This I Believe

Belief in your abilities is something everyone should have. Whether it’s believing in yourself or others, you should always believe in everything you think and do. There was one time that I didn’t believe in something and it cost me. This past basketball season, I played for the GTCHS Warriors JV basketball team. We lost every game. My teammates and I might have won a game if we had believed in each other. The things I didn’t believe in were my shot and my teammates. I never thought that my shot would go in or that my teammates would or could help me.
After making the JV team, I practiced everyday because I wanted to start and improve my shot. Once I got into the first game, I didn’t believe that my shot would go in or that my teammates would help. Believing that my last game was a fluke didn’t help either, because the next four games we lost, and I played the same.
The next practice, my coach came to me and said, “You have no confidence.” I asked him what he meant. He then explained. In the next game, I scored 11 of our 18 points against Christ Church. But then, I went back to playing badly. With three games left in the season, we were set to play Landrum, the third best team in our conference. I told my teammates that we could beat them.
By halftime, we were down 25 to 12 and I hadn’t scored any points in the game. My coach entered the locker room in fury and told us all that we needed to start believing in ourselves. We entered the second half ready to play. With only five seconds left in the third quarter, we were down by five points. My teammate passed me the ball and with five seconds left, I shot and scored. The crowd went wild! We lost the game, but I went away feeling confident in myself and my teammates.
Our JV team this past season might have not been the best team, but we learned that belief in ourselves and in other’s abilities is something that we all need. I might be an athlete that has the skills, the work ethic, and the talent to be the next Michael Jordan, but it’s belief in myself and others that will get me where I want to be. Believing that I can climb a tall mountain and that my guide will prevent me from harm is the first step in succeeding that. Belief in anything I do will help me succeed.