history of sports essay

A Brief History of Sports

From Rocks and Spears to Laser Tag

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The documented history of sports goes back at least 3,000 years. In the beginning, sports often involved the preparation for war or training as a hunter, which explains why so many early games involved the throwing of spears, stakes, and rocks, and sparring one-on-one with opponents.

With the first Olympic Games in 776 BC—which included events such as foot and chariot races, wrestling, jumping, and discus and javelin throwing—the Ancient Greeks introduced formal sports to the world. The following by no means exhaustive list takes a look at the beginnings and evolution of some of today's most popular sporting pastimes.

Games with Bats & Balls: Cricket, Baseball, and Softball

• Cricket: The game of cricket originated in south-east England sometime in the late 16th century. By the 18th century, it had become the national sport, making inroads globally in the 19th and 20th centuries. The prototype for the modern cricket bat featuring a willow blade and a cane handle layered with strips of rubber, and then tied with twine and covered with another layer of rubber to form a grip was invented around 1853. (The longest recorded game of cricket took place in 1939 and spanned a period of nine days.)
• Baseball : Alexander Cartwright (1820-1892) of New York invented the baseball field as we know it in 1845. Cartwright and the members of his New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club​ devised the first rules and regulations that became the accepted standard for the modern game of baseball.
• Softball: In 1887, George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, invented softball as a form of indoor baseball that was first played on a cold winter day inside the warm Farragut Boat Club.

The first formal rules for basketball were devised in 1892. Initially, players dribbled a soccer ball up and down a court of unspecified dimensions. Points were earned by landing the ball in a peach basket. Iron hoops and a hammock-style basket were introduced in 1893. Another decade passed, however, before the innovation of open-ended nets put an end to the practice of manually retrieving the ball from the basket each time a goal was scored. The first shoes specifically designed for the game, Converse All Stars, were introduced in 1917 and were soon made famous by legendary player Chuck Taylor who became an early brand ambassador in the 1920s. 

Rugby and American Football

• Rugby: The origins of rugby can be traced back over 2000 years to a Roman game called  harpastum (from the Greek for “seize”). Unlike soccer, in which the ball was propelled by means of the foot, in this game, it was also carried in the hands. The game made its modern debut in 1749 at a newly built school in Rugby in Warwickshire, England, which boasted “every accommodation that could be required for the exercise of young gentlemen.” The eight-acre plot on which the game evolved was known as "The Close." Between 1749 and 1823, rugby had few rules and the ball was kicked rather than carried to move it forward. Games could go on for five days and often more than 200 students participated. In 1823, player William Webb Ellis was the first to took pick up the ball and run with it. This was the beginning of the modern version of the sport as it’s played today. 
• Football: American football is a descendant of rugby and soccer. While Rutgers and Princeton played what was then billed as the first college football   game on November 6, 1869, the game did not come into its own until 1879 with rules instituted by Walter Camp, a player/coach at Yale University. On November 12, 1892, in a game that pitted the Allegheny Athletic Association football team against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, AAA player William (Pudge) Heffelfinger was paid $500 to participate—marking him as the first-ever professional football player.

The game of Golf is descended from a game that originated in the Kingdom of Fife on the eastern coast of Scotland in during the 15th century. While there were similar games in other parts of Europe at the time that involved swatting a rock with a stick around a predetermined course, the game as we know it—including the innovation introduction of the golf hole—was invented in Scotland.

• During the mid-15th century, the games of golf and soccer suffered something of a setback. As Scotland prepared to defend its borders against English invasion, the rising popularity of the games was thought to be responsible for men neglecting more useful pursuits such as archery and swordsmanship. Golf and soccer were officially banned in Scotland in 1457. The prohibition was lifted in 1502 with the signing of the Treaty of Glasgow.
• In the 16th century, King Charles I popularized the golf in England and Mary Queen of Scots, who was French, introduced the game to her homeland. (In fact, it’s possible that term “caddie” is derived from the name given to the French cadets who attended Mary when she played).
• The first reference to golf at Scotland's most famous golf course, St Andrews, was in 1552. The clergy allowed public access to the links the following year.
• The golf course at Leith (near Edinburgh) was the first to publish a set of rules for the game, and in 1682, was also the site of the first international golf match during which a team pairing the Duke of York and George Patterson playing for Scotland beat two English noblemen.
• In 1754, the St Andrews Society of Golfers was formed. Its annual competition relied on the rules established at Leith.
• Stroke play was introduced in 1759.
• The first 18-hole course (now standard) was constructed in 1764.
• In 1895, St Andrews inaugurated the first women's golf club in the world.

While the exact origin of ice hockey is unclear, the game likely evolved from the centuries’ old Northern European game of field hockey. The rules of modern ice hockey were created by Canadian James Creighton. The first game was played in  Montreal, Canada 1875 at Victoria Skating Rink between two nine-player teams, and featured a flat circular piece of wood that served as a prototype for what would eventually evolve into the modern hockey puck. Today, barring penalties, each team has six players on the ice at a time, including the goalie, who guards the net.

Lord Stanley of Preston,  Governor-General of Canada , inaugurated the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup—known today as the Stanley Cup—in 1892, to recognize the best team in Canada each year. The first award went to the Montreal Hockey Club in 1893. The awards were later opened to both Canadian and American league teams.

Ice Skating

Around the 14th Century, the Dutch started using wooden platform skates with flat iron bottom runners. The skates were attached to the skater's shoes with leather straps. Poles were used to propel the skater. Around 1500, the Dutch added a narrow metal double-edged blade, making the poles a thing of the past, as the skater could now push and glide with his feet (called the "Dutch Roll").

Figure skating was introduced at the 1908 Summer Olympics and has been included at the Winter Games since 1924. Men's speed skating debuted during the 1924 Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix, France. Ice dance became a medal sport in 1976, with a team event debuting for the 2014 Olympics.

Skiing and Water Skiing

• Skiing: Although the sport of skiing in America is little more than a century old, researchers have dated a rock carving of a skier, found on the Norwegian island of Rodoy as more than 4,000 years old. Skiing was so revered in Scandinavia that the Vikings worshiped Ull and Skade, the god and goddess of skiing. Skiing was introduced to the United States by Norwegian gold miners.
• Water Skiing: Water skiing came about on June 28, 1922, when 18-year-old Minnesotan Ralph Samuelson proved the theory that if a person could ski on snow, a person could ski on water.

Competitive Swimming

Swimming pools did not become popular until the middle of the 19th century . By 1837, six indoor pools with diving boards had been built in London, England. When the modern Olympic Games were launched in Athens, Greece, on April 5, 1896, swimming races were among the original events. Soon after, the popularity of swimming pools and the related sporting events began to spread.

Several famous 20th Century swimmers, including three-time gold medalist Johnny Weissmuller who competed in the 1924 Paris Games , two-time Olympian Buster Crabbe, and Esther Williams, an American competitive swimmer who set multiple national and regional swimming records (but did not compete in the Olympics due to the outbreak of WWII) went on to have successful careers in Hollywood.

