Fencing By Fiona

My Passion

 I have many passions but this is one I love overall. I have been studying fencing for about 3 years now. I have always loved the Idea of sword fighting and since I was 8 I got to live my dream. Fencing is more difficult than you would think. It involves skill, strategy, patience and balance. Why do I like it you ask, well, I love fencing because I love sports, I love skill/strategy games and I LOVE swords!!! So basically fencing is the sport for me.

 I fence at Phoenix academy in Poughkeepsie NY. The teachers are great and we get to do workouts/obstacle courses in the beginning. So if you are maybe just a little bit interested, I would recommend going for it. I was nervous to start but now, it is my favorite sport. So whatever your passion is, carry on with it. Because when you are older, you might regret quitting!

 

Kleibrink (GER) v Imboden (USA) DSC_1937 Plashing Vole via Compfight

Movies Passion by Adam

Well my passion isn’t too exciting but I really love watching movies. Horror, Comedy, Romance (Not so much but..), Sci-fi you name it! I’m not so much of a critique but I just enjoy sitting down with friends or by myself and watch a movie! My mom doesn’t really approve of my passion though, she usually tells me to read a book. However reading and watching are kind of the same except anyone can watch TV. Just tonight actually I watched a movie called Disturbia which was SO interesting.

 

Though I will never forget, the first time I ever watched a movie (Well first movie I could actually understand). Inspector Gadget with Matthew Broderick, though it wasn’t to popular at the time it was one of my sisters favorite movies. It was very funny as a child to see all the cool special effects.

 

Na na na na na Inspector Gadget.. Majin Buchoy via Compfight

 

Not only have I always loved watching movies but I’ve always wanted to star in them. When I was about 9 or so I got really into acting and I am now auditioning for a couple of student and short films. Hopefully at the age of 14 I will get into a rather popular movie! Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you are going to comment please remember to leave your link!

 

I am Passionate About Horseback Riding By Olive

Wild HorsesCreative Commons License Kevin M Klerks via Compfight

I am very passionate about a lot of things, but I am most passionate about horseback riding. I love to be able to canter around the ring and have the wind in my hair. There is a camp in Connecticut called SJ Riding Camp that’s a horseback riding camp. It is super fun and where I learned how to canter and jump. There is this part of  horseback riding that makes me feel free and happy. So I started riding when I was about four but then I took a break because I was only four, and then I got into riding again when I was around six or seven. I rode until I was like nine and then I took a very short break, and when I was ten I took up riding again until now.

I was riding at my friends barn, because I wanted to start riding there. I was cantering around and I was had to jump but I was very nervous because I never jumped while cantering and there were a lot of experienced people watching. so I cantered around two times before I jumped, and while I was going around I was remembering all the different things. Keep your heels down, two point (jumping position), releasing (loosening the reins) and soon it was time to jump I went over and forgot to loosen the reins and that makes the horse pop over over the jump. Then that made me pop out of the saddle and on the horse’s butt, we all started laughing and I had a good time.

Sadly I left that barn and now I am going to Southern Dutchess Equestrian Cnter, I like it here and now I am learning how to canter without voice cue. It is harder than with voice cue because when you are riding a horse with voice cue you can just sit back in your saddle while trotting (a gate that a horse uses) and kiss in the air. Also I am now jumping more and taking on more challenges, it is always fun to be able to do things like jumping. And soon I will be leasing a horse from SJ.

Cat Passion By Isaac

 

Passion: Cats

I think cats are really neat because there are so many different types that live in all sorts of environments! I love cats so much that I have four of my own. But this isn’t about me, this is about the cats. There are cats on just about every continent! There are over 50 breeds of cats, too! It sounds like a lot, but there are really two categories of cats: domesticated and undomesticated.

Domesticated (or house) cats:

Domesticated cats are the type of cat that you think of when you hear the word “cat”. If you don’t know a lot about cats, you’ll probably think there’s only one type. If you’re semi-knowledgeable in this subject matter, you’ll categorize cats into domestic short hair and domestic longhair. Those are categories, but if you go by breed, there are over 40 types of cat breeds. These cats were small and were domesticated by humans around the year 7500 BCE, around the Neolithic period. 9500 years later (current day) they are the second most popular pet in the world (first being the freshwater fish).

Undomesticated (or big) cats:

This category of cat has about 10 types of cats in it; the biggest being the tiger. These cats live everywhere, but many are incredibly endangered. Most of these cats live in Asia and Africa, but some live in the Americas, too. This category contains 3 genuses of cats (Panthera, Acinonyx, and Puma), and most of them fall into the Panthera category.

That’s it? (other cats):

Well, there are some other types of cats that are small wildcats that I don’t include, because they don’t really fall into one category or the other. There are probably some cats that haven’t been discovered, I don’t know, and they may not be talked about. But, those two categories basically put cats in a nutshell.

