Success. It comes in various ways. A lot of times people like to base their success on the level of their achievement, I am one of those people. As a perfectionist it’s difficult to maintain a level head when I fail or succeed. Failures occurred to me all the time. Even when success was reached I find myself looking for more. Resilience was the most important life lesson I learned through sports. I taught myself to not give in when I faced an obstacle. Whether it meant going down 2-0 early in a game or having to play a game without my team’s top goal scorer, my resilience was what kept me working till the very end. Throughout my entire soccer career I never really felt success. Of course there were small spurts of successes when it came to …show more content…
We met at a local soccer field that would soon become my home away from home. I succeeded on making a team, but it was the B team. I was on the B team with Jefferson which was cool and all but I wanted to be on the A team. The A team was made up of kids with the best talent that competed in numerous regional tournaments. I just couldn’t get the thought through my head that there were kids better than me. I wanted to be on the A team so bad. When Under 9 tryouts came I gave it my all to make the team. I ran as much as my chubby body could take, I tried to be the most accurate with my passes, I went as far as going a whole tryout day without drinking water to show the coaches I didn’t get tired. I waited patiently for a phone call or email from the A-team coach telling me I made his team. I had just come inside from playing soccer with my dad when my mom called saying there’s a phone call for me. I couldn’t have felt any worse of myself. I felt like a loser and told my parents I made the A-team, they knew how bad I wanted it but I was so disappointed in myself that I didn’t want my parents to feel that disappointment so I lied. I got congratulations from my parents and family everyone gave me praise for something that I lied about. Luckily my parents couldn’t make much of my games anyways so they didn’t find out I lied. That year leading up to under 10 tryout …show more content…
I spent hours kicking a ball at my house wall and getting yelled at by my parents for making too much noise. I got numerous soccer balls taken away from me because my neighbor was a grumpy lady who hated when my soccer balls bounced into her driveway. Most of all I remember the broken windows from me shooting as hard as I could at the garage trying to place the balls in the corner but due to my lack of accuracy I’d just smash the garage windows. I worked on my foot skills but also my goalkeeping skills, I would throw the balls at the wall and practice catching them while shuffling around. I did it in all weather rain or shine I was always playing soccer, mainly by myself. I saw improvement and luckily so did my coaches. My technical ability rose and by the time under 10 tryouts I was prepared. The first day of fall tryouts consisted of a lot running and stamina drills. These were the things coaches did to see who were the players in shape. The coaches didn’t do anything too strenuous since we were only 9-10 year olds. The anticipation was killing me for the second tryout day. I knew I had to perform and give it my all. The second tryout day was cloudy; it was only a matter of time until it began to rain. Upon arrival we did a couple technical drills to see soccer fundamentals in use such as control, dribbling, and passing drills. Finally they said it was time to scrimmage. I had to fight
In my first beginning days of highschool, I became interested in playing soccer for my first time ever. I’ve had no prior experience with playing soccer, only that many of my friends and my idealistic brother also played, so this was a major part in my beginning.I began training as rigorously as could have imagined. When the time came when my highschool team announced tryouts for the school I knew I couldn't resist. Many other players that I knew suggested that I didn't tryout for the sake of my dignity, but of course I shrugged them off , excited to prove them wrong.When tryouts came,I pushed the hardest I can. I sprinted the fastest I could,I ran the longest I could, and I put everything I had in me right on the field. I didn't want to leave with any regrets or doubts those few days. It was finally time when the team's roster was announced and possibly the worst day of my life when I saw that I didn't make it on the team. I ran home after school that day,slammed my door shut,and compltely confined myself in my prison, crying in my darkness,alone. I fell into a state of depression and overwhelming of hatred for myself that was impossible for me to escape from. I worked three times harderthan everybody else just so I could get close to the level that they already were. I felt the need to quit and hang up my cleats before my friend came up to me. He said to me that I surprised him how much more I improved and that I should have made the team since I was better than some of the others. He told me not to give up but to continue to strive to improve myself because at this rate I will exceed to impress everyone that doubted me and to show myself that I can accomplish my dream. I was in a really low place for myself that I felt that I thought I should throw away my hard work and accept my failure, although with the help of the single light
I have not and will never forget those series of events. This time hurt me but also helped build upon my character. It was my freshman year of high school. I had decided to play soccer, which was not a hard decision for me since I had played travel soccer pretty much my whole life. Also my brother was in high school at the time and played for the boys soccer team, and had my dad as his coach. He loved it and was having a great experience playing high school soccer so of course I like to follow in my brother’s footsteps. I was very nervous at first. There were over eleven seniors on the team, and they were pretty intimidating to me. During the summer, I played with the varsity often and enjoyed it. As I kept playing with them and performing well, my nerves lessened. Finally when the actual season rolled around, I was put on full varsity. All my hard work had paid off. I was one of the two freshman put on varsity. I was ecstatic. I was actually very lucky at getting put on varsity because at this point in my life I played purely out of natural talent. I was never one to put in extra work outside of practice and be disciplined in the way I lived my life. I never really strived to be the best I could be. Making varsity made me somewhat of a threat for the older girls. Some were happy for me, others did not like the thought of a freshman on varsity. These girls were hard coore they were bound and determined to make it to state that year. They were not going to accept anything less than amazing. This put an incredible amount of pressure on us younger girls. I remember going to every practice nervous that I was going to mess up and they get mad at me. I never really felt at ease with them. In the first few games I got good playing time. I was doing really well. I was finally getting comfortable out there on the field, but that was not the direction God was taking me and with one swift kick of the soccer
