AP English Language and Composition: Sports Synthesis Prompt

My daughter is an athlete. Nowadays, this statement won't strike many parents as unusual, but it does me. Until her freshman year in high school, Ann was only marginally interested in sport of any kind. When she played, she didn't swing hard, often dropped the ball, and had an annoying habit of tittering on the field or court.

We often get caught up in the moment. As children—and as adults—we first react to situations one way, and then later make better sense of what happened. Jennifer Schwind-Pawlak, who wrote the following essay for a college writing course, explores one of these moments from her past.

Like many U.S. citizens, I spend much of my free time thinking about the future of sports and the future of our children. This is because I care deeply about sports.

The Washington Times reported last week that school districts in several Maryland counties are considering banning 'dodgeball.' Dodgeball is a game in which children throw big rubber balls at each other in an attempt to eliminate players on the opposing team by hitting them with the ball.

Another long, exhausting practice would end, and her teammates would scatter like kids stepping off a school bus, rushing to the locker room, the library, the parties, the rest of their lives on the campus of Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. Sarah Devens would stay put.

When pundits discuss the influence of sports on American culture, they often emphasize the negatives: Michael Vick and dogfighting; the steroids scandals in baseball; lewd fan behavior in football; doping incidents in cycling and track.