Vanguard Softball
Nominated by: Erika Hanley
Making a Champion
According to Merriam-Webster, a champion is a winner of first prize or first place in a competition or someone who shows marked superiority. Personally I believe being a champion takes so much more than a first place prize or even a win. In order to become a champion one must delve inside themselves and find what they believe will make them a champion whether it truly means winning a prize or accomplishing something as simple as hitting a homerun for the first time. I believe what makes a champion is not defined by winning a prize but rather by the exertion one puts forth and the heart in which they do it with. A champion is made by the smaller achievements they fulfill and whether they can set goals in order to achieve the status they wish to obtain as well as accomplishing these goals. Being a champion is not always about winning but instead about achieving what one feels is the right goal for them to achieve. What makes me a champion is that I set simple goals for myself to achieve and each time I accomplish a goal I feel as though I have won within myself.  I am not a champion because I have any remarkable achievements nor have I ever won first place, I am a champion because in my heart I believe I am a winner every time I work hard and put time and effort in whatever I do. And with that I have succeeded.
Many people are ignorant to what being a champion really means.  People only see the end result and fail to recognize that what has made a team or person successful is what they do behind the scenes and overall that makes them the champions they are. It would have been unlikely that the Green Bay Packers could not have won the 2011 Super Bowl without collective team work and multiple practices outside of the games nor would Rafael Nadal have won the 2010 Wimbledon Championship without practice and dedication as well. My point being that for both the Packers and Nadal, becoming champions included more than just the final game or match, however many people don?t see this. The end result is what is broadcasted and focused on but what is really important and what made them champions is the diminutive parts that went in to winning the final match. There are steps to becoming a champion much like there are steps to baking bread and each step is crucial and necessary. For example, yeast is needed in order to make bread rise as practice is needed to make an athlete more equipped. Without yeast the bread will fall and without practice the athlete is ill-prepared. A champion is ?baked? from the multiple steps they will take in order to achieve their goal and doing these steps efficiently.
As mentioned earlier, I believe that I myself am a champion because I have small goals in which I achieve that will help later in the future when the time is right for using what I have learned in a more competitive and important environment. It is crucial that I am successful in practice or outside of games so that when I am put into situations that have been performed in practice I would be able to carry out the situation well because I have done it successfully in practice. A champion is defined by the success they accomplish on the way to the bigger picture and I feel as if I am a champion because I have carried out my own personal goals for the benefit of myself and my team and I feel as I have been successful in everything I do, not based on what I have won. Material prizes and names aren?t what makes me a champion but rather what I think of myself and how I believe I did. What I believe has been said perfectly in a quote stated by Muhammad Ali: ?Champions are made from something deep inside them- a desire, a dream, a vision.?