Sports mean everything to me. Ever since I was a little girl, it has shaped my personal and academic life in so many ways. I personally experienced how sports could really transcend so many barriers: language, culture, and religion. It is an important tool for cross-cultural understanding. When you are on the court, it really doesn’t matter which language you speak. The common language of sports is the most important one of them all. I have been running and playing volleyball since the age of 6.
Being involved with both an individual and a team sport gave me the opportunity to improve myself in different areas. For instance, running is much more of an individual sport and requires you to take a great deal of personal responsibility. If you lose, the only person you can blame is yourself. It taught me that if I fail, it is not necessarily because of someone else. It made me look at myself before trying to blame someone else for my failings. I remember the first time I officially participated in a running race; my heart was beating out of my chest.
I couldn’t stop staring at the finish line, 100 meters have never seemed so far away. My coach and my parents watching me in the tribune, I walked down to the starting line. As me and the other athletes were set in position, the starting commands were heard: ‘‘on your marks’’ and ‘’set’’. Right after the starter’s gun was fired, I started running. Even from the beginning I didn’t believe in myself and I ended up losing the race. Dealing with defeat for the first time was challenging; however, over the time I learned to accept the fact that losing is a part of playing sports.
I have learned confidence, as well as tolerance, through running. I used to get nervous to compete with strangers, because I thought they were all better than me and that I wouldn’t stand a chance against them. There are good days and bad days; an athlete cannot win all the time. Winning isn’t everything; nor is it the only thing, because losing builds character, people should play for the love and passion of the game and compete against each other to become better.
Through running, I learned to accept defeat in every aspect of life, to never give up. Defeat did not hold me back; conversely, it helped me to have faith in myself, to build self-confidence. Especially in life, there will be times when you will lose in situations. It is important to accept the loss and move on. The main idea in competitive situation is to do your best and if you lose, dust yourself off and try again. A respectable athlete must learn to never give up, “Try try try again,” is what my coach says.
