Test of Optimism

MY TEST OF OPTIMISM
I remember when I was younger, my mother read me the story “The Little Engine that Could”, before I would go to sleep. It was about a small train that was requested to pull a bigger train over a mountain, when larger trains refused to do so. Throughout the task, the train would say “I think I can, I think I can”. The optimism and the hard work that the train had always stuck with me, esp. during my senior year of high school football. No one believed that I would be the first person from my school to sign a football scholarship. This was my test of optimism and faith.
My school was not known for its football program, since they have only had one for three years. We were not very good; our record showed that. I played anyway, not because I wanted to, but because I had to. My basketball coach, who was also one of the football coaches, threatened me by saying “AJ, if you do not play football next year, then your basketball career here is over”. My mother said the same thing, so at that point I felt cornered. I had no choice but to play. My first year we finished with a record of 5-3, followed by a record of 1-8. So as the team got into the third season, my senior season, most people did not even take it as an opportunity to play football, it was more like torture. That is how I felt when I was pushed into playing football, but over those past two years the sport grew on me, and I noticed that I could go somewhere with this sport.
My senior year, as a team, was not good at all. We finished the year without a win (0-10). Players would give up throughout the season. They were not even worried about a win; they were just worried about making it through the season. For me, as an individual, I had an exceptional season, from a statistical point, but according to my coach I am “no where near being a college football player”.
My ex-coaches, my opponent’s coaches, and even my opponents themselves would tell me I was ready for the next level. I...