Personal Narrative

Juggling

It seemed like I would never achieve my goal. It had been a goal of mine for years. I just couldn't seem to keep the stinking ball in the air. Yeah sure it looks easy but truth is it is really hard. You don't just kick the ball. You have to control it with the right mechanics. Starting this year in January I have been working on juggling for as much as I could and it showed. Pretty much every single practice I had increased my number of juggles. But I was still frustrated. When I got to 20 I just couldn't get out of that number. I was now like a person stuck in quick sand. Something in me knew that I had to increase my time practicing. Now  I was working as hard as ants trying to lift a block of wood. Obviously to get good at something you need repetition. That's how I started getting better. Before I was kind of streaky in getting outside and juggling. Yes I tried using a lot of my free time but no it wasn't enough. At this time of year I had more breaks in between practices and other sports activities. Now was my million dollar chance to take it and get to my goal. I was now outside almost every day, juggling for at least 15 minutes. 15 minutes a day is all I needed.

The day had come. I had to reach my goal right here right now. 5 minutes is all I had to get to the magic number of 100. First try, 25. Dang it!!! I wanted to get on the first try. Second try, 57. All right I’m getting there just keep going. Third try, 76. Yes!!! Just passed previous record. Now’s time to get the big boy number!! Fourth try, 85. Just one more chance. Let’s do this. This was my last chance to get it. I was sweating buckets, nervous that I would get so close then drop it. Here goes nothing! I just knew somehow I would do really good. All right 20 keep going. Now 40. Now 60. Now 80. Now 90. Then it happened. The worst possible thing in the world. I had dropped the ball at 96 juggles. Standing there stunned as ever I stared at the ball. I had just failed by 4 juggles!!! That’s it. Just 4. Now all I did was fall to my knees, devastated as the deadline had past. But little did I know I was about to get my absolute last chance. It wasn’t over!! Coach had given me another chance to prove that I could get 100. Now I made sure I showed that I could. As focused as a cat chasing a mouse I juggled up the numbers. 20,40,60,80,100…..100!!? I got it!! The ball was glued to the path it was bouncing. Same bounce every time off my foot. This absolutely excited me. But excited me too much as I dropped the ball at 122 juggles. But this time I didn’t care. I had just passed one of my personal “tests”. Coach was ecstatic and was beaming with joy as he congratulated me.

 As my mom drove me home they told me something. Something very important, A life lesson if that’s what.

“ I think you have taught yourself something today Jaeger,”

“What’s that?”

“Never give up on your dreams. Push yourself to achieve those goals.”

And that is what I had followed the whole time trying to juggle. I never gave up I kept pushing and pushing to get there. This is how I will accomplish my other sports goals. This is how I will accomplish my school goals. This is how I will accomplish my life.