Hard work It was a sad day nothing could make me happy anymore. I had been sad from the first moment I read the paper. I kept reading the list I must have read it at least ten times. Over and over again kept seeing the same names. None of the names were mine. I had finally realized I did not make the team. I was heartbroken all I have ever wanted just slipped out of my grasp. “It’s ok you’ll make it next year”, said my friend Warren. But what he couldn’t understand was that I wanted it to happen that year. I wanted to make the basketball team that year. “Yeah, hopefully.”, I said, in a low spirited voice. “Don’t worry Austin you did the best you could, and that’s all that matters.”, said my best friend, Dominick, …show more content…
We did this for the whole 7th grade and even into Summer. I had been practicing harder than the rest of the kids in 7th grade, but yet they were still so much better than I was. I couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong. I kept thinking that I wasn’t going to make the basketball team again. One day I had enough and just started working hard on building confidence in my shot. I would spend hours on end just trying to build confidence because I had no confidence in anything I did. 8th-grade basketball tryouts finally rolled around. I had been practicing for a whole year, but still felt so much further behind than the rest of the kids trying out. I knew I had to try my literal hardest to make the team. Our tryouts didn’t start till after all the other grades had their practices or tryouts. We did not start till 4:30 p.m., and I stayed after school to practice even more. Every day in tryouts I would try my hardest, and I would even try to stay after tryouts to ask the coaches what I needed to work …show more content…
For as long as I can remember I have always been told to be confident in everything I do, and for as long I can remember I have never been able to be confident in anything. Until I put in the hard work, and it paid off in the long run. My father has always been my greatest friend and supporter, and if it wasn’t for him I would have been walking away from my greatest dream. I thank my father for making me put in the hard work and always being there when I need him the most. Hard work will always pay off at some point. You have to put in the hours if you want to receive them back, but you won’t only be receiving them back you’ll also be getting the knowledge in return as
The scariest thing that I have ever experienced was dislocating my knee during my high school basketball game. While attending Forestview High in 2013 the second game of the season, I acquired my knee injury against Highland Tech. I was very excited about the game because I worked very hard to take a senior spot and was finally getting the opportunity that I was waiting for. Everyday during practice, I gave my all, all the blood, sweat, and tears that I experienced I just knew it was my time. Tuesday, November 22 we get to Highland, warm up, and finally it's time for tip-off. The first quarter I get off to a rough start getting all the jitters out. Second quarter arrives, then I began to get the feel of the game. As I penetrated down the lane after hitting a mean crossover, I came to a jump stop
Basketball is a big part of my life, one year ago in tournament final game two of our best players were hurt and the team was relying on me. With the time winding down on the clock we were down 8 points. Somehow I got our deficit down to two points with 30 seconds left, after an intense defensive stop 10 seconds remained on the clock; our coach called a timeout. A play was drawn up for me to take the shot. Mitchell inbounded the ball to me as I came off of a screen, I had an some-what wide open shot, I took the shot, you could hear the crowd go silent as the ball left my hand and headed towards the basketball. It felt like everything was going slow motion, the ball was getting closer and closer to the hoop and I…….missed it. The buzzer sounded
In 2014 I was determined to make the high school soccer team. Every day at 8 am at the beginning of a dreadfully hot August morning, I would get to the turf fields for 4 hours and participate in “hell week”. After a long week, I made the JV team. I was never put into the game and felt like my hard work was put to no use. My sophomore year rolled around and I tried extra hard to impress the coaches. Anything and everything was a competition to make it to the top. By the end of the week, we all gathered around the paper that had names of the players who made it. I didn’t make the team. After tears and telling myself to move on, I went to the field hockey tryouts. I knew nothing about the sport and was terrified that soccer wasn’t my go-to
been the same way. My mom and dad taught me since I was a child was to work hard and never give up
This past fall I tried out for the varsity basketball team at my high school. I had played both on the freshman team and then last year on the junior varsity team. Playing on the varsity team is all I’ve wanted to do. I’d practiced all summer and in September and October to get ready for the try-outs at the beginning of November. Unfortunately I did not make the team. It was a huge blow for me because I had worked really hard and had expected to make it. Thankfully my moms and my friends were there to remind me that there were other paths to pursue my dreams. I could have easily been bitter and decided to stop caring, but they wouldn’t let me. I was humbled by this experience and decided to turn it into a positive. I’ve since decided to join the Wilson Live club at school. It’s a group that films and commentates sports events at school. This connects to a possible major that I’m interested in when I go to college--communications or sports
It was the most competitive three days of my life, basketball tryouts. This is the first time my friends and I were trying out for a school team, we were all hyped for basketball season. I entered the tryout excited and consequently energetic. Adrenaline was pulsing through all the players bodies, there were 6 foot tall 8th graders with years of experience competing against 6th graders who have never touched a basketball before for the same spots. I was in between, I was a 6th grader that had experience along with some skill. That was also my downfall, I went in overconfident and consequently cocky. I wasn’t planning on getting cut, I walked into the tryout overwrought, nothing could stop me from being on the team.
