1 . When I tried out for the football team during the summer before 9th grade, I never imagined how important this sport would become in my life. Football is a _____ sport, at times almost painful, and practices really _____ a team’s physical and mental limits. Without trust in my own ability and a strong sense of commitment, I would never have managed to continue after years of hard work as a player, and with countless _____.

In the first year, I played on the defensive line. This was an amazing _____ that gave me a great sense of achievement. But in the last game of the season, I was seriously injured. I was prohibited from any physical activities for six months. After going _____ a series of physical treatments, I returned to the field as a team captain. I practiced harder than ever to make up for my _____ time.

In September, during my junior year, my name was mentioned in the local newspaper as the key defensive lineman on the team. After playing a fantastic season, I was given the _____ of the Most Valuable Player.

_____, my skills in football do not magically extend to other sports. During the winter break, I went on a snowboarding trip and seriously injured my right shoulder. I had to have four _____. Since I could not use my right arm for two months, I had to learn how to write and eat using my left hand.

______ life must go on. I knew that my own present efforts would decide my future, so I ______ the strict training program to build up strength and improve flexibility in my ______. After an eight-month recovery, I was back to the field playing football, the sport I ______.

In this sense, the world of football has taught me an important life lesson: ______ and commitment make what seems impossible ______. This lesson from football is the one that can be applied to every part of life.

I am thankful to this day that I signed up volunteering in this Special Olympics event. If I had missed the event, I would have missed one of the most unforgettable moments that I have ever _________.

Standing at the finish line, I was able to witness many amazing efforts and close races. I was most impressed by the effort each athlete put into his or her event. What also impressed me was the sincere _________ each athlete expressed while participating though sometimes the joy of participating in a sporting event can get _________ in the fierce competition of winning and losing.

Then an amazing moment happened right before my eyes. A group of athletes were _________ up to run a short race. One of them was in a wheelchair, a little girl with a _________ smile. The gun sounded. They were off. Runners sped up in the track with all their might. There she was, pumping her arms with all the _________ she had. Her efforts were getting little result, but that did not stop her. I noticed as she got closer that she also had an injured arm. But that did not stop this bright star. The race was long over _________ the young athlete kept pumping her arms. As she finally _________ the finish line, the noise of the crowd was thunderous. There I stood cheering, with tears falling down my cheeks.

After all these years, I can still hear those cheers. I grew up a lot that day because of the _________ of that little girl in the wheelchair. I was __________ that day of a poem from a book that states, “Whatever you do, do it with all your might.”

4 . Afel was only a very small boy when he first saw snow in a picture book. It had lots of pictures of children playing in big white fields. He asked, “Mum, what are those white fields?” His mother laughed, “That’s snow, and they are making a snowman!” She tried to _________ what snow was. Afel didn’t really understand because there was no real snow where he lived. But he showed great interest.

One day when he was 12, Afel was watching a programme on TV at his uncle’s house. The programme was full of snow. And not only snow-there were people flying across the snow. They looked like fantastic birds. They had hats covering all their heads and big goggles over their eyes. And on their feet, they had _________ shoes. “What are those?” he asked his uncle _________. “Skis,” replied his uncle. “And those people are called skiers.” At that moment, he _________ to be a skier. He asked his uncle what the programme was. “The Winter Olympics,”said his uncle. “It’s like the normal Olympics, but for _________ where you need snow- ski jumping, bobsleigh (长雪橇), those sorts of things. They have it every four years.”

Afel found out that the next Winter Olympics would be in Beijing, in 2022. “Perfect,” he thought. “Enough time for me to become a brilliant skier.” “But there’s no snow here!” people told him. “Where are you going to ski?” Afel _________ them. He made himself a pair of skis from two pieces of wood. He tied them to his feet and practised skiing _________ two sticks in his hands. He practised again and again until he could move quite quickly across the sand. He _________ to fly down the hills like the people on TV, but he couldn’t.

“Never mind,” he thought. “It’s a start.”

“How will you go to the Olympics?” People asked him. “Our country doesn’t _________ have a team that goes to the Winter Olympics. We have good runners and win lots of medals at the Olympics. But no skiing.” Afel didn’t care.

So every night, out in the middle of the desert, Afel now practices skiing down sand hills. He assumes that the yellow sand and brown earth are as gold as the medal he will bring home with him, when he is the __________.

5 . No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own _________.

I learned this lesson from an experience many years ago. I took the head coaching job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.

It was a tradition for the school's old team to play against the _________ team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn’t even practice to prepare for the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment, we were defeated. I couldn’t believe I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to realize that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were _________ me. I had to change my _________ about their ability and potential.

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little _________. Most importantly, I began to treat them like _______. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their vacations, we met every day and practiced passing and kicking the football.

