又一次告诉我说，初一时让他去上足球队的决定，是他一生中最重要的决定。
我们住在白区，小学很小，同学基本上都是白人，学习上的竞争不是很激烈，儿子轻轻松松就拿了
个第一名，校长和老师都很宠爱她，鼻子翘到天上去了。 小学毕业时我们去巴黎玩，他小小年纪，
凡事都有主意， 对的和不对的他都要和你辩一辩。 批评了他几次，好像好一点， 不过我觉得还是
口服心不服。 夏天回来就上初一了，他妈妈给她报了一般的体育课， 不过哪是老弱病残上的， 但
凡厉害一点的男生，都去参加球队了。 我看到还有橄榄球队可以选， 就去鼓励他参加橄榄球队。
他当时有一点犹豫， 因为他没有什么体育天赋， 不过他还是同意去。在橄榄球队他碰到很多困难
和挑战， 但是小孩子可塑性强， 很快也就适应了。 参加球队之前， 他没有西裔和非裔的朋友，
也不知道怎么和他们相处。 没有和tough的男孩一起玩的经历， 完全是一个乖乖小男生， 除了学
习好一点， 别的什么也不行。三年的橄榄球经历让他心理上从男孩变成了男人。
下面是他去年申请大学时的一篇短文， 是他自己对这个经历的记录。
Describe the most difficult adversity you have faced, and describe how you dealt with it.
Please type. Limit your response to the space provided. (approx. 450 words)
“Tom, I’m proud of everything you’ve achieved so far. Graduating from Brooks Elementary
with the highest GPA is fantastic, but in order to grow up less one-sided, you need to
do something outside the classroom. I think you should get a schedule change to football,”
my dad advised. “But I’m terrible at sports!” I protested. “It’s because you never really tried!”
he replied. And that was the end of that discussion.
Before I knew it, I was already sweating underneath my helmet on a hot football field.
“HURRY UP!” Coach Wiles screamed. I was destroyed in my first practice. I couldn’t
catch a ball, run very fast, or tackle anyone. Rather, I was trucked and laid out left
and right. Football was like nothing I’d ever encountered before. In sixth grade, I
prided myself on my grades and held my head a little too high. On the football field,
none of my grades, spelling bee trophies, or Outstanding Student awards meant a thing.
It was distressing. For the first time, I felt worthless. Everyone around me was
stronger, taller, faster, and all around better. But I knew quitting wasn’t an option.
I wasn’t going to accept being a failure, even if I had no athletic talent. I decided
to make up for it in effort. Maybe my dad was right. Perhaps I really had never tried.
During practice, I’d run and tackle as hard as I could. My teammates helped me get over
my fear of being tackled. We’d take turns running into each other in increasing
intensities until we were full on ramming one another. It didn’t make me a star, but
their training helped tremendously. At home, I carefully illustrated every play and
memorized the various hand signals that represented them. On the weekends, I’d find my
teammates and we’d have our own scrimmages.
The first game of the season came around, and although we lost 16-14, Coach Wiles was proud of
us for the effort we put in. “There was only one kid that did exactly as he was supposed to every
single time,” he said. He looked at me and yelled “Wong.” Things started to look brighter.
Seventh grade football was a humbling experience for me. After years of looking down on my peers
with an upturned nose, I finally came to understand the harsh reality that academics was
not the only measure of a person’s worth. I never did become an A-team player, but in
the process I learned to value the abilities of others, accept that I’m not any better than my peers,
and work with others to reach goals that I alone cannot.
选择“Disable on www.wenxuecity.com”
选择“don't run on pages on this domain”