While there’s evidence to suggest that ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians played some version of a game that resembled tennis, court tennis as we know it is descended from a game enjoyed by 11 th -century French monks called paume  (meaning "palm"). Paume was played on a court and the ball was struck with the hand (hence the name). Paume evolved into  jeu de paume  ("game of the palm") in which racquets were used. By 1500, racquets constructed of wooden frames and gut strings were in play, as were balls made of cork and leather. When popular game spread to England, it was played exclusively indoors, but rather than volley the ball back and forth, players attempted to hit a ball into a netted opening in the roof of the court. In 1873, Englishman Major Walter Wingfield invented a game called Sphairistikè (Greek for "playing ball") from which modern outdoor tennis evolved.

William Morgan invented volleyball in 1895 at the Holyoke, Massachusetts, YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) where he served as Director of Physical Education. Originally called Mintonette, after a demonstration match during which a spectator commented that the game involved a great deal of "volleying," the sport was renamed volleyball.

Surfing and Windsurfing

• Surfing: The exact origins of surfing are not known, however, most research suggests the activity dates back to ancient Polynesia and was first observed by Europeans during a 1767 voyage to Tahiti. The first surfboards were made of solid wood, measuring between 10 and 10 feet, and weighing from 75 to upwards of 200 pounds. Solid boards were designed for forward-motion only and were not meant to cross waves. At the dawn of the 20th century, a Hawaiian surfer named George Freeth was the first to cut a board down to a more manageable eight-foot length. In 1926, American surfer Tom Blake invented the first hollow board and later introduced the fin. During the late 1940s through the early 1950s, inventor and surfing aficionado Bob Simmons began experimenting with curved boards. Thanks to his innovative designs, he is often referred to as the "Father of the Modern Surfboard." Later designs would aim for lighter, more maneuverable boards. Boards carved from balsa wood, then laminated with fiberglass and coated with epoxy resin became popular, but as technology advanced, balsa core boards were eventually eclipsed those constructed of foam core.
• Windsurfing: Windsurfing or boardsailing is a sport that combines sailing and surfing and uses a one-person craft called a sailboard. The basic sailboard is composed of a board and a rig. In 1948, 20-year-old Newman Darby first conceived of using a handheld sail and rig mounted on a universal joint, to control a small catamaran. While Darby did not file for a patent for his design, he is recognized as the inventor of the first sailboard.

According to the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), more than 240 million people around the world play soccer on a regular basis. The history of the game can be traced back more than 2,000 years to ancient China, where it all began with a bunch of players kicking an animal-hide ball around. While Greece, Rome, and areas of Central America claim to been seminal to the development of the game, soccer as we know it—or football as it’s called in most places other than the United States—came to the fore in England during the mid-19th Century, and it’s the English who can claim credit for codifying the first uniform rules for the sport—which made tripping opponents and touching the ball with the hands are forbidden. (The penalty kick was introduced in 1891.) 

The earliest evidence of boxing can be traced back to Egypt circa 3000 BC. Boxing as a sport was introduced to the ancient Olympic Games in the 7th century BC, at which time, boxers’ hands and forearms were bound with soft leather thongs for protection. Romans later traded in leather thongs for metal-studded gloves called cestus .

After the fall of the Roman Empire, boxing died out and did not make a comeback until the 17th century. The English officially organized amateur boxing in 1880, designating five weight classes: Bantam, not exceeding 54 kilos (119 pounds); Feather, not exceeding 57 kilos (126 pounds); Light, not exceeding 63.5 kilos (140 pounds); Middle, not exceeding 73 kilos (161 pounds); and Heavy, any weight.

When boxing made its Olympic debut at the 1904 Games in St. Louis, the USA was the only country entered, and as a result, took home all the medals. Since its initial admittance in the Olympic program, the sport has been included at all of the subsequent Games, with the exception of the 1912 Stockholm Games, since boxing was outlawed there. But Sweden wasn't the only place where fisticuffs were illegal. For a good deal the 19th century, boxing was not considered a legitimate sport in America. Bare-knuckle boxing was outlawed as a criminal activity and boxing matches were regularly raided by the police.

Gymnastics began in ancient Greece as a form of exercise for both men and women that combined physical coordination, strength, and dexterity with tumbling and acrobatic skills. (The translation for the word “gymnasium” from the original Greek is “to exercise naked.”) Early gymnastics exercises included running, jumping, swimming, throwing, wrestling, and weight lifting. Once the Romans conquered Greece, gymnastics became more formalized. Roman gymnasiums were mostly used to prepare their legions for the rigors of battle. With the exception of tumbling, which remained a fairly popular form of entertainment, as the Roman Empire declined, the interest in gymnastics, along with several other sports favored by gladiators and soldiers dwindled as well.

In 1774, when prominent German educational reformer Johann Bernhard Basedow added physical exercise to the realistic courses of study he advocated at his school in Dessau, Saxony, modern gymnastics—and the Germanic countries’ fascination with them—took off. By the late 1700s, German Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (the "father of modern gymnastics”) had introduced the sidebar, the horizontal bar, the parallel bars, the balance beam, and jumping events. German educator Johann Christoph Friedrich GutsMuths (also known as Guts Muth or Gutsmuths and the "grandfather of gymnastics") developed a more graceful form of gymnastics focusing on rhythmic movement, opening the Jahn's school in Berlin in 1811. Soon after, gymnastics clubs began to spring up in both continental Europe and Great Britain. As gymnastics evolved, the Greco-Roman events of weight lifting and wrestling were dropped. There was also a shift in emphasis from simply beating an opponent to the pursuit of excellence in form.

Dr. Dudley Allen Sargent, a pioneering Civil War-era physical education teacher, athletic proponent, lecturer, and prolific inventor of gymnastic equipment (with more than 30 pieces of apparatus to his credit) introduced the sport to the United States. Thanks to a wave of immigration at the end of the 19 th century, an increasing number of turnverein (from the German “ turnen,”  meaning to perform gymnastic exercises + “ verein,” meaning  club) sprang up as recently arrived Europeans sought to bring their love of the sport to their new homeland.

Men’s gymnastics debuted at the Olympic Games in 1896, and have been included in all Games since 1924. An all-around women’s competition arrived in 1936, followed by a competition for separate events in 1952. During early competitions, male gymnasts from Germany, Sweden, Italy, and Switzerland, dominated the competition, but by the ’50s, Japan, the Soviet Union, and several Eastern European nations were turning out top male and female gymnasts. The widespread coverage of Olympic performances by the Soviet Union’s Olga Korbut in the 1972 Olympics and Nadia Comaneci of Romania at the 1976 Games raised the profile gymnastics dramatically, resulting in a major promotion of the sport, particularly for women in the China and the United States.

Modern international competition has six events for men—the rings, parallel bars, horizontal bar, side or pommel-horse, long or vaulting horse, and floor (or free) exercise, and four events for women—vaulting horse, balance beam, uneven bars, and floor exercise (which is performed with musical accompaniment). Tumbling and trampoline exercises are also included in many U.S. competitions. Rhythmic gymnastics, a non-acrobatic performance of graceful choreographed moves incorporating the use of a ball, hoop, rope, or ribbons, have been an Olympic sport since 1984.

The use of swords dates to prehistoric times. The earliest known example of swordplay comes from a relief found in the temple of Medīnat Habu, near Luxor that was built in Egypt by Ramses III circa 1190 BC. In ancient Rome, swordplay was a highly systemized form of combat that both soldiers and gladiators had to learn. 

