Leadership Reflection

Walking into my first ever high school soccer practice late was where I experienced leadership in relation to sports. My mom drove me, and dropped me off at 7:05, 5 minutes late. By the time I got down to the track, the girls were already running. I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know any of the girls. I had my cleats on while they all got the memo to wear gym shoes. I sat alone on the track because they were too far for me to catch up. When the girls got back, they were done and getting water and stretching. I continued to sit by myself and tried not to draw attention to myself.

All of the sudden, a girl reached her hand out to me and asked me to take a lap with her. I found out that she was a senior captain. She was friendly and got me talking. From then on, I felt comfortable looking up to her when I was reminded of her kindness to me. She could have ignored me, but she make me feel accepted as part of the soccer team, a place I found a home in at Mariemont. Had she ignored me, I may have quit or not have had the positive experience that I did, and I’m thankful for that one simple act of kindness from a senior to a freshman.

I consider this leadership because it was inclusion. A leader includes everyone, especially on a sports team. A team is not a team of one, it’s a team of many. I felt so thankful to be included, that it is in my core understanding of leadership to this date.

This was also an example of leadership because it was selfless. Hanna had already completed her 2-lap warmup; she didn’t need another lap. She could have stayed and hung out with her friends for a water break, but she reached beyond herself and out to me. She wasn’t thinking about herself in that moment, she was thinking about me: a scared, quiet, non-confident freshman sitting by herself. Because I experienced this with Hanna, I now know that leadership doesn’t exist if you can’t think beyond yourself in a group of people.

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