My cats:

I have four cats which I really love and I love to teach them to do tricks. It’s a passion of mine. Here’s a little about my cats-

  • Jasper – The biggest, strongest, most muscular cat. He’s gray and has beautiful patterns on him. Surprisingly, he’s a complete scaredy cat, and hides under couches a lot.
  • Creamsicle – Creamsicle is a tiny orange and white cat that’s really small and likes to hunt really big birds (which a lot of the time she catches). She’s outside almost all the time and we don’t see her often
  • Jimmy – Jimmy’s Sort of blind and a little deaf. He’s all black and he’s the youngest cat. He’s really playful and likes to be snuggled and petted. He’s personally my favorite cat.
  • Dusk – Dusk was a stray cat that kept showing up at my house, and eventually we let him in. He’s a black cat, with a patch of white fur on his chest. He ate a lot of food and couldn’t control himself and he’s really fat now. He’s sort of mean to Jasper

 

Dusk (before he was rotund):

Photo on 9-15-15 at 7.48 PM #2.jpg

Sources:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_cat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat

Soccer Passion: By Caidin

football boots fotoizm via Compfight

My Soccer Passion

I didn’t really like soccer, but when I was three my parents enrolled me in a soccer camp. Everyone was playing the game (well sort of  -they were only three). I on the other hand was just running around the edge of the field, because I had no interest in the game whatsoever. After that day I never played soccer again, that is until I got older.

 When I was ten I heard that my school had a soccer team, I forgot about not liking the game. After hearing this I did what any sensible ten year old would do, I got home and pleaded with my parents to let me play on the team. Guess what my parents said? They said,”yes.” The one thing that I had not thought about, was the gear I needed, so we went out and bought cleats, shin guards and shorts. Once I stepped on the field with my new gear I thought whoa this is  weird (I had never wore cleats before). So I tried for offense –  nope – tried defense – YES!  I thought defense was my thing. We started playing games and I was not that comfortable with defense but did not want to do offense so that was my dilemma. For the whole season I was defense and after the season I was disappointed that I did not say anything.

 It was a new season of soccer and I joined the team again. I thought well I am eleven now and it’s a new year, so time to find my spot. I was put on defense again –  wow! But this time I said to my coach hey can I try goalie? He said yeah why not give it a whirl. I was a little stiff at first but he could tell if he worked with me I could be a really good goalie so he did work with me. Once my putts were good and my blocking was usually on point, I went to the goal for a game. Guess what? That was the only game we won. It was almost a blowout but at the last second I let one ball through. Hmm I thought… I think I found my spot on the team. Now my mom is enrolling me in my town team and I am watching soccer almost every day!

 

 

Swimming by Aidan

83948905The The passion I am writing about is my passion for swimming. I am on the swim team Club Fit Jefferson Valley. Our LSC is Metro Swimming. We practice every night, except for weekends. There are 5 training groups (levels). I am currently in SD2 which is the second level. I am moving up to JE which is the third level, I can go only two times a week to this level.

 

We have about two competitions every month. At the competitions you get entered into events like 50 FREE or 100 BACKSTROKE. They do the events in heats, heat one is the slowest and the highest numbered heat is the fastest. They divided all swimmers into groups called age groups. You have 5 age groups they are: 8 and under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and 15-18. They are done by age. I am in 11-12 because I am 11 years old.

 

There are winners but it is more about the time. If you get fast enough times you can qualify for championships that is where winning matters. There are many championships but people my age only get to the first four. Each championship gets harder. The highest I have ever been to is the third one, it is called JO Championship. My 50 FREE time is 34 seconds.

My Passion – Swimming By Yasmeen

I am an athletic person and I like competition and game time. One of the sports that always brings out the competition in me is swimming. I swim at Marist College for the Red Fox Aquatic Club In Poughkeepsie NY. This is my second year swimming there, and I wouldn’t change that experience for the world. Swimming has always brought out the confidence in me. One day my dream is to swim at the Olympics and take home that trophy. One of my biggest inspiration is Michael Phelps.  Swimming helps me focus, if I am in a bad mood swimming has always been there. If I am stressed with school swimming has always been there. Swimming is something that has always been there for me and I never want anyone to take it away from me.

BreaststrokeJD Lasica via Compfight

 

My name is Yasmeen and here is my story about my passion for swimming. It was a Friday afternoon and I was ready to do the 200 freestyle. Each 25 is a lap that means a 200 is 8 laps. I was getting ready to go up. I was racing my two friends and that was it. I dove in I started out in first. I was just about halfway through the first 25 and one of my goggles fell of. I knew if I stopped I wasn’t going to win, I wouldn’t drop time, neither would my coaches be happy. On top of all of that I would get disqualified from my race. I was very happy my coach told me that before my race.