After the fall of the Roman Empire and through the Middle Ages, sword training became less systematic and sword fighting took on a seedy reputation as criminals increasingly used the weapons to further their illicit pursuits. As a result, communities began outlawing fencing schools. But even in the face of such obstacles, including a 1286 London edict passed by King Edward I condemning the practice, fencing flourished.

During the 15 th century, guilds of fencing masters came to prominence throughout Europe. Henry VIII was one of the sport’s earliest supporters in England. The English convention of using a cutting sword and with a buckler (a small shield worn on the free arm) was replaced by the rapier combat more prevalent in continental European countries. It was the Italians who first began using the point rather than the edge of the sword. The Italian fencing style emphasized speed and dexterity rather than force and was soon adopted throughout Europe. When the lunge was added, the art of fencing was born.

By the end of the 17th century, the changes in men’s fashion dictated by the court of Louis XIV changed the face of fencing as well. The lengthy rapier gave way to the shorter court sword. Initially dismissed, the lighter court sword soon proved an effective weapon for a variety of movements impossible to achieve with earlier blades. Hits could be made with sword-point only, while the side of the blade was used for defense. It was from these innovations that modern fencing evolved.

The French school of sword fighting focused on strategy and form, and specific rules were adopted to teach it. A practice sword, known as the foil, was introduced for training. The first fencing masks were designed by French fencing master La Boëssière and infamous duelist Joseph Bologne, chevalier de Saint-Georges in the 18 th century. Basic fencing conventions were first organized codified by French fencing master Camille Prévost in the 1880s.

Men’s fencing has been an Olympic event since 1896. After numerous disputes, the Fédération Internationale d’Escrime was founded in 1913 as governing body of international fencing for amateurs (both in the Olympics and in world championships) to ensure uniform enforcement of rules. Individual foil for women was introduced at the 1924 Olympic Games. The women’s foil team event debuted at the 1960 Games. Women’s team and individual épée arrived for 1996 Games. The women’s individual saber event was added for the 2004 Games, and women’s team saber followed in 2008.

Rowing has been in existence as long as people have traveled by boat, however, the first historic reference to rowing as a sport dates to an Egyptian funerary carving from the 15 th century BC. Roman poet Virgil mentions rowing in the Aeneid . In the Middle Ages, Italian oarsmen zoomed across Venice’s waterways during Carnevale regatta races. Beginning in 1454, London’s early water taxi drivers battled it out on the Thames River hoping to win monetary prizes and bragging rights. A race between London Bridge and Chelsea Harbor has been held annually since 1715. America’s first recorded rowing event took place in New York Harbor in 1756, and not long after, the sport took hold in the athletic programs at many of the country’s elite colleges.

England's Oxford University Boat Club, one of the oldest established college teams, and its perennial rival, Cambridge, held their first men’s competition, known simply as the University Boat Race, in 1929. The event has been held annually since 1856. Similar rowing rivalries, most notably those between Harvard, Yale, and the U.S. service academies, soon surfaced across the pond. Yale challenged Harvard to its first intercollegiate boat race in 1852.

Rowing became an Olympic sport in 1900. The United States took gold that year, and again in 1904. The English won gold medals in 1908 and 1912, after which the United States ditched professional rowers, and instead, tapped the best college team to compete at the 1920 Games. The U.S. Naval Academy went on to beat the British team, recapturing the gold medal. The trend continued from 1920 to 1948, however, by then, the nature of American sports was changing. As the immense popularity of collegiate basketball and football grew, interest in rowing waned. While still wildly popular at some schools, rowing will likely never regain its former widespread audience.

Sports Miscellany: Wiffleball, Ultimate Frisbee, Hacky Sack, Paintball, and Laser Tag

David N. Mullany of Shelton, Connecticut invented the Wiffle ball in 1953. A Wiffle ball is a variation of a baseball that makes it easy to hit a curveball.

While Frisbees date back to 1957, the game of Ultimate Frisbee (or simply Ultimate) is a non-contact team sport that was created in 1968 by a group of students led by Joel Silver, Jonny Hines, and Buzzy Hellring at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey.

Hacky sack (a.k.a. "footbag") is a modern American sport invented in 1972 by John Stalberger and Mike Marshall of Oregon City, Oregon.

Paintball was born 1981 when a group of 12 friends playing "Capture the Flag" added the element of firing at one another with the tree-marking guns. After investing with a tree marking gun manufacturer called Nelson, the group began promoting and selling the guns for use in the new recreational sport.

In 1986, George A. Carter III became the "founder and inventor of the laser tag industry," another variation of "Capture the Flag," in which teams equipped with infrared and visible light-based guns tag each other out until one side is victorious.

As anyone writing a compendium on the history of sports can tell you, there's a staggering amount of information to sift through and only so much time. Sports is such a huge topic (with events such as horse racing, wrestling, track & field, and mixed martial arts—to name only a few—that are more than deserving of coverage), it would take an encyclopedia to do it justice. That said, the ones included in this list should give you a fair sampling of the popular athletic endeavors that continue to fascinate sporting enthusiasts around the globe.

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The Oxford Handbook of Sports History

Robert Edelman is a professor of Russian history and the history of sport at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of Serious Fun: A History of Spectator Sports in the USSR (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) and Spartak Moscow: the People’s Team in the Workers’ State (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009). He is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Sports History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) and is currently writing a global history of sport during the Cold War.

Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

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Orwell was wrong. Sports are not “war without the shooting,” nor are they “war by other means.” Although sports have generated animosity throughout human history, they also require rules. Those rules limit violence, even death. Thus sports have been a significant part of a historical “civilizing process.” As the historical profession has taken its cultural turn over the past few decades, scholars have turned their attention to a subject once seen as marginal. As researchers have come to understand the centrality of the human body in human history, they have come to study this most corporeal of human activities. Taking early cues from physical educators and kinesiologists, historians have explored sports in all their forms. There has been a veritable explosion of excellent work on this subject, just as sports have assumed an even greater share of a globalizing world’s cultural, political, and economic space. Practiced by millions and watched by billions, sports provide an enormous share of content on the Internet. This volume combines the efforts of sports historians with essays by historians whose careers have been devoted to more traditional topics. It shows how sports have evolved from ancient societies to the world today. The goal is to introduce those from outside this subfield to this burgeoning body of scholarship as well as show those who may want to study sport with rigor and nuance how to embark on a rewarding journey and tackle profound matters that have affected and will continue to affect all of humankind.

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How to Write a Non-Cliche College Essay About Sports + Examples

What’s covered:, what makes a sports essay cliche.

• How To Make Your Sports Essay Unique

Great Examples of College Essays About Sports

Where to get your college essay edited for free, or by an expert.

You’ve been brainstorming essay topics for your college applications, and you think you’ve finally found the right one: an extended metaphor likening your experience on the field with overcoming personal struggles. The problem: many other students have this same thought. 

The purpose of a college essay is to make yourself stand out as a unique individual, but when students write about sports, they often blend in. Because of that, students are usually advised to pick a different topic.

That being said, it is possible to write a non-cliche college essay about sports if you put in a little extra effort. Read along to learn how to make your sports essay different from all the other sports essays.

