It was a regular, cold day in 2018. Except it wasn’t a regular day. I was preparing for a big match in the quarterfinals of a tennis tournament. I was up against a very tough opponent who I am very even with. After some jump roping and stretching, I felt ready to take on my opponent. Mid day, I drove over to Mountain Park Tennis Club where I would be playing my match. My opponent and I have been good friends and knew each other well. We had played each other twice.

The first time we played each other my opponent blew me to shreds. The second time we played the score was much closer. After a long, sweaty first set, I was losing. Feeling a little more confident in myself, I sat up ready for the second set. I played very well and ended up winning the second set. Since we split sets, we were taken into a dreaded tiebreaker. We each had three minutes of private coaching before the tiebreaker. After a very quick three minutes, we started the tiebreaker. It started out even but I eventually pulled ahead and won. So, because of my past results, I was very nervous for the match ahead. Finally, we were called onto the court to play. My parents told me a few encouraging words as a walked on. Once we were on the court I asked my opponent, “How are you feeling?”

He replied, “Ready to win.”

I thought to myself, “Well that’s intimidating.” After a ten minute warm up we started our match. After the first game I was down 1-0. I won the second and third game and the score became 2-1. About an hour later, I won the first set 6-4. I was very happy and felt confident in myself to win the match. Soon the second set started and I went was down 1-0. I thought to myself, “no big deal, I’ll just win the next game.” I lost the next game and began to get a little worried. The following three games went by like a quick breeze of air. I was down 5-0. At that point my opponent was thinking it would go into a tiebreaker and we would see what would happen from there. On the other hand, I was telling myself I could come back and win the second set 7-5. We played the next game and I won. The following six games flew by. I had won the second set 7-5 which meant I had won the match.

I was thrilled and could not believe I had done it. This story goes to show how anyone can persevere through tough situations. If I did not build up the strength to win the second set I probably would have lost the match. Perseverance can be used in any situation. Whether it is finishing homework, running a race, or reading a thousand page book.