This I Believe

I believe that hard work and strong discipline can allow anyone to do anything that they set their mind to.

When I began my high school football career in the fall of 2004, I did not realize why I was working so hard. Not until two years later would I finally see what my goal was. My goal, our team’s goal, was to be the best team in the state and to be the first team to win a district championship in my high school’s history.

The process was tough: spring training, boot camp, and summer workouts. It was a yearlong commitment that only paid off in the fall. All of the sweat, pain, and long practices taught me that the hard work was definitely being put in to accomplish the goal. The efforts changed my life. Football consumed a large quantity of my time including most of my holidays. The sport taught me many aspects about life including time management, always giving your best effort, and most importantly, doing things the right way.

This long process reminded me of a speech that one of our coaches gave the team before one of our games: the story of the Arabian stallion. The story begins with seven of the world’s finest horses that all were training to be the King of Saudi Arabia’s horse. The horses endured a painful two weeks of training in the desert heat. All of the horses were well bred, strong and fast, but the king had one test to determine the character of the horses. The king personally trained the horses to stop and bow before him whenever he blew his whistle. The horses were corralled into a field without water or food and left in the orange heat for three days with a lake of blue, fresh water only a hundred feet away. The king released the horses after three days. As they sprinted furiously to the lake the king blew his whistle. Only one horse remained disciplined to his training. The white Arabian stallion came over to the king and bowed his head when the other six horses drank at the lake.

The speech directly applies to my life and football career. I have put in my efforts all year long for my senior season, and I have set my mind to our goals. I believe that this goal can be achieved because I, as well as my team, have set my mind to it. I believe that anyone with the commitment to effort can, and will achieve any personal goal.