Most of the time when you hear the story of an extraordinary athlete or genius, you usually infer that a lot of hard work and effort went into their success . In high school, I always thought that people who were excellent at something simply inherited it. They are born with genes. It wasn't until seventh grade that I realized that I wasn't the best because I hadn't put in the effort needed to be the best. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayWhen I was in the 11th grade, my school finally got a girls soccer team. I was ecstatic. I hadn't played soccer since I was a child, but I knew the sport well enough to be a moderate player. Immediately, I noticed who the star players would be, so I decided early on that I wouldn't be one of the elite players. At the end of the year I regretted how much time I had wasted envying better athletes instead of trying to improve myself. In fact, that entire year was almost a waste because of my self-degrading point of view. Seventh grade came and I didn't want to fall into the same habits and mentality. So when football came around, I decided I would do my best. So I started asking the coach questions about how to improve myself during and after training. I would go to the pitch before training to score some goals and improve my aim. I gave it everything I had and I remember the turning point where my hard work started to pay off. It was senior night, and although we would be playing many games afterward, it was the last home game of the season. We were facing a fairly good team, but one that we had already beaten before; so luckily I wasn't too nervous. I have always been afraid of trying to score, for fear of missing the goal. So most of the time, when the ball was passed to me, I passed it to someone else. But today was different; it was the turning point. Someone passed me the ball and I thought: it's the last home game, why not? I went towards the door in the midst of chaos: the girls were rushing to steal it from me, everyone present and their mothers shouted at me to move on; and I kicked it. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Unfortunately, what I had in mind was a super powerful kick that fell out of the goalies hands when she tried to catch it due to the sheer force with which it was coming at her. But that's not what happened. Let's just say my eleven year old sister could have kicked it harder than me. But, miraculously, he got in. I couldn't believe it! Then I scored two more times that night. After that match, I became the top scorer of that season. I just had to prove to myself that I could accomplish anything through determination and hard work.