Anthony Gallie

I have always had trouble finding a hobby that I really enjoy. My parents decided to enroll me on a youth T ball team as a young boy. I played it for a season and decided that I wanted to join my dad on the soccer field as a recreational soccer player. I tried soccer for four years, and my dad wanted me to love the game even more than I did. However, soccer just didn’t click with me. One day at school when I was in the second grade, a boy scout representative came and lit some cotton on fire in the classroom as a demonstration. This hooked me enough to try cub scouts. I really enjoyed camping and learning about the scouts, but after 3 years I phased out the scouts to play more sports. This time I wanted to play tennis. I diligently practiced for 3 years, but I never became advanced enough to compete against adept players my age.

In middle school, I had a friend who also competed in swimming at a high level. He encouraged me to try swimming, and I enjoyed it enough to stick with it for a while- determined to compete. During this time, my church group would have arm wrestling tournaments every Wednesday. As an 8th grader in middle school, these arm-wrestling tournaments felt extremely important to me, so I started lifting weights with the goal of trying to win the arm-wrestle. Over the next two years, I became a fast swimmer, and I gained some muscle mass. I continued swimming in high school, and I eventually competed at the county level for my high school swimming team. Unfortunately, lifting weights and swimming proves taxing on the body, and it also proves to be very time consuming. I made the choice to sacrifice swimming because lifting weights fits into my schedule more. I also just really liked lifting weights more than anything else. Weightlifting helps me to focus my mind elsewhere when I feel stressed because of school, and I really enjoy becoming stronger. Additionally, the flexibility of lifting weights allows me to enjoy spending time on other activities and gives me the freedom to try new hobbies such as fishing and hiking with my family. I continue to lift weights currently, and I aspire to one day participate in powerlifting competitions.