Sports essays are cliche when they follow a standard trajectory. Some of these trajectories include writing a story about:

• An agonizing defeat
• Forging bonds with teammates
• Overcoming adversity
• Overcoming an injury
• Refusing to quit
• Victory during a big game

Because sports essays have very similar themes and “lessons learned,” it can be difficult to make your story stand out. These trajectories also often focus too much on the sport or storyline, and not enough on the writer’s reflections and personality.

As you write your essay, try to think about what your experience says about you rather than what you learned from your experience. You are more than just one lesson you learned!

(Keep in mind that the sports essay is not the only college essay cliche. Learn about other essay cliches and how to fix them in our complete guide).

How to Make Your Sports Essay Unique

1. focus on a specific moment or reflection..

The college essay is a way for students to humanize themselves to admissions officers. You do not feel human if you are describing yourself as just another player on the field!

One important way to make your essay about you (not just about sports) is by focusing on a specific moment in time and inviting the reader to join you in that moment. Explain to the reader what it would be like to be sitting in that locker room as you questioned the values of the other players on your team. Ask your reader to sit with you on the cot in the trainer’s room as your identity was stripped away from you when they said “your body can’t take this anymore.” Bring your reader to the dinner table and involve them in your family’s conversation about how sports were affecting your mental health and your treatment of those around you.

Intense descriptions of a specific experience will evoke emotions in your reader and allow them to connect with you and feel for you.

When in doubt, avoid anything that can be covered by ESPN. On ESPN, we see the games, we see the benches, we even see the locker rooms and training rooms. Take your reader somewhere different and show them something unique.

2. Use sports to point out broader themes in your life.

The main risk when writing about sports is neglecting to write about yourself. Before you get started, think about the main values that you want to express in your sports essay. Sports are simply your avenue for telling the reader what makes you unique. 

As a test, imagine if you were a pianist. Would you be able to talk about these same values? What if you were a writer? Or a chemist? Articulating your values is the end, and sports should simply be your means.

Some values that you might want to focus on:

• Autonomy (you want to be able to set your mind to anything and achieve it on your own)
• Growth (you seek improvement constantly)
• Curiosity (you are willing to try anything once)
• Vulnerability (you aren’t afraid to fail, as long as you give it your all)
• Community (you value the feedback of others and need camaraderie to succeed)
• Craft (you think that with deliberate care, anything can be perfected)
• Responsibility (you believe that you owe something to those around you and perhaps they also owe something to you)

You can use the ESPN check again to make sure that you are using sports as an avenue to show your depth.

Things ESPN covers: how a player reacts to defeat, how injuries affect a player’s gameplay/attitude, how players who don’t normally work well together are working together on their new team.

Things ESPN doesn’t cover: the conversation that a player had with their mother about fear of death before going into a big surgery (value: family and connection), the ways that the intense pressure to succeed consumed a player to the point they couldn’t be there for the people in their life (value: supporting others and community), the body image issues that weigh on a player’s mind when playing their sport and how they overcame those (value: health and growth).

3. Turn a cliche storyline on its head.

There’s no getting around the fact that sports essays are often cliche. But there is a way to confront the cliche head-on. For example, lots of people write essays about the lessons they learned from an injury, victory, and so on, but fewer students explain how they are embracing those lessons. 

Perhaps you learned that competition is overwhelming for you and you prefer teamwork, so you switched from playing basketball to playing Dungeons & Dragons. Maybe, when your softball career ended abruptly, you had to find a new identity and that’s when you became obsessed with your flower garden and decided to pursue botany. Or maybe, you have stuck with football through it all, but your junior-year mental health struggle showed you that football should be fun and you have since started a nonprofit for local children to healthily engage with sports.

If your story itself is more cliche, try bringing readers to the present moment with you and show why the cliche matters and what it did for you. This requires a fair amount of creativity. Ensure you’re not parroting a frequently used topic by really thinking deeply to find your own unique spin.

Night had robbed the academy of its daytime colors, yet there was comfort in the dim lights that cast shadows of our advances against the bare studio walls. Silhouettes of roundhouse kicks, spin crescent kicks, uppercuts and the occasional butterfly kick danced while we sparred. She approached me, eyes narrowed with the trace of a smirk challenging me. “Ready spar!” Her arm began an upward trajectory targeting my shoulder, a common first move. I sidestepped — only to almost collide with another flying fist. Pivoting my right foot, I snapped my left leg, aiming my heel at her midsection. The center judge raised one finger. 

There was no time to celebrate, not in the traditional sense at least. Master Pollard gave a brief command greeted with a unanimous “Yes, sir” and the thud of 20 hands dropping-down-and-giving-him-30, while the “winners” celebrated their victory with laps as usual. 

Three years ago, seven-thirty in the evening meant I was a warrior. It meant standing up straighter, pushing a little harder, “Yes, sir” and “Yes, ma’am”, celebrating birthdays by breaking boards, never pointing your toes, and familiarity. Three years later, seven-thirty in the morning meant I was nervous. 

The room is uncomfortably large. The sprung floor soaks up the checkerboard of sunlight piercing through the colonial windows. The mirrored walls further illuminate the studio and I feel the light scrutinizing my sorry attempts at a pas de bourrée, while capturing the organic fluidity of the dancers around me. “Chassé en croix, grand battement, pique, pirouette.” I follow the graceful limbs of the woman in front of me, her legs floating ribbons, as she executes what seems to be a perfect ronds de jambes. Each movement remains a negotiation. With admirable patience, Ms. Tan casts me a sympathetic glance.   

There is no time to wallow in the misery that is my right foot. Taekwondo calls for dorsiflexion; pointed toes are synonymous with broken toes. My thoughts drag me into a flashback of the usual response to this painful mistake: “You might as well grab a tutu and head to the ballet studio next door.” Well, here I am Master Pollard, unfortunately still following your orders to never point my toes, but no longer feeling the satisfaction that comes with being a third degree black belt with 5 years of experience quite literally under her belt. It’s like being a white belt again — just in a leotard and ballet slippers. 

But the appetite for new beginnings that brought me here doesn’t falter. It is only reinforced by the classical rendition of “Dancing Queen” that floods the room and the ghost of familiarity that reassures me that this new beginning does not and will not erase the past. After years spent at the top, it’s hard to start over. But surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become. In Taekwondo, we started each class reciting the tenets: honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet. 

The thing about change is that it eventually stops making things so different. After nine different schools, four different countries, three different continents, fluency in Tamil, Norwegian, and English, there are more blurred lines than there are clear fragments. My life has not been a tactfully executed, gold medal-worthy Taekwondo form with each movement defined, nor has it been a series of frappés performed by a prima ballerina with each extension identical and precise, but thankfully it has been like the dynamics of a spinning back kick, fluid, and like my chances of landing a pirouette, unpredictable. 

Why it works:

What’s especially powerful about this essay is that the author uses detailed imagery to convey a picture of what they’re experiencing, so much so that the reader is along for the ride. This works as a sports essay not only because of the language and sensory details, but also because the writer focuses on a specific moment in time, while at the same time exploring why Taekwondo is such an important part of their life.

After the emotional image is created, the student finishes their essay with valuable reflection. With the reflection, they show admissions officers that they are mature and self-aware. Self-awareness comes through with statements like “surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become” and maturity can be seen through the student’s discussion of values “honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet.” These are the kinds of comments that should find their way into a sports essay!

