Are you motivated by failure? When I was 8 years old in 2nd grade, I experienced failure when I Iost in my first basketball game and I also didn’t play well. It was my first organized basketball game that I had ever played in, and the first loss I had to experience. The loss felt terrible. After that loss, I felt completely sad and defeated. The game was at the Highland Park Rec Center for a house-league basketball season. Going into the season opener, I was excited to play the game expecting my team to win. I thought my team had the potential to be really good. Our team started the game playing well, but we ended up losing by a lot and it was not fun. However, that simple loss changed me. That simple loss changed my perspective on basketball. …show more content…
I practiced and played basketball on a daily basis. Everyday at recess, my friends and I would play pickup games against each other. I watched the Chicago Bulls on T.V whenever they were playing and I looked up to my two favorite players Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose as role models. I loved how passionate and great Joakim Noah played. I started to play with the same type of passion that he plays with. I loved how aggressive and great Derrick Rose played. I started to play aggressive like Rose does. At recess, the next day after a Bulls game, my friends would imitate the moves of a great play made or imitate one of the announcer's (Stacy King) excited voice when a great play would happen. As recess would end, my friend Arman would chant “3! 2! 1!” If the shot went in, he would say one of Stacy’s King's popular phrases like “Big time players make big time plays!” If Arman made a great play driving to the basket, I would sometimes say another one of Stacy King’s popular phrases like “He is too big! Too strong! Too fast! Just too good!” We would also shout regular basketball phrases. Sometimes if one of us made a great shot, somebody would say a simile like ¨that jump shot was smooth as silk.¨ My brother and I
One time I experienced failure was when I was trying out for an indoor field hockey league. The field hockey league had three different teams, the academy (the lowest), elite (the middle team), and high-performance (the highest). I was very eager to begin the indoor field hockey season and I had high hopes that I would make the highest team. On the day of tryouts, I had a major case of butterflies in my stomach but I was still eager to start the season. However, as soon as I stepped on the field the nerves began to take over my whole body and I became quite timid. I did ok in the skills portion but when it came to the scrimmage I chickened out a bit. The girls trying out were big and strong and had amazing skills and I instantly began to think I was
One failure in my life occurred when I tried out for my high school’s softball team. I had been playing softball for most of my life, and there would only be fifteen players trying out, enough to create a team without cutting anyone, so I got onto the team but found that I wouldn’t have a place on the field because another player occupied my position. So I spent the season figuratively on the bench rather than playing the game I loved.
My stomach twisted at the thought of losing when we pulled into the McDougal High School’s parking lot. I ran into the building where our coach taught us the new positions until it was time to play. The ref blew the whistle and threw the ball into the air. I jumped up with my feet dangling off the ground and slapped the ball out of its orbit and ran down the court. I could feel my heart beating, I lurched to a screaming halt at the three point line and pushed the ball towards the basket. I shut my eyes hoping it would make it. I heard the ball drop to the ground and the crowd that was erupting with cheers, I opened my eyes and saw my teammates smiling. “That’s a girl!” my coach hollered as I ran towards the sideline and sat down on the bench. We ended up winning by 2 points after two overtime periods.
There was this one worst experience where I was playing a sport. It was during basketball tryouts for the high school team. It was the day of tryouts. When I went, I went with a lot of confidence. Although, I made some mistakes which were my layups, turnovers, and drills.
Failure the one thing we all experience and hate but it's apart of life. One of the most memorable times of failure I have experienced came in track & field. During my junior indoor track season at Highland Springs I hadn't had much success in the events I competed in which were the 300 meter dash, 500 meter dash and the 4x4. After having a rather disappointing season I went to coach before the start of outdoor track and asked him how I could not only help my own success but help the team's success as well. He responded by telling me I should become a hurdler, that was one of the most shocking moments of my life never did i think i'd be hurdling. The next day of practice the first thing I did was go to one of my teammates who hurled and had
I failed over and over and over again consistently, I’d try then fail, “ oh wait I get this… Oh nevermind” this phrase was consistently in a future of mine that I was not yet aware of. I’m a basketball, football player, cheerleader, track star, and I failed at everyone of those. I spent a lot of time being criticized about the basic aspects of the sport. In basketball was by far the toughest of them. It all started my started in 7th grade.
