Pole vaulting is a sport almost no one really thinks about. It is one of the field events in track that is tucked away in a corner, and not many people ever go to watch. I myself never even knew about it until my sophomore year of high school, where I picked it up on a whim, and it ended up becoming a large passion of mine.

During my first few weeks of track sophomore year, I tried out all of the running events. I did everything from the one hundred meter dash all the way to the two mile, but nothing felt just right.

One day at practice, our team's only two pole vaulters said they would need a third pole vaulter to compete in a three person relay at our state sectional. As I had been having so much trouble finding my place on the team, I volunteered.

My only given task was to be able to clear the lowest bar possible, eight feet, for our team to score. The other pole vaulters said that they had had others try out before and they could not manage to teach any of them to clear the eight-foot bar. However, I was determined to be different.

After learning the form, I went in for my first jump without hesitation. The guys were shocked to see someone so comfortable flinging themself in the air after only one jump. After only a few jumps, I cleared the bar on my first practice.

It felt good to be good at something, and my confidence grew. I started scoring points for the team for the first ever. I finally felt like a part of the team, and became determined to get better and better.

Over the next three years, I became super invested in the sport of pole vaulting. I practiced more and more and kept hitting new personal bests every season.

By my senior year, I became one of our team's top point scorers, placing in the top three every meet. I found new people to teach how to pole vault after my older friends had graduated, and brought the event a lot more attention. I became one of the captains of my team, and became the center of attention at meets. I managed to turn the sport no one really thinks about to one of the most important at my school.