“Advanced females ages 13 to 14 please proceed to staging with your coaches at this time.” Skittering around the room, eyes wide and pleading, I frantically explained my situation to nearby coaches. The seconds ticked away in my head; every polite refusal increased my desperation.

Despair weighed me down. I sank to my knees as a stream of competitors, coaches, and officials flowed around me. My dojang had no coach, and the tournament rules prohibited me from competing without one.

Although I wanted to remain strong, doubts began to cloud my mind. I could not help wondering: what was the point of perfecting my skills if I would never even compete? The other members of my team, who had found coaches minutes earlier, attempted to comfort me, but I barely heard their words. They couldn’t understand my despair at being left on the outside, and I never wanted them to understand.

Since my first lesson 12 years ago, the members of my dojang have become family. I have watched them grow up, finding my own happiness in theirs. Together, we have honed our kicks, blocks, and strikes. We have pushed one another to aim higher and become better martial artists. Although my dojang had searched for a reliable coach for years, we had not found one. When we attended competitions in the past, my teammates and I had always gotten lucky and found a sympathetic coach. Now, I knew this practice was unsustainable. It would devastate me to see the other members of my dojang in my situation, unable to compete and losing hope as a result. My dojang needed a coach, and I decided it was up to me to find one. 

I first approached the adults in the dojang – both instructors and members’ parents. However, these attempts only reacquainted me with polite refusals. Everyone I asked told me they couldn’t devote multiple weekends per year to competitions. I soon realized that I would have become the coach myself.

At first, the inner workings of tournaments were a mystery to me. To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side. I learned everything from motivational strategies to technical, behind-the-scenes components of Taekwondo competitions. Though I emerged with new knowledge and confidence in my capabilities, others did not share this faith.

Parents threw me disbelieving looks when they learned that their children’s coach was only a child herself. My self-confidence was my armor, deflecting their surly glances. Every armor is penetrable, however, and as the relentless barrage of doubts pounded my resilience, it began to wear down. I grew unsure of my own abilities.

Despite the attack, I refused to give up. When I saw the shining eyes of the youngest students preparing for their first competition, I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was. The knowledge that I could solve my dojang’s longtime problem motivated me to overcome my apprehension.

Now that my dojang flourishes at competitions, the attacks on me have weakened, but not ended. I may never win the approval of every parent; at times, I am still tormented by doubts, but I find solace in the fact that members of my dojang now only worry about competing to the best of their abilities.

Now, as I arrive at a tournament with my students, I close my eyes and remember the past. I visualize the frantic search for a coach and the chaos amongst my teammates as we compete with one another to find coaches before the staging calls for our respective divisions. I open my eyes to the exact opposite scene. Lacking a coach hurt my ability to compete, but I am proud to know that no member of my dojang will have to face that problem again.

In the beginning, you might think this is another cliche sports essay about overcoming adversity. But instead, it becomes a unique statement and coming-of-age tale that reads as a suspenseful narrative. 

The author connects their experience with martial arts to larger themes in their life but manages to do so without riffing off of tried-and-true themes. Through statements like “I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was” we learn about the students values and their desire to be there for those who depend on them. 

The student also brings it full circle, demonstrating their true transformation. By using the “Same, but Different” ending technique , the student places themself in the same environment that we saw in the intro, but experiences it differently due to their actions throughout the narrative. This is very compelling!

“1…2…3…4 pirouettes! New record!” My friends cheered as I landed my turns. Pleased with my progress, I gazed down at my worn-out pointe shoes. The sweltering blisters, numbing ice-baths, and draining late-night practices did not seem so bad after all. Next goal: five turns.

For as long as I can remember, ballet, in all its finesse and glamor, had kept me driven day to day. As a child, the lithe ballerinas, donning ethereal costumes as they floated across the stage, were my motivation. While others admired Messi and Adele, I idolized Carlos Acosta, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet. 

As I devoted more time and energy towards my craft, I became obsessed with improving my technique. I would stretch for hours after class, forcing my leg one inch higher in an effort to mirror the Dance Magazine cover girls. I injured my feet and ruined pair after pair of pointe shoes, turning on wood, cement, and even grass to improve my balance as I spun. At competitions, the dancers with the 180-degree leg extensions, endless turns, and soaring leaps—the ones who received “Bravos!” from the roaring audience—further pushed me to refine my skills and perfect my form. I believed that, with enough determination, I would one day attain their level of perfection. Reaching the quadruple-pirouette milestone only intensified my desire to accomplish even more. 

My efforts seemed to have come to fruition two summers ago when I was accepted to dance with Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet at their renowned New York City summer intensive. I walked into my first session eager to learn from distinguished ballet masters and worldly dancers, already anticipating my improvement. Yet, as I danced alongside the accomplished ballerinas, I felt out of place. Despite their clean technique and professional training, they did not aim for glorious leg extensions or prodigious leaps. When they performed their turn combinations, most of them only executed two turns as I attempted four. 

“Dancers, double-pirouettes only.” 

Taken aback and confused, I wondered why our teacher expected so little from us. The other ballerinas seemed content, gracing the studio with their simple movements. 

As I grew closer with my Moscow roommates, I gradually learned that their training emphasized the history of the art form instead of stylistic tricks. Rather than show off their physical ability, their performances aimed to convey a story, one that embodied the rich culture of ballet and captured both the legacy of the dancers before them and their own artistry. As I observed my friends more intently in repertoire class, I felt the pain of the grief-stricken white swan from Swan Lake, the sass of the flirtatious Kitri from Don Quijote, and I gradually saw what I had overlooked before. My definition of talent had been molded by crowd-pleasing elements—whirring pirouettes, gravity-defying leaps, and mind-blowing leg extensions. This mindset slowly stripped me from the roots of my passion and my personal connection with ballet. 

With the Bolshoi, I learned to step back and explore the meaning behind each step and the people behind the scenes. Ballet carries history in its movements, from the societal values of the era to each choreographer’s unique flair. As I uncovered the messages behind each pirouette, kick, and jump, my appreciation for ballet grew beyond my obsession with raw athleticism and developed into a love for the art form’s emotive abilities in bridging the dancers with the audience. My journey as an artist has allowed me to see how technical execution is only the means to a greater understanding between dancer and spectator, between storyteller and listener. The elegance and complexity of ballet does not revolve around astonishing stunts but rather the evocative strength and artistry manifested in the dancer, in me. It is the combination of sentiments, history, tradition, and passion that has allowed ballet and its lessons of human connection to become my lifestyle both on and off stage.

This essay is about lessons. While the author is a dancer, this narrative isn’t really about ballet, per se — it’s about the author’s personal growth. It is purposefully reflective as the student shows a nice character arc that begins with an eager young ballerina and ends with a reflection on their past. The primary strength of this essay is the honesty and authenticity that the student approaches it with.

In the end, the student turns a cliche on its head as they embrace the idea of overcoming adversity and demonstrate how the adversity, in this case, was their own stereotypes about their art. It’s beautiful!

“Getting beat is one thing – it’s part of competing – but I want no part in losing.” Coach Rob Stark’s motto never fails to remind me of his encouragement on early-morning bus rides to track meets around the state. I’ve always appreciated the phrase, but an experience last June helped me understand its more profound, universal meaning.

