Ayanna Chape '24 Recruiting Profile

     I did not always expect to be an athlete. Young Ayanna excelled in soccer but breathed for her favorite book series and school days. Back than, I was a leader in class, always the kid picked to read the poems for Arbor Day or sing in the crowded auditorium for Martin Luther King Day. And after that, I would go to practice.
      You don’t expect alot of things in life. They happen anyways. After a competitive Freshman season of track I was left unsatisfied and wanting more. A desire to get better. My mindset revolves around working hard and beating the seniors who had ran circles around me. I practiced when I was sick and especially when I didn’t want to. I was thrust into a world of intense sports that I didn’t know existed. I would read before warmups calm my mind and take to the track. I did get better but my mind needed changing I lacked confidence and that’s what took me from good to one of the best.
     I learned to accept the pain of the 400 meters to welcome the soreness in my legs and the lactic acid tearing through my body. I began to attack my races with the mind of lion with affirmation and with technique. The acceptance of pain brought nothing but gold medals my way. Now I know what to expect when I walk into a track, I breath for the hard practices because I know they will make me better and I know others will see it. The new addition of sports to my academically driven brain a welcome attribution