Powerlifting meet and my personal statement
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:27 am
Hey folks,
I am an amateur powerlifter and I think this could be an interesting and unique aspect of my personal statement. It is a LARGELY misunderstood sport and requires a high degree of planning, analytical thinking, preparation, dedication, and work ethic. I want to juxtapose the traditional view of strength athletes vs. the traditional view of the academic and show how not only is this unfounded but the 2 have plenty in common and the mode of thinking and planning for a powerlifting meet translates extremely well to academic performance.
Of course the logical argument here is that this may come across as "tool-ish" or completely obtuse. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or experience on incorporating sports-related performance into a personal statement. I have included a possible opening paragraph below:
You step onto the platform and there are only distractions. The audience, the judges, the music and the other competitors are all pulling focus away from the task at hand. With so much going on around you it is simple to lose the reason that you walked out on that platform in the first place. There’s a simple task at hand: move the weight, but all there is around you is noise. Tune out and zero in. The bar becomes clear in the center of vision and you realize the crowd and the judges and the others are fading into white noise. You grip the bar and enter your routine. After training so long the order of things is mechanical and comforting. The noise fades further until all that’s left is one crystalline moment of clear purpose.
I trained for 12 months leading up to this meet with no coach and no training partner, all the motivation to keep moving was internal. A close mentor told me that "Attorney's are do-ers. We get things done. We accomplish things. We take aim at an end result and we don't stop until we get there." I think this parallels my training very well. I plan to focus on this for half of the essay before launching into how I have progressed as a leader in my career (2 years at a Big 4 Accounting firm with exemplary ratings and a year of consulting before that). I would really really appreciate some feedback on content and advice on how to structure the statement. Thanks in advance everyone!
I am an amateur powerlifter and I think this could be an interesting and unique aspect of my personal statement. It is a LARGELY misunderstood sport and requires a high degree of planning, analytical thinking, preparation, dedication, and work ethic. I want to juxtapose the traditional view of strength athletes vs. the traditional view of the academic and show how not only is this unfounded but the 2 have plenty in common and the mode of thinking and planning for a powerlifting meet translates extremely well to academic performance.
Of course the logical argument here is that this may come across as "tool-ish" or completely obtuse. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or experience on incorporating sports-related performance into a personal statement. I have included a possible opening paragraph below:
You step onto the platform and there are only distractions. The audience, the judges, the music and the other competitors are all pulling focus away from the task at hand. With so much going on around you it is simple to lose the reason that you walked out on that platform in the first place. There’s a simple task at hand: move the weight, but all there is around you is noise. Tune out and zero in. The bar becomes clear in the center of vision and you realize the crowd and the judges and the others are fading into white noise. You grip the bar and enter your routine. After training so long the order of things is mechanical and comforting. The noise fades further until all that’s left is one crystalline moment of clear purpose.
I trained for 12 months leading up to this meet with no coach and no training partner, all the motivation to keep moving was internal. A close mentor told me that "Attorney's are do-ers. We get things done. We accomplish things. We take aim at an end result and we don't stop until we get there." I think this parallels my training very well. I plan to focus on this for half of the essay before launching into how I have progressed as a leader in my career (2 years at a Big 4 Accounting firm with exemplary ratings and a year of consulting before that). I would really really appreciate some feedback on content and advice on how to structure the statement. Thanks in advance everyone!
