Tuesday, November 10, 2015

“Through my experience at CAL, I was able to grow not only in skill and knowledge of basketball but learn how to effectively participate and effectively work together as a unit.”

My name is Danielle Brown and I am currently a junior at Cheltenham High School. I am heavily involved in multiple extracurricular activities both in and out of school including Black Scholars Honor Society, Black Student Union, National Honor Society, National German Honor Society, Gift of Education and Science (G.O.E.S), and Key Club. I also volunteer at many different organizations.

This past summer, I took a trip with G.O.E.S to Costa Rica. While on this trip we did many educational activities, such as studying the rainforest and the bats that live there and how they affect the environment.

The trip wasn’t all schoolwork however. We were able to indulge in a lot of fun activities such as zip lining, going to a hot spring, visiting a traditional Costa Rican farm, water rafting, taking a Costa Rican dance class, and cooking class, and hiking up a volcano. While all of these activities were fun to be a part of, the main reason we did them was to experience the wonders that Costa Rica provides, a truth that can be hidden behind the biases and statistics surrounding the small, diverse country.

 

CAL Sports Academy Experience – Among my hectic schedule, I look forward to the time I get to spend at CAL Sports Academy, for my favorite extracurricular activity of all is basketball.

I started playing basketball at Cedar Brook Middle School and had a fun two years with a great group of girls and a few wins. I was involved in other sports at the time, swimming, tennis and taekwondo, and track and field, and couldn’t decide what sport to commit to for the future.

My freshman year at Cheltenham High School, I am proud to say, helped me make that decision. I was blessed to be a part of the starting five for our high school junior varsity team and started to spend more time playing basketball and track and field. For the following two years, I have actively participated on our Varsity basketball team, and sadly to give up track on field in order to commit more time to developing my basketball skills.

At CAL Sports I am a member of the girls AAU basketball team. Through this experience I can confidently say that many of the essential skills needed to be successful in basketball were either taught to me or strengthened through Coach Corey’s dedication and drive to help me excel.

Through my experience at CAL and with the rest of the girls, I was able to grow not only in skill but my knowledge of basketball and learn how to effectively participate and effectively work together as a unit. Without that experience I probably would not have been able to learn and accomplish most of the skills and enjoy my increasing confidence in playing at this level.

CAL Sports is unique because of the loving atmosphere that I experience when I am there. There is a sense of family that surrounds the entire team of players, coaches and staff. I would always, and still do, look forward to simply going to CAL, even if I wasn’t going to be participating in anything.

I love how easygoing and kind everyone is and how they always seem to welcome others with open arms. Being able to continuously go into an environment like that has been the main reason for me to continue going to CAL.

I really appreciate the kindness shown to me when I first joined CAL and the family like atmosphere shared between any and all involved in CAL’s basketball program.

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