Common App essay, rough draft (needs work) tennis

this essay needs to be 150 words but its 174. I am not too satisfied with it yet, i may try and rewrite it but please post feedback and possible changes, ty in advance.

Starting something new with people who are already very experienced can be difficult. When i joined the tennis team i was in this position; i had hardly played before and i was playing with some kids that were much higher above my level since they have been playing their whole lives. This was almost demeaning and frustrating because these players were very skilled and could do all these tricks while i could barley hit the ball where i wanted it to go. Very quickly i learned that this is no excuse for trying my best, so with all my effort i focused on improving every practice. The skilled players recognized this and gave me advice on how to play more strategically which showed during matches. I was placed into doubles with a partner and we lost our first four meets. By the end of the season we were 5-5. I have learned that people should put certain feelings behind them if they want to succeed, thankfully this will carry out into my everyday life.

-i feel the message i'm trying to show may not be as clear as i want it to be

I think you mean for *not* trying your best.

Also, try using stronger verbs. Get rid of all the instances of "is," "was," "were," etc. Doing so normally makes your writing more concise, which is good, especially as you need to shorten it anyway, and more interesting.

thanks for your input

and that last bit you wrote, do you mean change it up to make it more interesting?

You use weak verbs. This makes your essay less interesting, and probably longer than it has to be. So, go through your essay and replace weak verbs with stronger ones. You can read this article if you need more information on how to do that:

thanks! that link will defiantly help.

I think the essay is off to a good start, but you need to correct some grammatical errors. For example, the "i"'s need to be capitalized. Also,

This was almost demeaning and frustrating because these players were very skilled and could do all these tricks while i could barley hit the ball where i wanted it to go.

This sentence is weak, and I feel like you need to change where you say "all these tricks".

This is what i have now

Starting something new with people who are already experienced can be difficult. When I joined the tennis team I found myself in this position; I hardly played before and I played with kids that were much higher above my level since they have been playing their whole lives. This felt demeaning and frustrating because these players had alot of skill and could do many impressive tricks while I could barely hit the ball where I wanted it to go. Very quickly I learned that this could not be an excuse for not trying my best, so with all my effort I focused on improving every practice. My teammates recognized this and rewarded me with advice on how to play strategically which showed during matches. My partner and I lost our first four matches. By the end of the season we were 5-5. Tennis taught me to not let my surroundings affect me negatively.

-"My teammates recognized this and rewarded me with advice on how to play strategically which showed during matches."

should i write "showed during matches" OR "proved useful during matches"