you cannot dribble very well you become predictable nad defenders will stop you from getting any farther. This also prevents you from scoring, which means your team will most likely not win.

As you can see, soccer has many parts to it, and you can’t be weak in any areas because you will not be a very good soccer player. In order to be good at soccer, you have to practice and work hard so that you can get even the slightest bit better. That is why you need to practice on your own, and not just when coaches can see you. If you only try when people are watching, then you will not get any better and eventually, other players will pass your soccer level, and you will be stuck behind.

Word Count: 465 words

Social Media

When walking down the hallways at Kennedy High School you will always see many students on their phones. What could they possibly be on? The answer is social networks. Social networks have become a huge distraction in school. Instead of learning, students are getting dumber by not paying attention and using their phones too much. It is important to limit your time on social media because too much of it could cause many different bad things. For example, if your phone has become the main part of your day, I would consider that to be an addiction and that should not happen. Before smartphones were invented, all phones were used for is calling or texting each other just to talk or ask important things to find out information.

Another thing that is affected by cell phones is relationships. For parents, they still do not use their phones that much because they are used to the idea that they do not have internet. Therefore, their relationships have lasted. For kids and teenagers, it is a completely different story. Teens are now constantly in a relationship or “talking” to someone but the relationship never lasts that long. Texting has become a main part in relationships and this is why there are many more break ups now a days. Although it is nice to always be able to talk to your special someone, it should become an every minute of everyday thing.

The truth is, is that things have become less intimate. For example, you may say things in a text or on the internet that you would never normally say. This means that there is less of putting yourself out there and taking risks. Also, if you are being sarcastic or you are joking around with someone, they may take you seriously because they cannot hear the tone of your voice nor the look on your face when you say something. Another thing is that you do not end up spending as much time with each other and getting to know each other, you just text most of the time and hang out every once and a while. This is a problem because when two people get married, they usually live with each other. When living together with someone, you see that person every day. If you only text in a relationship, and if you end up getting married, how will you ever know what it feels like to be with that person all the time? These are all reasons why limiting your time on social media would be smart thing to do.

Word Count: 435 words

Popular Music

When you ask a teen if they can live without an ipod in school, the answer will most likely be no. In our generation, music plays a big factor in everyday life. Mp3s Became ipod touch screens and every kid wanted to have one to listen to music on. What kind of music do kids listen to? Well the thing is, is that you cannot really point out a certain kind of music for different types of people. Some like country, some like rock, pop, rap, or maybe even reggae music. Everyone has their own opinion and that is what you have to deal with.

From a personal stand point, I love all types of music, but that does not apply to all people. Pop and rap have become very popular over the years but country made a big gain on popularity. Country music is what people listen to so that they can get things off of their minds, relax and just enjoy the music that they are listening to. Country is also a thing that you listen to when you are feeling down and need to be cheered up, or of you need an inspiration.

To some people, rock music is an old kind of music that your parents and grandparents would have listened to back in their day, but rock is still alive today, just not as popular. Parents, especially dads, are fond of rock music because that is what they grew up listening to just like we grew up listening to pop and rap. Rock is a good kind of music to listen to when you want to dance, or just have a good time.

Pop and rap are very popular today. Sure rap sounds like a big mess of words that are being said, but in my opinion, rap music has the most meaningful lyrics depending on what artist you are listening to. Pop is popular because that is the most common type of music to sing, and people enjoy the way it sounds.

Reggae music has never been very popular, but some people do enjoy it. Reggae music has a certain “chill” factor about it. It just makes you want to sit and relax, and maybe even sing along. It has been sung on shows like American Idol and that was entertaining to watch, but still isn’t sung enough to remotely come close to other types of music. Sometimes I think that because it seems foreign, like it belongs in a different country because it sounds different, but it is still enjoyable.
Word Count: 432 Words

Addiction

Have you ever felt like you are missing something when you do not have your phone? Cell phones have become apart of teen’s everyday life. Between texting, facebook, twitter, and instagram, kids spend more time on their phones rather than homework, sports, and hanging out with friends combined. Cell phones are not bad, but they definitely have something to do with getting bad grades. If you took away a kid’s phone for a week, they would probably get better grades than they usually do.

Without phones, it would be very difficult to communicate because they are the most common way to communicate in today’s world. If teens did not have them, they would not be as social as they are because you would not talk to as many people because it would be difficult. Life without phones would be like a trampoline without anyone to jump on it.

When cell phones were invented, they were used for talking and not texting. Then, texting was invented and people still talked on the phone quite a bit and texted a little. After awhile, texting got more popular as the days went on. It seemed like everyone texted and nobody called. Now, most people text but a phone call here and there is nice because you can get a tiny break from texting.

After texting, came internet. At first only a select few people had internet because of the type of phone they had, but now, almost all phone have internet. It started out as facebook, that was the thing that everyone had and that everyone was on every single day. After facebook came twitter. Twitter was like facebook but it mainly focused on statuses rather then picture and statuses. Instagram was the next big thing. Instagram was also like faceboo, but only the pictures and no statuses. I do not get why twitter and instagram are the most popular now because if you put both of them together, you pretty much get facebook.

Some think that phones are a big part of why some kids get bad grades, and I agree. There is a large amount of time spent on a phone everyday. School does not allow them because of that reason, but kids still use them a lot. For example, they hide their phones under their desks so that the teacher could not see that they were texting. After the teachers caught on to that, kids tried to text when the teacher was not looking, and that still works sometimes today.
Word Count: 427 words 

It's Freezing

Over the past week I have heard so many people talk about how much fun spring break is going to be. For most people, spring break it a time where you go someplace warm, outside of Cedar Rapids so that they can just relax and forget about all of stress that school and work brings. Florida would be a good example of where people might go because it is a popular place that is warm and beautiful.

