Have you ever thought that you were not good enough at something? I was thinking that I wasn’t going to play well because I was too small and not strong enough. I was thinking that before a JV lacrosse game as a seventh grader. But I wasn’t going to back down from a challenge, and I learned a very important skill for someone who is small, and that is to always believe in yourself.

I was eagerly waiting in the cold, frigid air for a couple more of my teammates to show up. Coach said to get dressed and start passing. I got dressed and started passing with Gavin. While I was passing, my stomach filled up with butterflies, no, more like pigeons pecking inside my stomach. It felt like I was going to throw up. Coach called me, Cooper and another kid over. He told us, “on man-up, only you three can touch the ball.”

          The game was about to start. We got set in our positions. I was on the wing. I looked up, and I saw a beanstalk of a kid towering over me. I felt like I was a peanut compared to him. The ref said, “down, set,” and tweeted his whistle. We won the face-off. They passed me the ball, and I faltered to do a split dodge and bolted by my man; I whipped my stick across my body and scored bottom right corner. I jogged back to the face-off X very solemnly.

We lost the next face-off, but our goalie made an absurd save. Our goalie passed to Cooper. I was bolting down the sideline. Cooper passed me the ball, and I did a low to high bar down goal. Out of nowhere, I got laid out by a tall and muscular kid; it felt like a hurricane blew me over. That goal invigorated the team though. Two to zero Guilderland.

I had an interception. I was dashing down the sideline while a beanstalk of a kid was beating me like a dead horse. I stopped to get seperation and scanned the field. I passed, but I got deflected by a long pole. I got the ground ball, and I went behind the goal and scanned the field once again. I saw the left side was open, and I sprinted towards it. I did a side-arm right under the crossbar. I subbed myself out because my arm hurt so bad. Six to four Guilderland.

The game was close to finishing, and the score was six to four Guilderland. There was a face-off, and I got the ball off a ground ball and bolted down the sideline. I shot and scored a no angle on the run top right corner. Seven to four final, Guilderland wins.

So if you ever think you are not good enough, don’t back down. That day I learned to always believe in myself and never think that I am too small or not strong enough. You should always believe in yourself. Never back down from a challenge.

 

 

 

 

-Lee W.