Helen Keller once said, “All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.” This quote makes so much sense to me because I have suffered and I have overcome in certain situations. Many people set objectives for themselves, and obviously they want to have success in their missions. What I don't understand about a lot of people is when their goals are not achieved, they simply give up and stop trying. Although a number of people do not achieve what they wish to, the ones who do not give up become successful. I can confidently say that most people in the world who have found success in their lives, have had to persevere and had to work as hard as they can to reach their goals. I have targets set in my life and I have not accomplished some of them, but I have never given up. Hockey has given me heights to reach for and obstacles to overcome.
When I turned four years old, I first began skating. My mom had signed me up for  Snowplow Sam skating lessons, while my father never seemed fond of the concept of me playing hockey. My mom told me that whenever I got on the ice for skating lessons I would bawl my eyes out. I am so grateful that my parents kept signing me up for lessons. I imagine that my life would be very different today if I stopped playing hockey. Over the years in hockey I have had plenty of outstanding teams and with those teams comes phenomenal coaching. When I turned eight years old I started playing squirt hockey in the GTHA (Grand Traverse Hockey Association) house league. Although I played house hockey, I always felt that I could play at the next level which would be travel hockey.
In the eyes of house league hockey players, travel hockey players are considered to be more skilled at hockey than them (in most cases this is true). When I started playing hockey my fourth grade year, I decided to try out for the travel hockey team. In the season beforehand I had been an outstanding player in house hockey, I scored about seventy five goals and had around thirty assists in the forty games we played. At this point in my life I became quite confident in my abilities as a hockey player. Due to my success, I went into tryouts with a good attitude. During and after tryouts I felt that I played well and dominated, even against the players older than me! After tryouts we were told that the roster would be posted on the team website later that week, and excitement filled my body. The day had finally come and the rosters had been posted, I had my dad open up the webpage and he read off the roster. I heard many of my friend’s names called and I kept waiting to hear mine, but I didn't. I hadn't made the team and it devastated me.
    As a fourth grader I was not very emotionally stable, as I bet most kids at the age of nine would, I cried. I found myself very displeased with the selection of players because I felt that I seemed better than half of them. Obviously, I became very discouraged but I didn't let it stop me. That year I ended up on a team called the Embroid Me Eagles, and I went on a mission. I wanted to score at least 50 goals, get around 25 assists, and the biggest part of all, work hard enough to improve my skills and make the travel team next year. I am big believer in target setting and striving to reach them for this very reason; after I had made the objective, I worked as hard as possible and reached them, I even made the travel team the next year because of my perseverance. This comes to show that anyone can overcome any situation.
     Since fourth grade, I have been making objectives for myself and doing my best to accomplish them. I find it is a great way to stay on track, stay focused, and be the best you can be. In my life I have there has been an abundance of situations I have had to overcome, and I am proud to have pushed through them and become stronger. What I have overcome may not seem like a tragedy in the eyes of other people, but in my eyes it is what has shaped me out to be the person I am today.