# data[].attributes.body
I began ballet class when I was three years old and was immediately hooked. Dance became a lifestyle and the other kids in my dance class became my second family. Sixth grade was the most exciting time for a dancer because it meant that they could transition from flat foot ballet to pointe. The same skills and moves that were engraved in my mind would remain the same, but I would be able to trade in my boring ballet shoes for fancy new pointe shoes. Transfer of learning occurred when I transitioned from ballet to pointe because I was doing the same basic ballet moves but using a different pair of shoes to do so. Because I had so many years of practice with flat ballet shoes, the transition was fairly easy and I was able to pick up pointe easier than when I originally was learning the art of ballet.

# data[].attributes.body
I had two main coaches in my life: my dad and my actual private tennis coach. Both had very different practice methods. When I would go play tennis with dad, his inconsistency would force me to practice a variety of shots in a random order. When I would have practice with my private coach, he would drill me with 20 minutes of forehand practice, followed by 20 minutes of volley practice, followed by 10 minutes of serves. Their two approaches allowed me to compare and contrast their teaching styles. With dad I was receiving random practice while with my coach I was receiving blocked practice. When I was learning a new skill it was best to practice with my coach in this blocked manner until I could solidify my new skill. Although, once I was familiar with the different shots, practicing with my dad allowed me to perform better in my matches because the random practice had a higher contextual interference.

# data[].attributes.body
My favorite dance class was always tap. For some reason, the upbeat music and the chance for my feet to be busy was the perfect combination for me. Although, there was always a learning curve trying to line up the tapping sounds I was making with my feet to the correct beats of the music. I would practice the different series of tap steps while continuously counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, over and over in my head. Eventually my temporal coordination became much more consistent and I was able to perform my routine with less counting and more listening to the beat of the music. Although, there were always certain parts of the routine where in the back of my mind I would be counting as I tapped away.

# data[].attributes.body
I played tennis throughout my entire childhood and all of high school. I worked with a private coach so I could improve my skills and hopefully make the varsity tennis team my Junior and Senior year. One of my secret weapons was my serve because I am tall and can produce lots of power. For this reason, perfecting this skill was one of my coach's goals for me. I remember that one day my coach excitedly wanted to show me his new app on his phone that allowed him to video my serve, slow it down, and mark where he wanted adjustments made. We immediately got to work using this new technology. The use of video knowledge of performance with verbal cues from my coach while watching the playbacks allowed me to visualize the correction he wanted me to make and implement them. This tool helped my serve a lot and I was able to ace my way into a varsity position on my team.

# data[].attributes.body
When asking any of my siblings who they would rather drive in the car with all of our answers would be our dad and for a very good reason. My mom has a wonderful habit of grabbing the dashboard when she wants us to slow down or when she thinks we are going to crash the car. Her anxious tick to grab the dash allows me to have a heads up that "danger" is approaching and that I should press the break. In a way, her signal is a feedforward control because when I see her reaching for the dash my body knows that "danger" is ahead and I should move my foot over to the break pedal. Even if we are not in harms way, I have learned that if my mom is grabbing the dash, it is best that I slow down to ease her mind and ensure her that we will make it to our destination alive.

# data[].attributes.body
When we moved into our new house at the age of eight, my parents insisted that our new living room needed a grand piano to fill it. The only problem was that I was the only child that had any interest in piano so I was volunteered to be the one to take lessons on our new piano. When I would have a difficult time with a piece of music, my teacher would break it up into parts and have me learn a section of a piece each week. Then once I had mastered each section, I would put the entire song together. This was always less daunting and way easier for me than learning the entire song all at once. My teacher took advantage of partial practice to help me learn a new song which made the learning process much easier. An extra plus was that my mom was happy that the piano was being used instead of just sitting in our living room to look pretty.

# data[].attributes.body
"Sleep on it, come back and tomorrow you will be able to pick it up easier." When I would get frustrated with a dance combination, my dance teacher's advice was always to practice it once before bed and then come back to it the next day. Simply because sleeping helped form more neural connections and allowed me to solidify the new combination in my memory. My dance teacher was always right, the next day the combination would come much easier than the day before. For this reason, I have applied getting a good nights rest to my school work and when I am trying to learn a new task that is giving me a harder time than usual. Sometimes it's best to rest!

# data[].attributes.body
Every Christmas or Thanksgiving, our family gathered around the ping pong table instead of the dinner table. Growing up with a competitive extended family meant that at the age of three you were handed a ping pong paddle and required to take part in the family tournaments. As I have grown older, I have realized that not every family forces ping pong on its members at such a young age. Although, I have also realized that it has become almost second nature to me and that I likely have reached the autonomous stage of learning the game. When playing ping pong with my peers I am able to hold a conversation with someone or have loud music playing in the background and still perform my best.