Sports In My Life Jared D., New City , NY
I was eight years old and in my third year of Little League baseball. At the team practice, my coach announced that two new players would be joining our team. I couldn’t wait to see who they would be since they couldn’t be worse than the team I was on. I smiled and turned to the person next to me and said, “I hope they are good.” Coach Tom proceeded to say their names were Suzie and Danielle. At the sound of this, a giant laugh went up from the entire team since he was obviously joking, or so we thought. Then we then got ready to begin practice.
Suzie stood there in pink spikes, a pink shirt, and wore a pink glove. She looked like the worst possible teammate that a player could have. I asked Coach, “Is she seriously on our team, or is this a joke?” He only said, “Go to second base,” which was intended for her. My immediate thought was that the season would be a waste. I couldn’t figure out what would intrigue a girl to play baseball. After all, a girl’s life was supposed to be centered around Barbie and playing “house.” From my position at first base, I watched her field ground balls. After her first play, any doubts about her ability vanished. From that point on, I knew she meant business.
About a week later, our first game took place. Although my peers felt that Suzie wasn’t qualified to start at second base, I had confidence in her. She didn’t fail me. We managed to turn a double play, a feat rarely accomplished by eight-year-old ballplayers. Our coordination, as well as natural ability allowed us to perform well even at a low level of play. We even made the all-star team not as individuals – but as a pair. I learned that the right girls were certainly qualified to play great baseball.
Sports in My Life 2
K.U.Doshisha International Jr/Sr High School, Kyoto, JapanI believe many people have sports as their interest. I am not an exception, as I love playing many kinds of sports. I love playing and watching baseball, tennis, golf, volleyball, and so on. However, my favorite sport is basketball. Since I lived in Chicago, I was fortunate enough to watch the greatest basketball player ever, Michael Jordan, and the greatest basketball team ever, the Chicago Bulls, play at their best everyday. The sight of the Chicago Bulls winning the Championships made me want to play basketball. I feel that playing sports taught me the meaning of hard work. I also learned the importance of having a certain goal, and driving myself to accomplishing that goal. The first time I ever saw a basketball game was in Chicago, the Chicago Bulls playing on television. I quickly became a big fan of Michael Jordan, and the Chicago Bulls. Everyday after school, I went to my friends’ houses to play basketball. I could not resist not being able to play basketball at my house, so I got my dad to build a basketball hoop on my house’s driveway. I still remember clearly of the games that we played on the driveway. We were all crazy about learning new moves and shots. During the NBA season, I remember our television always being set on the Bulls game. During the summer, I joined a basketball team sponsored by the park district, and found out how fun it was to play on a basketball team. As I entered middle school, I tried out for the basketball team, but I was unable to make it. I found out then that I had to work harder and practice harder. I feel strongly that I learned the importance of hard work then. However, then came the shocking news.
It was the summer vacation before entering high school. My parents told me that my family would be moving back to Japan in the upcoming January. At that moment, I knew that my last goal to be accomplished in Chicago would be making the basketball team in high school. Making the basketball team in high school was said to be really tough, but I believed in myself and I knew I was good enough to make it. During the summer, I invited my friends over to my driveway, and we played very competitive games. I think these games helped me a lot. I also watched many basketball games that I taped, and learned the great plays that NBA players made night in and night out. All the hard work during the summer paid off, and I was named to the freshmen basketball team. When the coached were calling the names of the players that made the team, about seventy people that tried out sat nervously for their names to be called. I sat there nervously as well, and when my name was called, I could not believe my ears and sat motionless for a second. The feeling of accomplishment went through my whole body, and I knew I had accomplished my goal. However, this is not the end of the story.The practices started, and the feeling of really being on the team got to me. Everyday after school, we had practices. It was very tough, but I had this substantial feeling that made me want to play basketball even more. I got very close with my teammates, whom I did not know till then. We talked things outside of basketball as well, and on the days that we did not have practices, I hang around with them. Time flew by, and during the mid-season, it was time for me to move back to Japan. This was very tough to swallow, but there was no way out. My last practice was on a Friday, and the next day, we had a game. Came the last practice…Before the practice, I decided to play all out. That was, just not worry about anything, and go with flow. Till that point, I kind of played caring too much about my teammates. Since the coach had told everyone that this was my last day as the member of the basketball team, the practice became kind of like a farewell party of mine. Guys passed me the ball almost the whole time, and I must admit I played my best basketball of the season. I was making jump shots, penetrating for lay-ups, and dishing the ball out to the open man. I wished that the practice would last forever. At the end of the practice, the coach told me to go in front of everyone. There, I was given a tee shirt of the high school basketball team. Then coach talked about how I played my best, and that the team was going to miss me. Unbelievably, I was not crying. Maybe I knew this was not the end. The start of something…The next day, I woke up with happiness and also sadness. Happiness for coming this far, and sadness for having to leave the United States, when everything seemed to be going my way. In the lockerroom before the game, the coach told me that I was going to be in the starting lineup. I felt so happy, but also felt nervous because it was the first time that season that I was named to be the starter. As the game started, I was trying to pass the ball to everyone else, but soon I realized that I would be more effective if I looked for my shots. I played virtually the entire game. I scored four points. One of them was an acrobatic shot over three defenders. When I made it, I could not believe myself for making it, and the whole bench was up on their feet. I guess that was the biggest moment in my basketball life. When it was all over, I knew I could move back to Japan without any regrets.The memory of myself playing basketball will forever stay in my mind as the bright spot in my life. I had set myself the goal of making the basketball team and playing on it. I guess I was able to drive myself to practicing harder because I really wanted to be on the basketball team. I know now that the hard work that I put into practicing resulted in my accomplishing the goal. Whenever we watch sports, we tend to be overlooking the hard work that all the players put into it. I feel that it is very important have a certain goal in life. We hear people say that they do not have any goals because the society is bad. However, I think it is their fault. I feel that having motivation toward having a goal is just part of life. We are human beings. We are able to dream and have goals that no other animals could ever dream of. We should not hesitate to take advantage of that, and keep taking the right step forward. Hey, but do not forget; accomplishing a goal is not the end. It is just the beginning…