There are winners and there are losers, there are those projected to win and those expected to lose. Malcolm Gladwell writer of, “How David Beats Goliath,” describes how the underdogs do the unexpected and go the extra mile to overcome their opponent. Gladwell refers back to the bible story of David beating Goliath when he was expected to lose. David did what he knew and overcame Goliath, winning the battle. Doing the unexpected is how Vivek Ranadive’s twelve year old girls basketball team made it to the nationals because he decided early on that his team would go a different path; a full court press, every game, all the time. I agree with Ranadive and doing something different to succeed. Last year’s varsity basketball team focused on defense …show more content…
Ranadive decided then that he would focus on full-court press. He would take the other team by surprise and start off strong from the beginning. Ranadive focused on defense and believed that was how he would become successful. I agree that defense is key to winning, but doing that does not always mean you will win. Mr. Callow, coach of the girls varsity basketball team, focused on defense. He had a famous line, “Defense wins games.” All we did in practice was run our man to man drills and quicken our feet. Everyday we practiced our press and man to man plays until it was engraved into our brains. Come game time we would shut down the other team's offense, we had a solid defense that was hard to penetrate. I remember playing Fruitport and they had an offense where a girl ran across through our defense and would try to get the ball and go in for a layup, but it never worked because the way our defense was set up every time a girl came through the center we would all crash on her. She would be trapped and their offense would fail. Defense made up for our lack of ability on offense. We were not the best shot so we tried making up for it on defense. Ranadive’s team did the same, putting all of their effort into defense. According to Rometra Craig, an assistant coach of the Redwood City team, “ What the defense did for us is that we could hide our …show more content…
I agree that underdogs can surprise people just as Ranadive did with his twelve year old basketball team, but then there are teams such as mine last year that did well, but did not win games like Ranadive’s team. Varsity basketball last year did not make it as far as Ranadive’s team and we stuck to our press and defense every game, but that did not mean we won. In districts last year we played against Calvary Christian, a long time rival. We were neck and neck throughout the whole game. Our press was working, we were making points, but they caught on and began to break the press. Without our press, which is an easy way to get points, scoring was getting difficult for us. Doing the unexpected can make you a winner, but not for everyone. I worked hard in the press break, I kept my hands up on defense and boxed people out, but that does not mean we won. Defense wins games, but without points on the scoreboard what do you have to show for? We tried so hard on defense that we forgot how to act on offense. Without shooting the ball and working on our offense we did not have enough points on the board to win. Even though we may not have won every game we still received complements on how hard we worked. We gave our all, but sometimes it comes down to who has more experience with handling the ball. We tried something different and did not succeed as Ranadive did,
Many people question the success of an underdog because it once seemed impossible for them to come out on top. In his article, “How David Beats Goliath,” Malcolm Gladwell addresses the key aspects in the triumphs of the Davids in society. The biblical account of David and Goliath is not considered an anomaly by Gladwell because David’s success could be predicted by the formula of “effort over ability” (2). Gladwell writes this professional magazine article for The New Yorker. Through his writing, Gladwell has developed the face of the outsider in today’s society. In doing so, Time Magazine has “named him one of its ‘100 most influential people’” (The Gladwell Effect, Rachel Donadio). Gladwell has
David only focusses on Goliaths himself, not on the size of his sword or on Goliath’s skill. Instead of this David focusses on the Lord. The Lord is mentioned nine times in this story.
Our defensive involves all five players to play together: talking on defense, seeing the ball, and moving as the ball moves” (Coaching Basketball). After playing great defense, they can reward themselves on offense. Coach K tends to run a motion offense. Most of the time Duke’s motion offense has three guards on the perimeter, at the three-point line, and two post in the key. Motion is all about spacing and cutting. “The combination of the spacing and cutting through the middle continually opens up the driving lanes” (Kelbick). Opening up the driving lanes allows for a player to drive into the basket and kick the ball back out if necessary, creating multiple scoring opportunities. Duke is extremely successful with this offense. For instance, the 2017-2018 basketball season they are averaging ninety-two points each game (Kelbick). When Coach K’s defense and offense come together, it is outstanding to
...rk, Michael A. "Winning. How Important Is It in Youth Sports?" Youth Sports Institute: Michigan State University.
