Benjamin Pomerance
Age: 13
Stafford Middle School
Plattsburgh, New York

I remember the first time I began playing sports. I was in first grade, and not very interested in sports at the time. So my parents offered me a meal at one of my favorite restaurants, if I agreed to play soccer for two weeks. After the two weeks were up, I went to my parents and told them that I had earned my meal out. They refused to take me, because I was not trying to play my best. I was very angry with them, at the time, but I played for two more weeks. This time, I tried harder, and I actually discovered that playing sports was fun! After those two weeks were up, my parents did indeed take me out to eat, and the meal was tastier because I knew I had shown real effort, and I also had fun playing soccer.

Looking back on this experience, I realized that I had gained much more than just a meal in a restaurant. I had learned the valuable lesson that giving 100% to whatever you do often pays off. Even though I was not the star player on this team, I personally was rewarded for going out there and trying my hardest. By now, I have grown to love a great variety of different sports, and I try to do the very best that I can whenever I play.

Doing your best is not something that applies just to sports, but to everything that you do throughout your life. By trying my hardest at everything I do, I find that it makes me a happier and, often, more successful person. No matter what the outcome, I always feel more satisfied with myself when I give my best effort to something, rather than when I give something less than my best.

Sports have also taught me perseverance. In my "sports life," I have had many occasions when something didn't go quite the way I had hoped. Once, when I was playing Little League, our team had made it to the championship. We were losing by one run in the last inning. Our team had loaded the bases, with two outs. Guess who was next at bat? I worked the count to two balls and two strikes, and then swung and hit a solid lines to their shortstop. He made a great catch. I had never been so upset and humiliated in my life. I felt I had let the team down. All I wanted to do was to go home, and never play baseball again.

At first, I believed that quitting was the best solution. The team did not blame me for the loss, and supported my efforts. The very next spring, I was back out there on the baseball diamond. What was the outcome? That year, my team did win the championship, and I recorded the final out of the game at second base! I was thrilled, not just for me but for the whole team. I was also very glad that I had hung in there and had not quit.
I have observed that, when I persevere in any activity, the end result is better than if I had quit. This observation applies to school projects, homework, music, sports-in fact, it applies to anything that I do. Quitting is never satisfying or good feeling.

Finally, sports have taught me about humility. Humility is a very subtle value taught by sports, yet a very important one. Reading has always been a skill that has come easily to me. When I learned to read at age 3, I believed that everything else would also come that naturally and easily to me. However, when I began taking ice skating lessons the next year, I learned that everything in life did not come that naturally and easily. I took many hard falls before I could stand on my own skate-dressed feet.

Sports have always been something that I have to work harder at than academics or the theater. I have a great love and appreciation for sports, but I am not a natural star athlete. This is a very important thing for me to realize-that I do not have to be the best at everything. I can try my best, but I may not necessarily be the best. This teaches me that I am only a small part of a large team-the world. I have my own gifts and talents, and I need to learn to appreciate other people and their gifts and talents. I can enjoy, participate and be part of sporting activities, without being the star. I can even help someone else be the star.

Sports, in fact, are really small examples of the real world. I can help others, and let others help me. I can be the star of the learner. I can even be unsuccessful in some of my endeavors, yet still gain through effort and enjoyment. No matter what I do in my life, I should do it for enjoyment and to the best of my ability.

I am very thankful for the many opportunities I have had to play sports and learn these valuable lifelong lessons from participation in sports.