The team we were playing was one of the best in the school league. They had good guards and amazing post players. They could make a lot of the shots we missed. We were nervous, but we had made it here and we knew we had to win. It started out rough, our defense wasn’t quite there. We let the guards go by us and the post post up way to easily. At the end of of the first quarter it was 11-2, they were winning. By half time we finally made a
My first basketball game at Hillcrest was my greatest accomplishments when I moved schools. It was a chilly fall night that I had been excited for for a while. I walked into the gym when the aroma of popcorn and hotdogs filled my senses. I was anxious with excitement because I had never played for another school before, it was a very nice change. All the players were in the locker room just a few minutes before the game. We had our pre-game prayer and then we were ready to play. I started for the first time that I could remember. I had the first field goal of the season which absolutely took my breath away. I got the ball on the block and shot it. I watched in slow motion as it went in the goal. In the end, it was a basketball game that I
The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
Basketball has always played an important role in my life, however, one game in particular stands out above the rest. In this game we faced our rivals and the fifth ranked team in the state, Pleasure Ridge Park. No one believed we had a chance at beating this team. We have only beat them once in our school’s 25 year history. Before this game I really did not have the confidence in my abilities. But this game allowed me to believe in myself in knowing I could play among the best.
Growing up I would always expect that life would be easy and basketball would be the key to success but in my case, my father would always be busy to even teach me how to dribble or shoot. I learned all of that myself and by watching him play. Even when I tried teaching myself and even thinking to myself that I was good enough,but I was never close to my father. Once in a while I would get my chance to play with him and I would always give it all. “Let's play one on one”, my father said. “lets go!, my ball first”, I replied with excitement. I would always do my best but I would never come close. the score would always be around 16-3.
I experienced failure as an assistant coach of the girl’s basketball team at Bethany Christian Middle School. Every loss we had weighed heavily on my shoulders, making me disappointed in myself, both as a coach and as a mentor to the girls on the team. I had the mindset that a coach’s job was solely to win, and I was doing the exact opposite of that. This negativity would radiate from my tone, body language, and overall demeanor. Eventually, it would spread to my players, and I could see how not enjoyable both the games and practices were becoming. It took me till about halfway through the season to look at this situation from a different perspective. It was then that I realized my true failure was not in failing to coach these girls to victory
I had played since I was in fourth grade and I liked to consider myself mediocre at the least. After about thirty minutes of playing we all decided to start a tournament; two on two. Alex and I decided to be on a team, and there were about six other teams of two that joined in the tournament. With my basketball background and compared to the other teams, I knew Alex and I definitely had a substantial advantage in the endeavor. As I suspected, we won the tournament without much of a hassle, although when we finished, we had been breathing hard, so the sense of accomplish was still prevalent. Little did I know; that cold October night would be the last time I was able to play basketball for seven elongated
The military’s height and weight standard and my ability to successively maintain it. Joining the military at the age of 21 weighing in at 130 pounds; very much in shape and thin, never concerned about how much I weighed in the past. As time went on, I had children and gain weight. Having surgery, which prevented me from working out and more weight was gained. The Military has a standard which I am require to meet, regardless of the circumstances. As I get older and have another surgery the harder it is to keep up with the standard.
Here comes high school’s senior year. All the stress accompanying deadlines, standardized tests, and deciding my future, has arrived. After being able to maintain efficient grades throughout my high school career, I am faced with my greatest obstacle yet. I must choose my next destination from thousands of colleges. First, I ought to narrow my options. Knowing, although not completely confident, that I will major in computer engineering, I start to search deeper for colleges that offer this program. Wanting to stay close to home, I cross out colleges based on distance. Believing that my biggest motivation is getting the best education, I delve deeper into my research and start to find top rated colleges. I finally