Stark, as we affectionately call him, has coached track at my high school for 25 years. His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running. When I learned a neighboring high school had dedicated their track to a longtime coach, I felt that Stark deserved similar honors.

Our school district’s board of education indicated they would only dedicate our track to Stark if I could demonstrate that he was extraordinary. I took charge and mobilized my teammates to distribute petitions, reach out to alumni, and compile statistics on the many team and individual champions Stark had coached over the years. We received astounding support, collecting almost 3,000 signatures and pages of endorsements from across the community. With help from my teammates, I presented this evidence to the board.

They didn’t bite. 

Most members argued that dedicating the track was a low priority. Knowing that we had to act quickly to convince them of its importance, I called a team meeting where we drafted a rebuttal for the next board meeting. To my surprise, they chose me to deliver it. I was far from the best public speaker in the group, and I felt nervous about going before the unsympathetic board again. However, at that second meeting, I discovered that I enjoy articulating and arguing for something that I’m passionate about.

Public speaking resembles a cross country race. Walking to the starting line, you have to trust your training and quell your last minute doubts. When the gun fires, you can’t think too hard about anything; your performance has to be instinctual, natural, even relaxed. At the next board meeting, the podium was my starting line. As I walked up to it, familiar butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Instead of the track stretching out in front of me, I faced the vast audience of teachers, board members, and my teammates. I felt my adrenaline build, and reassured myself: I’ve put in the work, my argument is powerful and sound. As the board president told me to introduce myself, I heard, “runners set” in the back of my mind. She finished speaking, and Bang! The brief silence was the gunshot for me to begin. 

The next few minutes blurred together, but when the dust settled, I knew from the board members’ expressions and the audience’s thunderous approval that I had run quite a race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; the board voted down our proposal. I was disappointed, but proud of myself, my team, and our collaboration off the track. We stood up for a cause we believed in, and I overcame my worries about being a leader. Although I discovered that changing the status quo through an elected body can be a painstakingly difficult process and requires perseverance, I learned that I enjoy the challenges this effort offers. Last month, one of the school board members joked that I had become a “regular” – I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Just as Stark taught me, I worked passionately to achieve my goal. I may have been beaten when I appealed to the board, but I certainly didn’t lose, and that would have made Stark proud.

This essay uses the idea of sports to explore a more profound topic—growing through relationships. They really embrace using sports as an avenue to tell the reader about a specific experience that changed the way they approach the world. 

The emphasis on relationships is why this essay works well and doesn’t fall into a cliche. The narrator grows not because of their experience with track but because of their relationship with their coach, who inspired them to evolve and become a leader.

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Essay Sample On The History of Sports

• Author Writer

History of Sports

Sports are regarded as significant practices in society that have substantial health benefits for human health. Sports have been associated with training such as hunting, war, or other pieces of training from ancient times. Up to date, sports are primarily associated with other learning activities. Learning institutions from the lowest to the tertiary levels incorporate their activities; therefore, sports and games are part of training in these institutions. Sports are essential in human life, and people of all ages should embrace them. The history of documented sports can be traced back at least three thousand years. At first, sports comprised war preparations or hunting training. This explains why most ancient games involved throwing objects of stakes, rocks, and spears as well as scruffling face-to-face with opponents. Therefore, this essay aims at explaining a brief history of games, how they evolved and developed, and the sports events that took place at various times.   

Firstly, it is hard to know which documented sport took place at first, but it is believed that boxing and wrestling emerged to be the first sports to be played. Competitions that used modes of human transport have also been said to might have been the first sports to be played.  Documented history of sports shows that the first competitions included hitting, throwing, kicking, and activities that are sport-related in the sectors of hunting. These are the sports activities that are believed to have been played in ancient times. Several sports have developed as competitions as a result of the earliest means of transport (Bellis, 1). Some of those earliest transport included horse riding and canoeing. Also, other activities such as military activities like archery.

Consequently, it can be concluded that sports and games are a result of day-to-day activities. For instance, some competitions such as horse riding, swimming, wrestling, and boxing emerged as a result of military activities as well as forms of transport used in ancient times (Thompson, 2). Therefore, there is a close relationship between cultural, economic, and social practices and the development of sports and games.

The first Olympic games took place in 776, Before the Christ era. It was held in honor of Zeus, who was the greatest god in Greece. It was a national sports event that athletes from all over Greek attended and took place in the Olympics stadium. Its main aim was to allow the athletes to test their strength, skills, and speed. These Olympics comprised one event, which was a foot race (Bellis, 1). Later in that year, there was a significant development in sports. After the first Olympics, sports incorporated boxing, wrestling, jumping, javelin, equestrian, and discus. Even in the Bible, wrestling is the only sport that has been mentioned in wrestling because it was the most dominant game at that time.

The origin of sports and sporting festivals in Greece can be easily dated to funeral sports in the Mycenean period. This was the time between 1600 and 1100 BCE. However, the funeral games are not elaborated on in detail, but we are meant to understand that they were played in honor of fallen warriors. At this time, sports were engaged by the rich, who did not have manual work to do. In Greece, games were instituted formally which was marked by the first Olympics that took place in 776 BCE in Olympia. It should be noted that after the first Olympics was held, the trend continued until 393 CE (Thompson, 2). The interval of the four years became the time unit in the historical sequence of events. During the celebrations of the national Olympics, an Olympic armistice was ratified. This was to facilitate the smooth and safe movement of the athletes to and from the Olympic stadium. Again, the victors were rewarded. The most common rewards included laurel leaves and wreaths. Apart from the national Olympics, there were other minor games such as the Pythian Games, Isthmian Games, and Nemean games. The Olympics and these other sports were the most luxurious and prestigious games, which were merged to form the panhellenic games. They even included things such as reading activities, music, and other non-athletic practices. The first recorded competition for women was recorded in the 6 th century, and they were called the Heraean Games.

In conclusion, it is essential to note that, After the first incidence of the Olympic event, these Olympic sports took a direction in which they were held after every four years. For quite some time, it was only men who were allowed to participate and watch the games. The national Olympic games continued to be held for some centuries, even after Greek was conquered by the Romans. This continued until the roman emperor overtook them and led to the decline of Olympia stadium in 394 AD (Thompson, 2). The ruins of the Olympic stadium were discovered by archaeologists fifteen thousand years later after its fall. Later, Frenchman Baron came up with a suggestion of holding an advanced Olympic game that consisted of the features of the present-day games. This led to the holding of the first new era’s Olympics. They were held in the City of Athens in 1896.  

Works Cited

Bellis, Mary. "The History Of Sports". Thought, 2021.

Thompson, William. "Sports | Definition, History, Examples, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021.

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Essay on Importance of Sports for Students and Children

500+ words essay on importance of sports.

First of all, Sport refers to an activity involving physical activity and skill . Here, two or more parties compete against each other. Sports are an integral part of human life and there is great importance of sports in all spheres of life. Furthermore, Sports help build the character and personality of a person. It certainly is an excellent tool to keep the body physically fit. Most noteworthy, the benefits of Sports are so many that books can be written.  Sports have a massive positive effect on both the mind and body.

Physical Benefits of Sports

First of all, Sports strengthen the heart. Regular Sports certainly make the heart stronger. Hence, Sport is an excellent preventive measure against heart diseases . This certainly increases the life expectancy of individuals. Furthermore, a healthy heart means a healthy blood pressure.