We were going to win the game. That was the end of it. I knew it. We were the winners of that game. I stood up and yelled in a voice that even frightened me. I didn’t scream about moving our feet, or calling the ball, I screamed about how big of winners we were. I was done with moping. For seven minutes of my life, I had forgotten that I could do anything I set my mind to, and I had given up. The worst seven minutes of my volleyball career were those seven minutes in the third game of the final match at Brighton Volleyball Tournament. I had put my determination down to wallow in my disappointment. Disappointment needs to build determination. I had decided a long time ago that there were certain things in life that I could do better than other people. Those were my gifts. I use my gifts to my full potential.
With competition, people have incentive to improve. Last fall, my father had the idea for the two of us to have a competition and see who could do more sit-ups by the end of the year. This would be part of my offseason baseball training and his normal exercise. We were both doing hundreds of sit-ups a day, and I eventually won. In the end, we were both the winners because this was very good exercise for our body, which probably would not have been done without the competition. At the end of each of my basketball lessons, my coach and I would play a short game of one versus one. At first, he would always win. I grew tired of always losing to
Everyone loves the underdog because everyone can relate to them; they can succeed despite the uncontrollable disadvantageous circumstances. But why is it that underdogs can succeed? In Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath, he proposes that it is because advantages are not always helpful, underdogs can actually possess desirable disadvantages, and the unconventional tactics and approaches they use are actually quite effective. Underdogs are able to succeed because of their disadvantaged background rather than in spite of them.
...lways have to try your best and want to win. Sports also teach students teamwork skills. In order to succeed you need to have the ability work with others.
“The odds of a high school basketball player making it to the “next level” to play college basketball (DI, II, or III) is slim. In fact, only 3.4% of high school players go on to play college basketball. Taking it even further, only 1.2% of college basketball players go on to get drafted in the NBA” (Winters, 2016). There are two types of players in the game. There are the kids who play basketball because they are athletic, and all they are seeking to gain is the recognition and awards. They want to be known. Those players are self-centered, they do not play for the team, and generally don’t play because they love the game. These are the types of players who don’t usually go on to play at the next level. On the other hand, there are the players that absolutely dedicate their life to the game of basketball just because they love the game. That is what coaches are looking for in a player, and that is the kind of player I am striving to be.
Success without adversity is impossible. Everyone in life has their ups and downs and nothing in this world is perfect. At some point in life, hardships begin to occur and that’s when the real test begins. Some people rise up and try their absolute best to take a stand against the challenge. Then there are others that would crawl back into their shells, crying for mercy. There should be no excuse for giving up or not putting in the effort. People are only successful in winning the battle of adversity when they are mentally tough. The intense game of adversity can be referred to football.
The Bible takes a unique turn in the book of 1 Samuel, Israel requests the appointment of an earthly king. The prophet Samuel warned them against trading their Divine King for an earthy one. In Matthew 7:13 Jesus told us, “..For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction..,” cautioning believers not to long to be like everyone else.
The championship game loss helps the audience, especially young adults with high, aspiring dreams, to understand, that even if you do work-hard and aren’t awarded with winning your goal, this isn’t the end of your journey. It only means you have to work harder in the future, if you want to succeed at your goal. This conclusion shows young children how to lose properly and how to be grateful for what they have, since being good a winning is a much easier task. For like a quote from Colin Powell, “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” The under-class, basketball players learned from the mistakes in the title game, so they could go farther and win next year’s championship, because failure should never be your excuse to not attempt something.
The writing style of an author plays a giant role in expressing certain details and letting the reader become more drawn into the piece of literature. In the story summary David and Goliath, which we get from the first book of Samuel chapter seventeen verses one through fifty eight. This popular bible story expresses how a young and weak teenage boy named David can take down a giant with name of Goliath with faith in God. The use of different elements used throughout the summary such as diction, imagery, and language gives off hopeful feel because the main point of the story is for the reader to understand that anything is possible with God.
The Biblical story of David and Goliath is one that provided heroic inspiration for many artists throughout history. As told in 1 Samuel 17, it is a story about a young boy named David who defeated Goliath, a giant Philistine warrior, and saved his people from invasion and slavery. As the story goes, the Israelites were facing the Philistines army and the giant Philistine, Goliath, challenged the Israelites to send their best warrior to battle him to determine the outcome of their armies. David, while bringing food for his older brothers, heard Goliath defy the armies of God and was angry. He accepted; chose stones from a stream and with his sling he approached the Philistine. Goliath mocked David for his youth and choice in weapons but David
Sports teach you to be resiant. They teach that even when there is defeat you must move on to the next opportunity to compete.