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, Japan
I 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.