 For me, spring break is going to be pretty bad. All I get to do is stay in Cedar Rapids and go to soccer try outs and help with the little kid’s soccer camp afterwards. There will be no free time for me which is usually something that I enjoy because I would rather be super busy than supper bored. But this time around, being busy will not be fun. For example, I love to play soccer and it takes up most of my time, but when practicing out in the freezing weather, I definitely do not enjoy it one bit. I guess it is probably good for me because Iowa is a cold place and I should get used to the fact that it barely ever gets warm.

I am very excited for soccer try outs, but I hope that I do not freeze my butt off in the process of playing. Last year, some of the games were so cold and all of the players were bundled up in a bunch of blankets and we were still really cold.

I hope that this crappy weather gets better very soon so that I can get tan. During the summer I get so tan, but then lose it all in the winter and it makes me mad. How can someone get so tan, and then lose it all within a month? It just does not make sense to me at all. Maybe I should lay out more and get so tan that I look black. That could work, right? Anyway, all I am saying is that the weather needs to get better so that I can enjoy myself when I go outside instead of being very uncomfortable.

Word Count: 368 words

Positive

When you play a sport, do you like when people encourage you? I feel like it encourages you to do your best and work as hard as you can, but others think that it makes them play worse and I just do not get it. Although it may seem like they are getting angry at you, they are just trying to make you better at whatever you are doing. That is why sometimes the more successful people are the ones you take criticism and use it to benefit themselves so that you can become the best player you can be.

Things like “play quicker”, “keep your head up”, and “don’t give up” and all things to take in because if you do not, then you will never be the player that you want to be. Letting something like that get into your head is very bad because you end up just playing even worse or you end up not liking the person saying it because you think they are doing it to bring you down, but that is not the case. Even if they are trying to bring you down just ignore it and let yourself shine.

If you take a look at all of the professional sports players out there you will see that they do not let what other people say effect them because if they did, they would not be where they are today. No matter how hard you work and how hard you try to be on everyone’s good side there will always be someone that will try to break you down but just take that gesture of hate and put it in your mind as a thing to work on so that you get better.

If you take criticism and work at it, you will be successful. You will feel good about yourself because not only does it make you successful, but it makes you the best you can be and a good player that a lot of people will respect. So do not worry if people are not supportive of you, just take what they have to say and make your life better as a player. Players of all ages can take this advice, but the sooner you do the better because if you learn at a young age, you will be able to grow as a player faster, and be ahead of all of the other players. (406 words)

Deprived

A weekend without soccer is like a weekend with no food. Without it, you feel hungry and you starve. It is hard not being able to play very much but I know that it is hard to get space to play. There is only one good place to play soccer in Cedar Rapids and that is the SportZone. You can't play outside because of the snow, so you have to fit a bunch of games in on one field in one weekend. As you can see, this is a problem for some people because they want to play almost everyday, but they can't.

I know from experience that it is hard to stay in shape during the indoor season because you do not have practice as much so you have to do it on your own. What if you do not have any space to do it at home and you do not have anywhere to go? Well then I guess you are screwed because there really is not anything else you can do but wait until you have another practice or game.

Day after day I feel like I am getting more and more out of shape because I do not run as much as I do in outdoor. For example indoor fields are about half the size of regular fields so it does not take as much running. Also, when I run in my basement, I get so bored after about a mile and a half that I end up stopping. This is why I wish that there were more games in the winter so that when high school soccer comes, you are well prepared and you do not have to worry about being out of shape or not being as good as you want to be during the season.

For me, I am a little nervous about me being out of shape for high school soccer. If I need to get in better shape, then I will have to work extra hard just to get to the point that I want to be at. I have been trying to work out a lot before season, but I am still a little shaky on the whole being in shape thing. I hope that I will continue to get stronger and get in better shape so that I will be successful.

Word Count: 395

The Journey to Success

On a day of terrible cold weather and a terrible day at school, I was woken from my nightnare by a surprise call from my brother. He had annouced to me that he had been drafted to the New York Red Bulls. Although I keep up with most of the professional soccer teams, I was not too familiar with the Red Bulls. I was aware that they were a good soccer team, but I was not too sure if they were successful in winning games. So far, they have done well in the preseason. My brother got to play in the first game of preseason and ended up scoring the game winning goal. When I found out that he had scored, I was at school. I was so pissed that I did not get to watch it and nobody taped it for me so I could watch it back. All I know, is that he scored a header goal, must have been pretty exciting for him I assume.

Sometimes I wish that I could be half as successful as he has been in his life, but I am just happy that he gets to live his life just the way he wants to. His dream when he was little was to become a professional soccer player, and no he is living his dream. How cool would that be? In my opinion, I think it would be the most overwhelming and helpful thing. You would also learn a lot about different live styles. For example, fir my brother started out play soccer in Cedar Rapids. After a couple of years, he started to travel to different countries and states across the world. Awhile later, he moved to Illinois the play with the Chicago Fire academy team, where he went to high school not too far away from where he practiced. For college, Ian moved to Washington D.C. where he played college soccer and ended up getting second in the national division one soccer tournament. After getting second, he left college a little early in his senior year to go into the MLS draft where he was finally selected to join the New York Red Bulls team. He is still enjoying himself just as much as he did when he first got drafted.

 When talking to Ian, I can tell that he is a little home sick. Occationally I will talk to him on the phone when he has down time, but that is not too often. Although he loves his life, he wishes he could have his family there to enjoy the journey with him, and my whole family supports him 100%.

Word Count: 445 words