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The reason why this topic interested me is because of how I can relate to it. In this essay, the young author, Daniel, wrote about his struggle with sports. He has played pool his whole life and got so good that he made the most impossible shots. Except, one day out of nowhere, Daniel missed the simplest shot resulting in the loss of his momentum. From then on, his aim was off, his skill was minimal, and his power was gone. His continuous losses made him lose confidence leaving Daniel wanting to quit the sport he put many hours of his life into. Except instead of quitting, he practiced non-stop until he got his momentum back, in fact; he practiced until he was better than he was before. He started to win more games and make the shots he could before all while gaining the love he had for the sport he has played his whole life. The reason why his story resonates with me is because of a similar experience I went through. I started playing soccer when I was in elementary school and have worked hard since then to be where I am today, but it hasn’t been easy. It’s been tough on me not only physically, but mentally, too, experiencing countless moments where people that meant a lot to me didn’t believe in me. This made me lose immense amounts of confidence resulting in poor performance which made me want to stop playing soccer, but decided against it. I wasn’t going to let irrelevant people determine my fate in this game so, I went to the field any chance I got and trained hard until I perfected everything I could. As a result, I improved and proved all those people wrong by getting my skill better than it was before. I could have easily quit when things got hard, as could have this author, but we fought through it because we weren’t going to let a lack of confidence get it the way of letting go of something we love. That’s why I chose this article, because the experience the author described is something I have prominently struggled with, too.
What I enjoyed most about the author’s writing is how motivating it is. Hearing the author’s first line alone, “I believe that getting through the tough times will ultimately make us better,” is enough to motivate someone. Past the first line, too, the author continues to describe his experience with such encouraging words such as, “I realized moving past the hard times was the best thing I could’ve done. I could’ve just thrown in the towel and given up…but I knew that I could get through it.” These lines don’t even need to be in the context of just sports, it could be for anything. I loved how motivating this article was because it could not only help someone get through the same conflict the author and I overcame, but help anyone going through a tough time. This article could give some just an ounce of hope.
There are many movies I have watched and books I have read that have covered with someone at odds about the sport they love, much like the conflict the author described. There have also been movies, tv shows, and books about the same conflict, but not in sport scenario. It’s typically someone who has to overcome internal conflicts which is what this article is. The author lost his momentum in playing pool and felt the need to quit. I also experienced the same conflict where I told myself I couldn’t play soccer anymore when I was physically capable of doing so. It was just me telling myself I couldn’t. This is something that everyone in this world has to go though. Everyone’s conscious tells them they have to quit something when it gets hard, but it doesn’t have to end up that way. This article sums it up perfectly, “getting through tough times will ultimately make us better.”
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