I figured that I had grown about five inches since my freshman year and had gotten stronger it might be time to play basketball competitively once more. When November rolled around I was on the varsity team, but unfortunately my basketball skills was not up to par. It was tough at first, because I was a new face on the team, and the guys on the team had a great chemistry that they had built up throughout the years. After a few weeks had rolled by, I realized that I would not be in the rotation.I told myself that the team’s success is more important than my personal desired statistics.I decided to make the most of my role on the team. It was a tradition for the guys who were not in the rotation to contribute to the game in some way, guys did this by preforming stunts after significant plays and momentum shifts in the game in our favor. This was great because the crowd loved and it and more importantly my teammates fed off of the
I was born in a small town in Iowa. When I was 25 I got drafted in the first round pick for the golden state warriors. The event that really changed in my life was when I was on the warriors in my first game for them. I was involved because my whole life I have been playing basketball and basketball has always been my favorite sport. Everything turned out to be really good because I was so good I was the starting point guard for the warriors. After I played point guard for 15 years for the warriors then I retired and then became the warriors coach for 20 years and then retired from that and then I had so much money I bought a 2060 new mustang for 1 million dollars.
Ever since I was young my parents said “Drew you should try new things, even if it means you fail at something.” I never really listen to them until one time in the study grade when I decided that it was ok to fail. I asked my parents “ Can we look for a club basketball team that I could try out for?” Thrilled in hearing that I wanted to try something new, they found I tryout for a team called the Cincinnati Royals. A couple of other friends agreed to try out with me, but I was still very nervous because it was my first tryout. All three of us made it through the first round of cuts and were called back for another tryout. I remember being more nervous for the second tryout than I was for the first. My palms sweated the whole night, every shot I took clanked of the rim, it wasn’t my night. My two other friends were told that they made the team, but I unfortunately got cut which I expected given how I performed. At first I saw this experience as an overwhelming failure, but I soon realized that I challenged myself, and I could learn from the criticism the coaches gave me. Taking the new stuff I learned from the tryout, I found a different club basketball team that I was fortunate enough to make, which I got to meet new people and play a sport that I loved. Although I may not have gotten the
My self esteem plummeted and disappointment filled my soul. Fortunately, my dad was there to give me the “Just keep on working hard” speech. I will never forget this one sentence he said: “If you tried your best and you didn’t do well, so what! That’s all they can ask for.” After tryouts, I was placed on team with my best friend at the time, Cal. We were the Huntley Park District Pirates. However, we did not strike gold . We only won three games the whole season, but at least it was a
Now that I knew the ropes, I was praying this tryout would be a breeze. I could not have been farther from the truth. I faithfully practiced every evening until the eagerly anticipated day. The same nervous energy overwhelmed my body as I walked onto the floor that afternoon. It seemed that within a second, the tryout was completed. Once again, I was forced to calmly wait for the crucial results. Finally the outcome was announced. “Varsity- Kristin Callaway, Jill Jackson, Katie Manley…” I had made the Varsity squad as a sophomore.
Last year over spring break I went to my friend Cory’s house almost every day. One day I go over to his house and we’re playing video games and start talking about our high school basketball season, which had just ended at the time, and we were talking about how we should have won state. Cory then says, “well I guess we’re just gonna have to put in more work over the summer!” then I said, “Aint that the truth!” Cory then told me that he had a club basketball game in two days and so I told him that I’d try to make it, but I’m not making any promises. He told me that I should try out for his team but since our high school basketball season had just ended, I was tired and didn’t really want to play club. He tried to convince me to play club with him by telling me about all the
Ever since I was a little boy, about eight years old or so, I had an extreme passion for the sport of basketball. On weekends, I would wake up in the morning, eat a bowl of frosted flakes or cheerios, put on basketball shorts and then go in my driveway to shoot around. I would be out there for hours just shooting around or playing with some random kids that I would occasionally see walking around my neighborhood. This was satisfaction to me, but even better was playing on multiple public teams and not just playing in my driveway every day. In elementary school, I played in a recreational league, just like almost every other kid who tries out basketball when they were younger. This was fun and all but it was nothing too serious. There were never any practices, it was just one or two unorganized games per week. I never took
It took me a long time to relearn of my self-worth after that season. Although I did not finish the season as well as I have envisioned prior to the winter, I earned my varsity letter. For all the nights I cried myself to sleep, for all the late-night
Down two with six seconds to go fatigue had taken it tolls on the players. With little energy left; over time was not an option. I knew I had to go for the win. I walk on the floor confident of my ability that was until the whistle blew quickly turning my confident to butterflies. As I fought to get open I quickly saw the ball coming my way. As I rose for a jump shot time itself began to stay still. An in flesh everything became silent. As I watch the ball leave my hand I envisioned greatness; sure the ball was on its way in I started to celebrate that was until I hear the announcer say my teammate tip in miss shot to win us the game. Mix with emotion I celebrate with my teammate. “Ok guys, we have 24 hours until tip off. Get some rest because this is going to be the biggest game of your life. Let’s bring this championship back to Barton College. Go Bulldogs and Goodnight!” Why few players stay in the lobby to hang out I took it talk upon to work on my game and reflect on the semifinal game that just took place. At basketball games you will notice how there are all sorts of fans attending the game.