Sports involve physical activity of the body. Due to this physical activity, blood vessels remain clean. Sports reduces the amount of cholesterol and fats in the body. This happens because of the increase of flexibility of the wall of the blood vessels. The flexibility increases due to physical exertion, which is the result of Sports.

Furthermore, the sugar level in blood also gets lower thanks to Sports. The sugar certainly does not accumulate in the blood due to physical activity.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

A person experiences a good quality of breathing because of Sports. Sports strengthen the lungs of the body. Sports certainly escalate the lung capacity and efficiency of the body. Hence, more oxygen enters the blood which is extremely beneficial. Furthermore, there are fewer chances of developing lung diseases due to Sports.

Appropriate body weight is easy to maintain because of sports. A Sports playing person probably does not suffer from obesity or underweight problems. Sports certainly help the body remain fit and slim.

Furthermore, Sports also improves the quality of bones. A person who plays sports will have strong bones even in old age. Several scientific research reports that Sports prevent many diseases. For example, many researchers conclude that Sports prevent the development of cancer.

Other Benefits of Sports

Sport is certainly an excellent tool to build self-confidence . Playing Sports increases confidence to talk properly. A sport certainly improves the skills of communicating with others. Furthermore, the person experiences confidence in sitting, standing, and walking properly. Hence, Sports enriches the social life of an individual.

Sports bring discipline in life. It certainly teaches the values of dedication and patience. Sports also teach people how to handle failure. Furthermore, the importance of following a time schedule is also present in Sports.

Above all, Sports improves the thinking ability of individuals. Sports certainly sharpen the mind. Children who play Sports probably perform better at exams than those who don’t.

Finally, Sports reduces the stress of mind . A Sports playing person would certainly experience less depression. Sports ensure the peace of mind of those playing it. Most noteworthy, Sports brings happiness and joy in the life of individuals.

A sport is an aspect of human life that is of paramount importance. It certainly increases the quality of human life. Sports must be made mandatory in schools. This is because it is as important as education. Everyone must perform at least one Sport activity on a regular basis.

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Economy, Religion And Science In Colonial America

The beginning and growth of the economy, religion, and science in the colonial America all started with colonial demographics such as cheap land, gender equality, early marriage, high birth rate, and rapid population growth. During those times the women were viewed inferior to men, and remained behind the scenes as it was a part of the English tradition but over time changes were made to those thoughts (p 110,111). When it came to economy, trade was flourishing among England and another thriving colonial trading company. They exchanged raw materials such a s fish, timber, and furs for manufactured goods. This led to the expansion of slavery and a new wealth with the rise of consumption of European goods. Agriculture was…

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• Essay On Importance Of Sports

Essay on Sports

500+ word essay on the importance of sports.

Sports keep us healthy and active. We can have a healthy mind only when we have a healthy body. We can achieve anything in our lives if we have a healthy body and a peaceful mind. Physical and mental well-being comes naturally when we involve ourselves in sports activities. Sports help in improving our overall personality and make us more active and attentive. Here, students can find a 500+ Words Essay on the Importance of Sports where we will be discussing how important a role sports plays in our life.

Essay on the Importance of Sports

The topic of sports is very broad. It can serve as a form of therapy and a tool in different aspects of life, which can help change the world. Through sports, children develop physical skills, exercise, be team players, and improve their self-esteem. Sports play a significant role in advancing education and in enhancing knowledge.

Playing sports means regular exercising, jogging, going to the fitness centres or playing any game. There are different types of games involved in sports activities. Each game has its own specific rules. These sports activities are done either by individuals or teams for leisure, and entertainment as well as to compete against one another. Playing sports improves the physiological functions of the body organs and improves the functionality of the entire body system. Through sports, we learn different skills like leadership, patience, coordination, motivation, and team effort.

Sport has great importance in building personality, too. For some people, it is not only the body movement or playing strategy, but it’s a life philosophy. In the modern world, a positive attitude to sports is becoming a trend and style. Young people try to look sporty, fit and full of energy. A sports career in India was considered less lucrative in the past. However, now it has become one of the gainful professional options for students. Sometimes students take an interest in sports merely for adventure and a tension-free life. Now, sports games are gaining popularity. Various sports competitions are played at the international level, such as the Olympics. Apart from it, multiple matches and inter-city competitions are organised to promote the field of sports.

Benefits of Sports and Games

Nowadays, we can see problems related to unhealthy lifestyles. We sit more and more on the couch, surrounded by modern technologies. We don’t realise the importance and benefits of sports and physical activities. The lack of physical activity in our body leads to obesity and many other health problems such as heart disease and so. It has become a necessity of today’s world that all of us do daily physical activities or play any sports for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Regular physical activity benefits health in many ways. It helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints, controls weight, reduces fat, and prevents high blood pressure. Children who participate in physical activities such as sports, experience positive health benefits. These health benefits include a decreased risk of high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Also, these children are less likely to smoke or use drugs and alcohol than children who don’t participate in sports.

Keep learning and stay tuned with BYJU’S for the latest update on CBSE/ICSE/State Board/Competitive Exams. Also, download the BYJU’S App for interactive study videos.

Frequently asked Questions on the Importance of Sports Essay

Why is playing sports important for us.

Playing sports not only helps in the active functioning of our body but also helps in flexibility and reduces the chances of falling sick.

Which was the first sport to be played in the world?

Wrestling is said to have been the first sport played in the world, depictions of the same can be found in the caves of France.

Which is the most famous sport in the world?

Football is ranked as the top sport with 3.5 billion followers, seconded by Cricket.

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Tips for Writing an Effective Application Essay

How to Write an Effective Essay

Writing an essay for college admission gives you a chance to use your authentic voice and show your personality. It's an excellent opportunity to personalize your application beyond your academic credentials, and a well-written essay can have a positive influence come decision time.

Want to know how to draft an essay for your college application ? Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing.

Tips for Essay Writing

A typical college application essay, also known as a personal statement, is 400-600 words. Although that may seem short, writing about yourself can be challenging. It's not something you want to rush or put off at the last moment. Think of it as a critical piece of the application process. Follow these tips to write an impactful essay that can work in your favor.

1. Start Early.

Few people write well under pressure. Try to complete your first draft a few weeks before you have to turn it in. Many advisers recommend starting as early as the summer before your senior year in high school. That way, you have ample time to think about the prompt and craft the best personal statement possible.

You don't have to work on your essay every day, but you'll want to give yourself time to revise and edit. You may discover that you want to change your topic or think of a better way to frame it. Either way, the sooner you start, the better.

2. Understand the Prompt and Instructions.

Before you begin the writing process, take time to understand what the college wants from you. The worst thing you can do is skim through the instructions and submit a piece that doesn't even fit the bare minimum requirements or address the essay topic. Look at the prompt, consider the required word count, and note any unique details each school wants.

3. Create a Strong Opener.

Students seeking help for their application essays often have trouble getting things started. It's a challenging writing process. Finding the right words to start can be the hardest part.

Spending more time working on your opener is always a good idea. The opening sentence sets the stage for the rest of your piece. The introductory paragraph is what piques the interest of the reader, and it can immediately set your essay apart from the others.

