“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up”, a quote from Jim Valvano, the former N.C. state head basketball coach. This quote is one of my favorites and is one that I often refer to when I face a difficult task. At this time in my life now especially with basketball and the sports I have been playing. If there’s one thing I believe about sports it’s that failure is the key to success.

One example of this was in a game vs. Bryan Station. We were warming up in the gym when they walked in. There wasn’t a single white person on the team. Everyone was at least 6’0 and had some of the longest arms I’ve ever seen. Before the game everyone on our West Jessamine team was scared to death. But as the game went on, we grew to know that they weren’t very good at all. They could run and jump but they could shoot or box out. At the end we came back but lost in a game winning shot at the last second.

I also used to struggle with concentrating in golf. For example, if I made a bad shot I would get extremely mad and it ruined my whole game. Instead of approaching my shots with a positive attitude I always thought of how stupid I looked. Golf is a mental game more than anything; it’s a battle against yourself more than your opponent. That’s why I am not very good at it sometimes. Now when I walk up to my sponge-bob golf ball in high rough, I look at it as a way to get better instead of just another way to screw up. I played in a lot of golf tournaments over the summer and it taught me a lot. There were times when I just wanted to quit and never play again but I pushed myself hard enough to keep competing because I know I could potentially have a future with this sport.

Another personal experience I have to support my belief statement is my schoolwork. I hate homework, more than anything when I get home from practice all I want to do is go to sleep. Most of my friends don’t have to study for anything; they can just look at it and know it. But I realize that I am a kind of person who needs to study really hard to receive a good grade. For me, studying is a hard thing to make a habit because in middle school all I did was goof off all the time. But by eighth grade I prepared myself for high school and made it a habit.

Michael Jordan once said,” If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
I think that the biggest losers are quitters who don’t give it a chance.