I know the exact moment I became an athlete. In September of 1982, Miss Gibson shuffled her third grade class outside to the kickball field for recess. I didn’t think I was very talented at kickball, and proved myself right during my first two times at the plate, watching mournfully as the bright red rubber ball rolled straight past my outstretched leg. With the honest bluntness only an eight-year-old can get away with, a call came from centerfield as I approached the plate for the third and final time.

“Move in, move in! She can’t kick,” came the cry from Luis, a skinny little kid that had somehow garnered popularity and I watched curiously as my classmates took three zombie-like steps closer to where I stood. With those words, something strange came over me and this time the ball did not roll by. Not knowing if what fueled the mighty kick was anger, frustration, or the sharp sting of unpremeditated rejection, I had plenty of time to ruminate on such thoughts as I ran the bases. Not only did that ball sail directly over Luis’ head, his outstretched arms, his wiggling fingers, and his pathetic little jump to block it, but it seemed to grow wings and fly, fly, fly through the heavens of childhood. The springy ball bounced but once before settling into the sandbox at the other end of the Bronxville Elementary School playground. Luis had to retrieve my home-run ball, as I discovered the remarkable power of athleticism in the time it took him to return-- out of breath-- from the farthest vicinity of my efforts.

I didn’t know what that feeling was or how it made that ball travel so far, but I wanted more of its powerful rush. In time, I learned that that surge of emotion and physical intuitiveness I experienced from Luis’ taunts was nothing other than plain old adrenaline set in motion. Only it didn’t seem so plain to me. I wanted more of it, and because of kickball, I had a lead as to where to find more. Sports. There seemed so many to try, so many to choose from, and I wanted to play them all. Since that day on the kickball court, I discovered how to channel adrenaline's ebb and flow into every endeavor.

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