4. Stay on Topic.

One of the most important things to remember is to keep to the essay topic. If you're applying to 10 or more colleges, it's easy to veer off course with so many application essays.

A common mistake many students make is trying to fit previously written essays into the mold of another college's requirements. This seems like a time-saving way to avoid writing new pieces entirely, but it often backfires. The result is usually a final piece that's generic, unfocused, or confusing. Always write a new essay for every application, no matter how long it takes.

5. Think About Your Response.

Don't try to guess what the admissions officials want to read. Your essay will be easier to write─and more exciting to read─if you’re genuinely enthusiastic about your subject. Here’s an example: If all your friends are writing application essays about covid-19, it may be a good idea to avoid that topic, unless during the pandemic you had a vivid, life-changing experience you're burning to share. Whatever topic you choose, avoid canned responses. Be creative.

6. Focus on You.

Essay prompts typically give you plenty of latitude, but panel members expect you to focus on a subject that is personal (although not overly intimate) and particular to you. Admissions counselors say the best essays help them learn something about the candidate that they would never know from reading the rest of the application.

7. Stay True to Your Voice.

Use your usual vocabulary. Avoid fancy language you wouldn't use in real life. Imagine yourself reading this essay aloud to a classroom full of people who have never met you. Keep a confident tone. Be wary of words and phrases that undercut that tone.

8. Be Specific and Factual.

Capitalize on real-life experiences. Your essay may give you the time and space to explain why a particular achievement meant so much to you. But resist the urge to exaggerate and embellish. Admissions counselors read thousands of essays each year. They can easily spot a fake.

9. Edit and Proofread.

When you finish the final draft, run it through the spell checker on your computer. Then don’t read your essay for a few days. You'll be more apt to spot typos and awkward grammar when you reread it. After that, ask a teacher, parent, or college student (preferably an English or communications major) to give it a quick read. While you're at it, double-check your word count.

Writing essays for college admission can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be. A well-crafted essay could be the deciding factor─in your favor. Keep these tips in mind, and you'll have no problem creating memorable pieces for every application.

What is the format of a college application essay?

Generally, essays for college admission follow a simple format that includes an opening paragraph, a lengthier body section, and a closing paragraph. You don't need to include a title, which will only take up extra space. Keep in mind that the exact format can vary from one college application to the next. Read the instructions and prompt for more guidance.

Most online applications will include a text box for your essay. If you're attaching it as a document, however, be sure to use a standard, 12-point font and use 1.5-spaced or double-spaced lines, unless the application specifies different font and spacing.

How do you start an essay?

The goal here is to use an attention grabber. Think of it as a way to reel the reader in and interest an admissions officer in what you have to say. There's no trick on how to start a college application essay. The best way you can approach this task is to flex your creative muscles and think outside the box.

You can start with openers such as relevant quotes, exciting anecdotes, or questions. Either way, the first sentence should be unique and intrigue the reader.

What should an essay include?

Every application essay you write should include details about yourself and past experiences. It's another opportunity to make yourself look like a fantastic applicant. Leverage your experiences. Tell a riveting story that fulfills the prompt.

What shouldn’t be included in an essay?

When writing a college application essay, it's usually best to avoid overly personal details and controversial topics. Although these topics might make for an intriguing essay, they can be tricky to express well. If you’re unsure if a topic is appropriate for your essay, check with your school counselor. An essay for college admission shouldn't include a list of achievements or academic accolades either. Your essay isn’t meant to be a rehashing of information the admissions panel can find elsewhere in your application.

How can you make your essay personal and interesting?

The best way to make your essay interesting is to write about something genuinely important to you. That could be an experience that changed your life or a valuable lesson that had an enormous impact on you. Whatever the case, speak from the heart, and be honest.

Is it OK to discuss mental health in an essay?

Mental health struggles can create challenges you must overcome during your education and could be an opportunity for you to show how you’ve handled challenges and overcome obstacles. If you’re considering writing your essay for college admission on this topic, consider talking to your school counselor or with an English teacher on how to frame the essay.

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The History of Italian Sports Sports help people relax and have fun. In Italy it is very evident that the people are hard workers, but they still do love to play! The Italians are very fond of many sports. They are very enthusiastic about many of the same sports as we are in the United States. The sports that Italians are most fanatic about in every day life are soccer, tennis, swimming, boxing, rowing, boating, golf, and basketball. (DiFranco, 103). Some of these sports are new to the Italians, however, they are catching on quite quickly and starting to be played at higher levels of competition. The Italians' range of levels go from the Olympic games , to a high level of league play, all the way down to recreational …show more content…

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• Culpeper NAACP announce winners of Black History Month essay contest

Richard Horner

• Mar 28, 2024

Alina Bradshaw, winner of the NAACP essay content in the elementary school category, takes a photo with the subject of her essay, local artist Shirley Jackson.

• Cindy Taylor/Culpeper NAACP

Culpeper County High School student, Rune O’Saben, middle, stands with the inspiration of his winning essay, dance teacher Xavier Clark, right, and the local NAACP chapter chairman, Kaleb Hackley.

• Cindy Taylor, Culpeper NAACP

Homeschooler Alina Bradshaw won the elementary category of the Culpeper NAACP's Black History Month essay contest. Bradshaw stands with the chapter's chairman Kaleb Hackley. 

The Culpeper branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced the winners of its annual Black History Month essay contest at its regular monthly meeting on March 21.

According to Dr. Laurel Blackmon, the chapter’s education committee chair, the contest asked students to share how Black excellence has impacted their lives. Nearly 70 entries were received.

Students who participated came from the local Culpeper County Public School system and private and homeschool students.

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My Inspiration: Lizzo

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Alina Bradshaw, homeschooled, was named the winner of the elementary school category with her essay on local Culpeper artist Sheila Jackson. For the middle school category, Wynn Myers, from Floyd T. Binns Middle School, won for her essay on pop star Lizzo. Rune O’Saben, from Culpeper County High School, won the high school category for his essay on dance teacher Xavier Clark.

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The winner of the judge’s award was a unique situation, as it was by an anonymous student from the Phoenix Alternative school. Submitted by the student’s teacher Meroe Dawson, the visual piece was inspired by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and his 1984 Pez Dispenser artwork.

An anonymous artist submitted a visual offering for the Culpeper NAACP Black History Month essay contest. The work is based on a piece by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.  

According to Blackmon, the artist was not comfortable sharing this piece beyond the judge’s committee, “This entry was submitted by the students’ teacher, Meroe Dawson, who felt strongly that her work should be seen and considered even though it was a visual piece. We at NAACP-Culpeper agreed, and found her artist’s statement as well as her artwork to be moving and meaningful.”

Other award winners were Catherine League and Cristi Ireland-McKnight, 7th graders at Culpeper County Middle School and Brandi Smith, a 5th grader at Sycamore Park Elementary School.

“It was such an honor and a privilege to be a part of it and hear the stories and the essays. I could relate to many of them because some of my role models and mentors growing up were also African American,” said school board member Chrissy Burnett.

Carl Bedell, a lawyer from Greene County currently seeking the Democratic nomination for the 7th District, commented, “(The NAACP) said there were over 60 applicants and I think that speaks a lot to … how teachers are really pushing their students to get out and do things beyond the normal curriculum.”

Richard Horner:

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