An Act of Courage

I played competitive soccer for a very long time, and right before one outdoor season, I got the news that I was dropping a level, and it shattered my heart. I thought I wasn’t good enough for the competitive team. When I showed up to the first practice, I thought to myself, ‘This is going to be a long season’. These girls couldn’t quite play like how I was used to; quick, intense, and losing wasn’t an option. I acted like I was better than them because I had played at a higher level for most of my life. I thought that if the coach would see how much of a better player I was, they would send me back up to the more competitive team. However with each practice and game, my frustration grew and I started yelling on the field, things like what to do, what we should have done, and if we messed up, I made it quite obvious that I was frustrated. I just really wanted to get back to my old team, that was my only goal. When my coach called me off of the field for a “substitution”, I was utterly confused. I was doing the best out there so shouldn’t I stay on? When I got off the field my coach sat me down and told me to smarten up and shut up or I wouldn’t be getting on the field again. He told me that he knows I played on a better team, but my attitude needed to improve because this was my

We all have opportunities to display courage in our life, but if we actually do is our decision. Courage is being able to do what is right even if it can be hard. In the book Speak by Laurie Halle Anderson I found three different examples of courage. In this book Melinda Sordino, David Petrakis and Melinda, again all show courage.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~ Winston Churchill. This quote defines what it is to be courageous, to be courageous is to persevere even if you know you will fail. This kind of courage is the courage which both Harold Crick in Stranger Than Fiction and Jean Louise “Scout” Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. In Stranger Than Fiction, an IRS agent, Harold Crick, with a monotonous life learns that you must not only survive, but you must truly live. This lesson is taught through a series of events that lead to his breaking out of his shell and truly living his life. The events are preliminarily put into action through Harold hearing the voice of the author of a book about his life. In To Kill A Mockingbird, a tomboyish six-year-old, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, discovers the true meaning of camaraderie and bravery. Her friendships are strong but her definition of courage is flawed. In the end, she realizes a great truth, that to really know someone, you have to imagine yourself in their shoes. Courage is important to these two characters, as they both discover what it really means to be brave and what the true definition of courage is. Courage is not always outspoken, sometimes courage is knowing that you will fail, but trying and failing anyway and then accepting your failure.

As I stood on the field, sweat dripping down my face, it all came down to this moment. Going to practice for months, the bruises, the pain, it was all preparing me for this altering moment. I’m a soccer goalie, that in itself is a big responsibility, but tonight my team was counting on me to lead them to victory. We just played a full 90-minute game only to be tied two to two. I stood in between the goal posts, people cheering my name, as a member from the opposing team walked closer. Since we tied we are in a penalty shootout, the outcome of the game is decided on this one kick. See, being a goalie is a big responsibility, but during a shootout, that's when it gets unbearably stressful. The odds are not in a goalie’s favor. There is only an eighteen percent chance that the goalie will stop the penalty kick, but I was beating those odds because I already blocked two out of four shots. I just needed to block one more, one more and we win the gold medal, we win first place. As the player walks closer to me, the cheering of the crowd slowly dissipates. All I hear is my heart pounding out of my chest. It all comes down to this final whistle signaling the kicker to begin. I felt unstoppable, this was my moment to shine, this was when I became the hero for my team. The referee blew

Courage is doing what you know is the right thing even when it is hard to do. Jackie Robinson showed courage multiple I times throughout his career. In fact, his whole career would have gone down the drain if he did not have courage. As said in “Jackie Robinson All-Star” black men had little hope in the major leagues; Branch Rickey then came along and offered him a spot with the acceptance that he had to have the guts to NOT fight back. This meant that although Jackie was going to be taunted and humiliated he had to have the patience and courage to not retaliate so then he would give the whites a reason to respect black people. According to “The Noble Experiment”, this player had to be able to take abuse, name calling, rejections from both opponents and

A courageous action most often is associated with reaching a goal or task of importance, despite the dangers even risks associated with it (“Courage”). For any specific act to be considered truly courageous it must be reasonably thought about and determined that the goal is well worth the risk or danger (“Courage”). Courage so often can be put with words such as heroic, and bravery although with courage there can be a fine line between courageous acts and plain foolishness. All this can make people believe that courage only applies to physical actions. There are two kinds of courage moral and physical in many cases they are both displayed in a single courageous act; however, bravery must come before all else, because they are associated with reaching a task of importance regardless of risk.

