So, I’m not entirely sure how to utilize this section properly, but I have things that I definitely need to put in there: I wasn’t able to play sports because my school doesn’t let trans people do them (lol) and our Speech and Debate coach quit my junior year (the year where my prospects of going to nationals were extremely high). How do I explain this without sounding whiny, and does it need to be in essay/paragraph format?
There’s no requirement to play sports. No college will ding you for not playing sports. No need to explain at all. As for the speech and debate coach quitting, in my opinion there’s no need to say anything about that either. Your guidance counselor, in his/her recommendation can say something like, “John was a top member of the speech and debate team every year that it existed in our school.”