This is Emma. Emma is 11 years old and her favorite sport is soccer.
She’s loved it since she was just four years old. She can still remember what it was like at her first practice. She kicked the ball and even though she had no idea how to play, it still felt good to be out there.
She played rec ball as she grew older. Even though she has never been the best on the team,or started any of the games, she loved to play.
Her dream was to be on the select soccer team in her town. That’s all she thought about, day and night.
Tryouts were coming up in July. That was only 3 short months away. At first it just depressed her, but then she had a miraculous idea. She grabbed a paper and pencil and started planning.
Everyday of the week I will practice soccer for two hours. That is what she told herself, and she was determined. At first it was fun, but as the afternoons dragged on and the temperatures became hotter, the more difficult it became to keep to her schedule.
It was hard for Emma to not quit. Some days it was nearly a hundred degrees outside when she practiced. Sweat would be dripping off her and her face would hurt so badly from all the sun burns.
She tried practicing earlier in the morning when it wasn’t so hot. But, she HATED waking up early.
Then on top of that, her house was on a large hill. So that meant anytime she would miss the ball, it would roll down the hill, at a speed of lightning.
Then, by the time she caught up with the ball, it was already on the road. It was always scary for Emma. She was scared someone might not see her coming from behind all the and bushes, then all of a sudden; BAM they would hit her!
Despite all of these obstacles, she loved soccer and she did not give up. She knew what had to be done in order to be on the select team; they were the best, and everyone knew that. Emma knew if she wanted to be on the team she would have to practice every day, no matter what. 2 months later……. “Congratulations Emma Henderson! We’re looking forward to you playing on the select team this year!” “…I actually did it.” Emma whispered to only herself because it was her own perseverance that that made her dreams come true.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nadia Weaver is a student at Signal Mountain Middle High School. She enjoys swimming, running, and socializing. When it comes to writing, Nadia likes to write about realistic fiction. Nadia finds the most challenging part of writing to be creating realistic characters. When Nadia gets older, she hopes to be doing whatever makes her happy. Her advice for young and old writers is to keep on writing and inspiring other people to be creative!