I felt my heart racing as I imagined making the top team in the club. I knew right then and there that I was going to try out for the team as soon as I discussed it with my parents. After my parents’ approval, I went to the first tryout with high expectations and aspirations. The tryout was going well at first; my skill was evident on the ice. I was making quick passes and skating hard. I will never forget the fateful pass that happened next. I remember the play in slow motion. I passed the puck through the center ice, a precarious move, but it was intercepted by the opposing team and as a result they scored a swift goal. Groans from the other players could be heard and my heart sank. That pass would determine my fate. After the tryout, I undressed slowly replaying the pass repeatedly in my head. Coach Ruben walked out of his office with the list of players who made the team in his hand. As he posted the list on the bulletin board, all the eager players ran over, examining the list of names. I stared at at the list for what seemed like an eternity searching for my name, but it was not there. I stifled my disappointment and followed my parents out to the car. To my ten year old self, my dreams were crushed and I assumed my hockey career was over before it even

Nothing beat the overwhelming emotion of stepping up on the pitcher’s mound and hearing the chant of my name, my heart clawing its way out of my chest. Before throwing the first warmup pitch, my mind raced through the entire season. How, as a team, we have made history winning all three major tournaments in the high school level. We had beaten many top competitors and lost plenty crushing defeats as well. My mind pondered, which situation will I be in today, glorious victory or destructive loss. This is the feeling I lived for during high school, it was my sole purpose. However, this was merely one minute of that fateful day in which I played prodigiously trying to win a baseball game.

Often in works of literature, a character encounters a situation that requires courage. In the real fiction novel, The Circuit by Francisco jimenez the main character Francisco is very courageous. Francisco and his family immigrated to Mexico from California had to do many things to making money and had a better life, because they are so poor and they they needed to do a lot things to know about the life. Francisco passed so many thinks that given courageous.

Ordinary courage is a book that tells the story of an ordinary man who is inlisted in the continental army in the revolutionary war. Joseph Plumb Martin is the young man fighting in this war, at the time he entered he was just a mere 16 year old kid but by the time his time in the continental army was up he became a man. This is a first person memoir of what it was like for a regular person living in a war zone, and dealing with the everyday fears of food shortage, low morale, and danger of attack. This is something that many people in todays world could not handle because even some of the old guys in the

He was getting closer to the goal than I was comfortable with, so I stepped in front of him and cut him off. When I did this, he made a 180 degree turn up the field and so did I. I tried to at least. There was a gaping hole in the field, one much too big than there should have been. I planted my right foot to make the cut and it all went downhill from there. My ankle twisted and I heard all sorts of disgusting noises. It snapped, it cracked and it popped. As soon as my back hit the pitch I tried to get back up, but I couldn’t. At this point, I knew that my senior soccer season was over and my last chance at beating those people who were so mean to me had slipped right through my

The article that best fits this is “When a Middle School Cheerleader with Down Syndrome Was Bullied, The Basketball Team Stepped Up To Defend Her” by: Jenna Birch. This article was about a cheerleader with down syndrome named Desiree, getting bullied by the fans in the bleachers because of her condition at a middle school basketball game. The basketball players from her school witnessed the bullying occurring, so they immediately stopped what they were doing to come to her side and defend her. One example from the article that is in paragraph 2, it says “He refused to be a bystander to her bullying.” This was about the basketball player who was the first to defend the cheerleader with down syndrome. He is courageous because he acted right when he saw there was trouble occurring. He didn’t wait or hesitate, he acted on the spot before the bad situation turned into a terrible situation. He refused to be a follower and make fun of her like everyone else. He was a leader and put the followers in their place by opening their eyes by showing them right vs wrong. This boy developed the trait of courage at a young age because he knew your actions should never be selfish, they should positively affect others lives as well as your own. Another example from the article seen in paragraph 6, where it says, “Those boys, I tried to talk to them in person, but I couldn’t keep the tears back.” This was

I play football here at ULM and we have been in our fall camp for the last 23 days. It is a mental, physical, and emotional strain and tensions are running high. One day early on in camp we were out in the blistering heat practicing. We were almost finished when we called a screen pass and I was going to be the main blocker for the play and if I messed up it wouldn't work. Then as soon as the ball was snapped I stepped with the wrong foot first. This slowed me down and the defender was able to clobber our receiver behind the line of scrimmage. My position coach, Coach Clark, immediately ran over yelling, "What are you doing? Where is the direction you can't lose your man on that play?" I knew what I had done wrong, "I can't let him get up the

How a person acts in a time of panic can determine their courage. It can be difficult to judge a person by their courage. Just like in “the Wizard of Oz.” people from all backgrounds can be courageous by small acts. In Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, Rob Hall showed great courage during his ascent of Everest, and that helped make this tragic expedition end up better than it could have.

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Said, Winston Churchill, former prime minister of the UK. Throughout the year we have read and learned about many people that showed courage throughout their life. The characters in the novels The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Pianist, and the Shakespeare play, The Merchant of Venice all show great amounts of courage.