Question Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn? Response “Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it. ” – Mia Hamm To me, failing is when you intentionally set a goal, are unable to achieve it, and consequently feel disappointed. This is one thing that all of us have faced, are facing, and will be facing for the rest of our lives.
We all have been failing for our whole life, yet at times we tend to ignore our failure, forget about it and move on without knowing that failure is not a catastrophic collapse, that once we encounter it we will not be able to get up and move on. It’s something we can learn from, and stop it happening again. Two years ago I was an exchange student in Utah. It was my first year in the United States, and my English wasn’t really strong back then so I found it extremely hard to make friends and fit in to the school community.
Luckily soccer was something I was totally into, and it’s what allowed me to blend in with others students easily. As the soccer season arrived, my friends told me to tryout for the varsity team. I was totally down as the fact that it is one of best chance I could ever get in order to be fitted with my friends, along with doing what I love to do. Thinking that soccer is somewhat activity that I do as regular basis, I thought I didn’t have to practice much to make it to varsity. However, I was totally wrong. I failed.
I was so focused thinking about how I would get in varsity and that I was totally ready for the try out. I was out of track. I missed practices. As it paid off, I didn’t make in on the team. This divested me to the ground. I started, then, blaming on every reason I came off with: coach wasn’t look up to me, they were so many people try out for the team, and that I wasn’t good enough. I couldn’t admit the failure was of my own makes. It took me years, Now, looking back into what I’ve done. I realized that it was entirely all my own fault.
It was because I wasn’t pushing myself hard enough. I was complacent in my own skills. At this moment I latch on to the fact that we all should be hard working of all times no matter how gifted you are. As today, I apply what I’ve learned from the soccer try out failure to not only in sport, but also in school, and when working up for something. If not because I didn’t practice hard enough, I would totally make it to the team. As Mia Hamm stated “What makes you better is how you react to it”- Mia Hamm.
