Growing up, I was like many other kids: each year, I traded in one set of sports equipment for another, joined a team that was filled with friends and gradually realized I either sucked at the sport I was trying at the time or I had no interest in it whatsoever. However, after many trial runs, I began to think I had finally found my sport: volleyball. From sixth grade to sophomore year of high school, volleyball was my life. I took the conventional route—I started in the Rec league for a year, joined a more competitive team after that and finally made it to a competitive club. I joined my teams at school, and I dedicated my life to this sport.

However, that all changed my sophomore year of high school. After years of working my ass off to try to become the best I could be in volleyball, I realized that I no longer enjoyed the sport: the teams I had most recently been on were way too competitive for me, and while I acknowledged the importance of winning the game, it seemed as though my teammates weren't really that focused on the camaraderie of the team itself. So I stopped.

While I do still miss volleyball, I realized it was all for the best: I had left the sport I had dedicated part my life to join another sport, one that I continue to love: performing arts.

When I was trading my soccer cleats for a basketball, I was in choir. When I started on my first volleyball team, I was in choir. When I left my career in volleyball, I was in choir. While I distracted myself with other activities, I never fully realized how much I loved music and performing. So, sophomore year, I decided to make performing arts my "sport."

Now, to the untrained eye, performing arts may not seem like it can be compared to sports: choir may just seem like a fun activity, and theater may be simply viewed as a fun way to spend a Friday night or a Sunday afternoon. However, it is so much more than that.

Some people may not realize how much sweat (and tears) goes into a performance, whether it be choir, orchestra, band or anything else that requires going up on stage and trying to entertain those around you. At a basketball game, the team keeps the crowds attention and tries to deliver what the crowd expects to see: a win.

In a sense, a successful show or concert is a win. Just like any sport, any performance in the performing arts requires an extreme amount of dedication and time that is spent perfecting what the cast or ensemble wants to show an audience. Any performing arts kid that just finished their last performance for a show or concert can—and will-—tell you that their afternoons were filled with rehearsals each week (that would more often than not continue well after a couple hours a day), and that each of these weeks were filled with enough successes, losses, laughs, tears and memories that will last a lifetime.

Just like in a sports team, the cast or other musicians you work with can easily become some of your closest friends, friends that share the same love (and goals) as you do. I really don't think much can beat the bonds and relationships you develop with the performers that are standing right next to you throughout all of the trials and tribulations that precede a performance.

So, after whatever ungodly amount of hours you spend practicing lines, rehearsing songs or running through sheet music, the feeling after a great performance is an absolute win.

It's the reward for all the time and hard work you and your fellow performers put into a show. It's a reward for all the ups and downs you all, as a team, went through to pull this performance together.

And that is why I say performing arts is my sport. I've spent years of my life figuring out how to sight read, act in an ensemble and play instruments (sadly, no successes so far for me in this last one—however, I will keep trying!).

That said, as this love and dedication for my "sport" has followed me through elementary school, middle school, high school and now college, performing arts has offered so many opportunities along the way for me to find my people, my team, in the sport I love.

With all the concerts and shows I've been in (as well as other performances I have gone to to support my friends), I quickly realized that I wouldn't have time for a more conventional sport. But, let's be real—it's not like I need it.