Personal Statement

My name is Rose Coats, I live in NY, I currently have a GPA of 4.0, I will graduate in 2023, and I am a distance runner. I have a deep respect for the environment and the communities around me. I hope to pursue both an athletic and academic path in college.  Biology, chemistry, civil engineer, or environmental engineer are all majors that have grabbed my attention. I want to pursue an ambitious degree because I like to challenge myself both academically and physically. 

I'm very disciplined, self-motivated, and I have a unique story regarding my running pursuit. There have been many barriers preventing me from racing/training from second grade all the way through my high school running experience. However, I have successfully fought through these issues and I will continue to fight more challenges in the future because running is my passion. I simply love to run; many people tell me that I was born to run. I am always hungry for a challenge and running helps feed that desire. 

Before high school, I ran on a very competitive elementary school track team, and I competed in nations before I even went to high school. I placed 4th in the 2016 USATF Indoor Track and Field Nationals for the 3000. I had to rest during much of middle school due to injury. I went onto high school excited to compete again. During my Freshman year, I ran in an NYC PSAL race called the Mayor's Cup and won.  This would be my first and last PSAL race because soon after the Mayor's Cup  I transferred to a new school. Alas, this school didn't have a cross country or a track team.  My new school was not registered in the PSAL, thus I could no longer run in the PSAL.  I had no coach, no team, and apparently no season.  

I did not let this set me back. All through the fall of 2019, I continued to independently train myself.  I would complete workouts before school by rising early and running on the tracks/roads alone. For races, I found local charitable road races which still allowed me to compete, but I yearned for more of a challenge. Eventually, late into the Fall, my family and I were able to enter some races where I could run against a competitive cross country field of teens.  I became an unattached athlete under USATF.  By the time I registered only a few meets were left in the season.  I ran the last few meets of the season, won the NY USATF Championship, placed 4th in the Regionals, and then placed 10th in the USATF Nationals 2019, Wisconsin. I was able to earn the USATF cross country athlete of the Year 2019. This was similar to my indoor track season. I won the NY Association USATF Championships and the USATF PreNationals. I was still self-trained.  That season ended abruptly for us due to the pandemic and the USATF Nationals were never hosted.

During Covid-19 I still kept running. I ran virtual races and time trials alone. Once the new cross country season came in 2020, I trained and ran in several of those races, proceeding to be an undefeated USATF Champion by placing first in every single cross country race during the 2020 season. I also placed 11th and 16th in two East Coast Championship races hosted by 12th Rock or GSTC. I did need some help in Covid being able to access these races, so I was able to run under a team called Island Express or Susan E. Wagner with my new Coach John Padula. I had some insecurities and injuries in my training during Covid-19, so I was able to hire a private Coach named Nastaran Whitson as well.  Coach Padula and Coach Nast are great mentors, however I still design most of my programs, but my current coaches always serve as very mandatory safety nets when I have mistakes in my programming. There wasn’t much of a winter season due to Covid-19 but I was still able to race in a Championship Adidas Nationals 5k at Virginia Beach with a few other races in the following weeks at Virginia Beach as well including the AAU Indoor Nationals. Placing 7th in the 1500 and 2nd in the 3000. My spring season came in which I was able to medal in several GSTC races, place second in the two USATF Spring track and Field 2021 Championship NYC races, placing fourth in the Championship New York ShowCase 5k, and finally wrapped up my season running at Eugene Oregon for the NSAF Nike Outdoor Nationals. I had trained way way too hard.  

Then Coach Padula suggested Coach Sean Rice of Prospect Park Youth Running (PPYR) Brooklyn NY.  I joined.  Then 2021/2022 happened.  I joined PPYR in 2021 and Coach Seans training has brought out the best in me.  I had more PRs then I ever had in my life in 2021/2022 under PPYR and Coach Sean. 

Although I have independently trained for most of my life, I have had some help, I am thankful, I love being part of a team and providing support to others. On my teams, I enjoyed celebrating respect for all, companionship and love with my teammates. Most importantly, I loved developing friends that could relate to me. 

I will always strive and hunt for improvement to be the fullest person, teammate, and student-athlete that I can become.