I came to the wall and could see the wall with one goggle. While my other eye had water pounding into it like there was no tomorrow. I could see my friends Gabby and Julia on the sideline telling me to keep going. I could see my coach Paul waving his paper and yelling. I did the first flip turn. By the first 4 laps I was still in first. I kept saying to myself, ‘You can do it Yasmeen, just keep going’. Every time I took a breath I could see the judges and pool officials looking at me. They thought I was going to stop. Well they thought wrong. By the next 6 laps I was head to head with one of my friends. I started sprinting to the other end. I beat my friend to the wall and hit the pad. I heard all my teammates and coaches cheering for me. I took my cap and goggles off and waited for the next swimmer to dive in. I climbed out.

At the wall I saw my friend Gabby. “Yasmeen you did it!” . Then gave me a hug. She gave me my towel and flipflops and took me to my coaches.  “Great job Yasmeen,” Victoria told me.

“ You okay?” was the first thing my coach Paul told me. I nodded my head. He smiled and said “Good work!” I got high fives from everyone. I went to the locker room to change. As I was opening the door, Iheard a lady in the microphone say “Congratulations Yasmeen for completing her 200 freestyle.” Then everyone clapped.

I finished changing and came out of the locker room. My dad smiled, “ Great Job!”

“Awesome job Yasmeen!” my mom added. That day my dad took me goggle shopping and out to eat. I felt awesome and tired. If there is one thing I am going to say to all athletes, it is  when the going gets tough you have to keep going, or else you can’t say you tried it. Swimming will always be my confidence booster. Home is where the pool is and it will always be my home.  Never give up and always work hard. “ When you want to breathe as bad as you want to succeed that is when you know you’ll be successful” ~ Eric Thomas.

 

UWSP Swim 7817

Jay Kleeman via Compfight

My passion for dogs by Ryanne

I’m Ryanne and my passion is my puppies. I have always been an animal lover but puppies have always been my favorite. I love making puppies happy by giving them ALL love, even puppies I don’t know. I been wanting to help at a shelter but sadly I am not old enough. When I’m fourteen I hope to help the ASPCA with taking care of the dogs. I believe dogs should be happy just like people should. I have two particular dogs that I love to play with. There names are Cobey and Layla.

Layla is a three year old girl with gray and white hair. Cobey is a boy and is 11 months old. Their breed is called Teddy Bear Puppies. Teddy Bear Puppies are a mix of a Shih-Tzu and a Bichon Frise. Teddy Bear puppies can be different sizes. Tiny toys are 5-7 pounds, toys are 8-10 pounds, and regular dogs are 11-14 pounds. You can get this kind of puppy on a website. They have to go on an airplane from Wisconsin. The website is called Ragdoll puppies.

 

I got Layla when she was ten weeks old. I was supposed to get her when she was twelve weeks but she was ready at ten. Layla is a toy sized puppy, which meant she was going to be 9-10 pounds. She is now 9 ½ pounds. My family had another dog before I was born. His name was Blaze and he was a Golden Retriever. He died a year ago when he was fifteen years old. Layla got very sad because they were like siblings. Layla started to lay down all day and not play at all. I realized we should get another dog.

 

I knew it would be healthier for Layla to have a friend, and I just really wanted another dog. I had to do some persuading but my parents finally gave in. I was looking for a boy dog because we found it was better to get the opposite gender. So that was when we found Cobey’s picture. I looked at him and he was soo cute. I really wanted him. So after a little bit of talking with my parents. They agreed to let me get him. He is a regular sized pup so he was  going to be 10-12 pounds. When I got him he was twelve weeks old. I could have gotten him at ten weeks we could not find a flight. Cobey is now about 9 pounds, so a tiny bit smaller than Layla’s weight. He is not even a year old yet so he is still growing. Cobey is two years younger then Layla but will be two pounds bigger than Layla (when he is full grown). I think he will get to 12 pounds but I don’t know yet. They get along great and they love playing together. Most of all my puppies play with their toys so much I’m shocked. I have not seen a dog play with their toys as much as my puppies do. Here are some facts:

Facts:

  • These puppies are full grown at two years old.
  • The best thing is that They Don’t Shed!!
  • Teddy Bear Puppies have real hair instead of fur. So if you want a dog but is allergic to fur these dogs are perfect.
  • They are very playful but also great lapdogs
  • They are the most well behaved dogs I have meet
  • They are also known as Shichon Puppies or Zuchon Puppies
  • Their temperament is very good and they are great with children
  • Tiny Toys are recommended for children over the age of 8 because they are so tiny

image2image1                   

Photography by Tess

There are many things I am passionate about, one of which, is Photography. When I saw the pictures my mom took, it really touched my heart. So I asked for my own camera for my 9th birthday. Of course when I opened the gift and saw the present my eyes gleamed. It was a small red camera, that took great close up pictures and not so great landscapes. I took it on a trip and I captured every moment in just a few pictures. Sadly, that camera didn’t last long, but this past Christmas, I got an even better camera. My new camera is very expensive and takes high quality pictures. After I got this camera I went outside more and more to take pictures.

