Perseverance
I believe in having perseverance to succeed in life. Perseverance is what keeps you going when no one and nothing else will.
When you climb Mount Everest or run a marathon, you are the only one keeping yourself going. In both of these cases you are doing one of the hardest things that a person will do in their life. When you get tired and feel like you cannot take another step your will and perseverance is the driving force that keeps you going. You tell yourself that you are too good to fail after all this work.
In football perseverance is especially important. When you are competing against another team you have to keep going a hundred percent for over and hour of extremely physical contact. When you are going against the guy on the other side of the ball you know that you have to beat him because you are better trained and you also know you have all your school and team pride on your shoulders. You have to push yourself until the end of the game. A good example of this was the LT vs. Carl Sandburg game this year. We had the game secured and we were driving down the field on offense, but then fumbled the ball giving Sandburg a chance to score and win. So they drove it to our eight yard line. With six seconds left they started a final play. Their quarterback scrambled out of the pocket broke to tackles and was about to score when he was stopped dead in his tracks at the 1 inch line, right before he scored. At that moment we were all tired but the defense realized that it was all up to them to keep fighting and win us the game.
For an athlete or any other person facing diversity, finally reaching their goal is the pinnacle of happiness for them. It is what they have put hours of blood, sweat, and tears into and it is their whole being thrown into one effort. Reaching this goal is what people spend sometimes their whole life reaching. That is why I believe that perseverance is key to success in life.