Six months after suffering our defeat on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second and continued to improve. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a _________ for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn’t what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest _________ of my life!

From the experience, I learned a lot about how the attitude of the leader can affect the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and _________ them. I helped them to see themselves ____________, and they built themselves into winners.

Winners are made, not born.

6 . No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own efforts.

I learned this lesson when I took the head _________ job at a school in Georgia.

It was a tradition for the school’s old team to play against the new team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they even didn’t prepare for the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but disappointedly, we were defeated. I couldn’t _________ I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to _________ that my team might not be the number one team, but they were depending on me. I had to change my attitude about their ability and potential.

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little __________. Most important, I began to treat them like __________. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their vacations, we met every day and practiced.

Six months after suffering our defeat, we won our first game and our second, and continued to __________. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt it would be a _________ for us even if we lost the game. But my boys beat them, giving me one of the greatest _________ of my life!

From the experience I learned a lot about how the attitude of the leader can __________ the team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and encouraged them. I helped them to see themselves __________, and they built themselves into winners.

Winners are made, not born.

8 . Don’t Take the Fun Out of Youth Sports

When I joined a private football league a few years ago, the sport meant everything to me.

My coach said that I had lots of potential, and I became captain of my _________. That was before all the fun was taken out of _________. At first, everyone on the team got _________ playing time. Then the team moved up to the top division after winning all its games, and the _________ started. Some parents, who had paid the coach extra so their daughters could have _________ one-on-one training, got angry when she didn’t give them more playing time in our _________. The coach was _________ . The new coach, however, took all the fun out of the game: all we did during practice was _________. I always wished to God that it would rain so we would not have the _________. Of course, all teams run drills(操练); they are __________. But we ran so much that, afterwards, we had trouble __________. Younger people shouldn’t be doing exercises __________ for 18-year-olds. I was very thin __________ I started football, but as a member of this team I wouldn’t eat much, because I was afraid of being too __________ to run. I feared making mistakes, and the added pressure caused me to make more than my usual __________. Is all this pressure necessary?

I __________ up leaving the football team. Four other girls did the same, and two of them stopped playing football completely. That’s __________, because they had so much potential. They were just burned-out with all the pressure they felt from the coach or their parents. I continued playing football at school and __________ my love for it. I joined a private team coached by my school coach. When I started playing for him, he told me I needed to __________ because I looked nervous. After I __________ down, I played better. When you enjoy something, it’s a lot easier to do it well.

10 . Gidda’s Team

The door closed behind Malik, making Mama look up from the hot meal. “Just in time for dinner. Will you _____ Gidda, please?”

Gidda was staying in Malik’s bedroom. He didn’t _____ giving up his room for his 82-year-old grandmother at first. But then she didn’t leave. Malik _____ over her suitcase on the floor. “Sorry,” Gidda said. “I’m just a nuisance(讨厌的人) here. I’m _____” Malik didn’t answer as he helped her up from her chair.

At dinner, Mama asked Malik, “How’s your _____ with the coach?”

Malik was captain of school soccer team, and he had to discuss a fundraiser with the coach. They’d have to raise hundreds of dollars to _____ their old shirts, and that seemed unlikely unless Malik came up with a(n) _____ plan.

Unwillingly, Malik said, “It’s just team stuff.” Changing the _____, Malik turned to Gidda. “Do you want to go sit outside after dinner?”

Gidda agreed. In the soft warmth of the evening, Gidda settled herself beneath the enormous fig(无花果) tree. “Feels like home,” she said. But Malik _____, “It drops figs everywhere.” Right then, a fig landed on his head. Gidda laughed, picked it up, and took a _____. “Perfect. Pick me a bunch. I’ll make fig cakes.”

The next morning, Malik found Gidda making fig cakes in the kitchen. She offered him one. Malik, hoping it wasn’t too awful, put it in his mouth. His eyes _____ as he chewed. It was delicious. He eyed the tree in the backyard. How many fig cakes could it _____?

Malik grabbed his phone and started _____ in a rush of excitement. An hour later, most of the soccer team gathered in the kitchen, and ate up fig cakes.

“Gidda’s Fabulous(极好的) Fig Cakes!” Malik said. “We’ll _____ them! Gidda said they were easy to make; she’ll _____ us how.”

At dinner that night, Gidda shared their plan with Mama, smiling _____ as she repeated the title Malik gave on her, “Team Grandmother.”

The next day, the kitchen was full of _____. Walking slowly among the excited boys, Gidda taught them to make fig cakes. Soon the fig cakes piled up.

As Malik _____, Gidda’s Fabulous Fig Cakes were a huge hit and they were quickly sold out.

When the new _____ arrived just in time for the opening game, Coach Garcia invited Gidda to watch. She arrived early, and waved at Malik. Then she turned _____ to show off her shirt. On the back were the words Team Grandmother.