Photo Taken By Tess ©
Photo Taken By Tess ©

Most of the pictures I take are outdoor close ups. But with my new camera I really want to take some nice landscapes. Close ups and Landscapes are two very different types of pictures. If you click on the links it will bring you to the definition of  these two different ways of photography. Personally, it’s much harder for me to take landscapes, but I’ve been trying and getting used to it.

Photo Taken By Tess ©
Photo Taken By Tess ©

 

Some tips when taking close up pictures are, don’t take too close up pictures. This will cause the image to come out blurry. Some of the time, try to use different angles and colors, so most of your pictures don’t look the same. When taking a close up of something maybe in the grass, try not to get random blades in the way of the focus. This will make the image hard to read. Some tips for taking landscapes are, try not to include any unappealing colors. An example is, if you were taking a picture of a green forest, don’t include brown dead plants in front of the camera because it’s just not appealing to the human eye. If you’d like you can hide things in the picture for people to find. It’s always fun trying to catch your viewer’s eye. And finally use a tripod, this will make your pictures come out nice and clear! These are all the things I did when I first started learning the ways of photography. It’s really fun and I hope you have fun doing it too!

Photo Taken By Tess ©
Photo Taken By Tess ©

 

My Passion ~ Skiing – By Bella

I’d say that one of my passions is skiing. I know that I have just started, but it has really made an impact on me.

The first time I went skiing I didn’t really think much of it. I got on the bus with my friends and sat down. We talked about skiing and they told me their horror stories. Sure I was scared but I knew I was with experienced skiers and I would be fine. To be honest, I really didn’t think I was going to be good. I’ve been told before that I’m a fast learner and that I would have fun and be fine. The ride on the bus felt very long, but I was excited and so were other people. The bus stopped and everyone piled to the front. I got my things and waited for my friend Olive. Together we walked to the rentals. It was a breeze getting through and gathering our things. We sat down and put our gear on. Now I didn’t think it was THAT hard to get on ski boots. There were so many buckles and my foot was stuck once it was in. Then there was walking. Walking in ski boots is NOT fun. Especially  when you have to carry skis and poles. But I managed. Olive and I finished up in the rentals and headed outside. I walked up to the bunny hill. To Olive the bunny hill was the flattest thing you could go down on, but to me it was like going down a mountain. We met up with more friends. Then I saw my friends taking a lesson. A lesson that I never signed up for. They were surprised when I turned around and told them that I never signed up. Then I went up the magic carpet. I learned stopping and turning fairly easy. By learning this I gained the confidence to go on the lift. I got off at the midway section. My friend Joanie and I went down together. Joanie made me think we went down a green ( a easy trail) But instead we went down a blue (A intermediate trail). The trail was ok. I gained speed and stopped as soon as I did. But then came a drop. I was stopping and my foot gave out on me. I started going down fast. Then I made the mistake of learning forward. By leaning forward I gained even more speed. I couldn’t stop. But while this was happening I felt a type of rush. It was amazing. The time came where I just crashed. Everyone came skiing down behind me to check on me. I was ok. I knew that this would happen in the future.

The second time we went skiing I spent about three runs on the bunny hill. Then I went on the lift. I decided to go down the blue again. Turns out that the trail started as a blue and ends as a green. My friends and I went down until we got to the mid way section of the trail. Here you could go down two different ways. Now one of our friends wasn’t the best at skiing. We waited for him and I snapped this picture below. Our friend came down and we continued. We then went down it again. I didn’t really like going on the ski lift. I always thought that something bad was going to happen to me and I ended up being right. The second time going up the ski lift was fine until we got off. What happen was that because of the way my ski poles were, I couldn’t get them out in time. So I continued going up. I could not go to the top of the mountain, NO WAY!!! So I jumped off. It was a bad decision and I now know never to do it again. I fell down and my friends surrounded me. I was fine.

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The third and last time I’ve been skiing was really when everything set in. I realized that I’m a pretty ok skier. I went on the bunny hill only once or twice. We finally went to the top of the mountain. When we did we went to the terrain park. It was very icy and I fell a lot. But this didn’t stop me from going again. I felt almost unstoppable. I could really go on anything now. My friends were proud of me and so was I. But I realized this whole time that they opened another trail. I took this picture right before we went down( Picture below). 

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I know now that skiing is something I enjoy. I love the rush you get when you’re going down a trail and pleasure skiing. The way my eyes get when I forget to put my goggles on. I’m always looking forward for Friday so we can go skiing. I love everything about it and hope to get better.