Over the years, playing soccer has taught me what it takes to succeed. From months of tough practices, I have gained a hard work ethic. From my coaches and fellow teammates, I have learned to work well with others in a group, as it is necessary to cooperate with teammates on the playing field. But most important, I have also gained self-confidence. If I fail, it doesn't' t matter if they mock or ridicule me; I will simply try again and do it better. I realize that it is necessary to risk failure in order to gain success. The
I started playing soccer when I was six years old on the Herndon House Soccer League. This is a recreational league that teaches basic soccer skills and sportsmanship. I've played two years in house league, with my father as my head coach. I was selected as an all star for two seasons. When I turned eight had the opportunity to tryout for a newly formed travel team called the Herndon Hooligans. During my first travel tryout I was very nervous yet excited at the same time. As tryouts started I got better and better as it continued. Then after a couple days I finally heard from the coach and he told us I made the team. Of course I said yes and from that moment on I was determined to grow and work towards my goal of playing on the U.S. women’s
I define success as trying you're hardest no matter what and persevering through everything that you try. You may not get through the problem that you are having. Even though you didn't complete the challenge that you were having if you got as much out of the task that was placed in front of you, then you have succeeded. I also define success as when you set a goal for you're self or someone else sets a goal for you. If you reach that goal or go above that goal that was set, then you have succeeded. I believe that success is not just finishing you're work, test or challenge, if you finish it but do not do you're best and try you're hardest, then I believe that you are not successful in what you just did, but if you go as hard as you can, not
Being able to deal with adversity, coach constantly reminds us, is what allows a soccer team to succeed. Not only have these words shown to be true on the soccer field, but the ability to overcome adversity may be one of the most important qualities one can have in life. This made me realize that not everything is going to come easy, and being able to recover from any sort of failure and reach my goals
Soccer has always been a sport that I’ve loved throughout my childhood. I’ve watched superstars like Sami Aljaber and Yousf Althunyan put on epic performances through the expression of soccer. However, I never truly understood what soccer could do for me until I signed up for my first soccer team. It was in high school, and I was only sixteen years old at the time. I was very excited to have my own team, and to have my statistics being recorded throughout the season. I definitely wanted to test my skills on the soccer field against true competitors that wanted to win just as badly as I did. There were local schools that we had to compete against, and then if we made it far enough, we would get to compete at the state and national levels. When I signed up for my high school soccer team, I truly didn’t know what to expect. I expected to have some fun with my new teammates and friends, but I didn’t realize that it would teach me a valuable life lesson about hard work and discipline. This paper will explain the ups and downs that I’ve had throughout my high school soccer years, and how it helped me become a better person today by instilling positive traits such as hard work, determination, and discipline.
The first way I improved myself in aftermath of the failure was by developing a strong mental discipline. To become more fit, I joined my school’s cross country team. I trained for soccer everyday after practice, regardless of how much I ran that day, the weather or if the field closest to my home was closed; I made no excuses. The next year, I made my school’s JV soccer team and a first division club team. I continued to practice on my own everyday with unconditional
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”
A seven thousand square foot home fully equipped with state-of-the-art appliances. A Mercedes-Benz parked in the driveway. A six-figure salary. A vacation home large enough to house an average family of four that’s used solely in the summer. What do all of these items have in common? They represent the possessions an American ideal of what success is. In America, bigger is considered to be better, and more is considered to be, well, more. But what is success, anyway? The Oxford Dictionary of English defines success as: The accomplishment of an aim or purpose. If that were the definition that Americans truly believed represented success, then wouldn’t nearly every citizen living in America be considered successful? Everybody has a purpose. Everybody strives to reach their goals and aspirations. Success shouldn’t be represented by materialistic items. Success is a feeling that comes from within and is unique to each individual. Who is anyone to say that a person whose lifelong aim was to own a dog is any less successful than someone whose lifelong dream was to own a law firm? Being successful is being content with one’s life. Therefore, nobody’s definition of success should be the same.
Most dictionaries define success as ‘the attainment of popularity or profit.’ However, the meaning of success is different for everyone. For an average teenager, success may simply mean obtaining a college degree and getting a job, whereas for the children in Africa, it may mean to obtain clean water, food, and shelter. Success cannot be defined by ‘popularity’, ‘wealth’, or ‘superiority’; it is defined by happiness, which can only be accomplished by pursing one’s passions, to obtain respect, and being compassionate.
Everybody has set a goal for them self’s one way or another. Whether or not they achieve that goal is a totally different story. People shouldn’t base their goals too high or too low, but in the middle. This is because basing your goal too high would most likely lead to failure, and basing your goals too low will not give you any passion or self-confidence. Goals that are set in the middle aren’t to easy to not give you that confidence boost, and not too hard to complete. Once completing those goals, you will want to set new and harder goals. This to me is my definition of success.
Getting cut from the soccer team was a wakeup call that taught me a hard lesson: Talent alone won’t guarantee success. The coaches didn’t pick me not because I failed to show my skill but because of my nonchalant attitude at tryouts. Instead of holding their critique personally, I took their comments as motivation to change my attitude. From that experience on, I learned that attitude play an important role in success.
What is success to you? Success can be multiple things such as being happy, winning a championship game, making money, getting an A in your hardest class, or getting work into an art gallery. Goals like these all mean something. When I think of a person that has earned and is currently gaining success is my sister, Hannah. She set a goal, and every day she becomes closer to her own success. Everyone earns success at some point in their life, whether it's a difficult or simple task.
Many people in this society strive for one common thing: Success. In this unit, we have observed and studied success and what it means to people in different situations by reading books, such as The Pearl by John Steinbeck and The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley. Success is caused by the exploitation of opportunity and is defined by the overall contentment and happiness with ones place in life.