It is the third set and the score is 5-4 of my match versus Delta High School at the IHSAA Boys Semi-State Tennis Tournament. The feeling of fatigue is kicking in and the world seems as if time itself has stopped. It’s just me and the tennis court. I know this is my one chance to finally become a champion. Knowing deep down that the work that I’ve put in all my life, is finally going to pay off. It started in the fall of 2007, the first of many USTA tennis tournaments. I am 9 years old. I have been playing tennis for about a year. I am going into my first tournament match as a novice who has a notion that first place is at hand. Victory is what I have been working for. I ask myself, “Why is it not possible?” I have hit hundreds
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The operative word in the story is “experience”. If my memory serves me correctly, I did not enjoy losing at all. As time progressed, I started to understand that losing is an important factor in winning. All the years later I would play many more tournaments and experience many more losses. I learned that it is in losing that I was learning. I have heard throughout my life the quote “Winning isn’t everything.” Although it is true that winning isn’t everything, years of hard work and dedication spent on training in a sport makes winning the ultimate goal. Nothing beats the feeling of winning. You feel at that moment that you are the best. Flash forward to about seven years later. I am feeling the heat of the player from Delta High School. If I win this match I secure a spot in the Indiana State Championships. It is match point and I am getting ready to serve. Going through my head are a wide variety of emotions such as nervousness, confidence and courage. Everything around me was silent. I felt a rush of energy throughout my body. A feeling that I don’t get very often. It was a feeling of extra strength and confidence. It’s the feeling that drives me forward and keeps me
The operative word in the story is “experience”. If my memory serves me correctly, I did not enjoy losing at all. As time progressed, I started to understand that losing is an important factor in winning. All the years later I would play many more tournaments and experience many more losses. I learned that it is in losing that I was learning. I have heard throughout my life the quote “Winning isn’t everything.” Although it is true that winning isn’t everything, years of hard work and dedication spent on training in a sport makes winning the ultimate goal. Nothing beats the feeling of winning. You feel at that moment that you are the best. Flash forward to about seven years later. I am feeling the heat of the player from Delta High School. If I win this match I secure a spot in the Indiana State Championships. It is match point and I am getting ready to serve. Going through my head are a wide variety of emotions such as nervousness, confidence and courage. Everything around me was silent. I felt a rush of energy throughout my body. A feeling that I don’t get very often. It was a feeling of extra strength and confidence. It’s the feeling that drives me forward and keeps me