When I was four, my seven-year-old brother received a baseball mitt (手套) for his birthday. Every night, as we went to sleep, I’d listen to him throwing a ball into the mitt over and over to soften the leather. I wanted a mitt so much that I almost cried. But, back then, girls didn’t play sports; they played with dolls.

Fast-forward twenty-six years. Now a thirty-year-old mother of three happened to see a notice in my local paper: “Women’s Slow-Pitch Softball League opens soon. Anyone interested, sign up at the recreation center.” I cut it out and set it on the kitchen counter. Could I ? After all these years? Was it even possible to think about playing baseball, a game I’d never actually played but had dreamed of playing my entire life? And I’d certainly watched enough Chicago Cubs games to know how the game was played.

I looked at that notice on my counter every day. I thought of a thousand reasons why I couldn’t play. But the idea of playing baseball stuck in my head and wouldn’t go away. Finally, I got up my courage and signed up at the recreation center. On the way home, I bought myself a mitt.

On Monday, heart pounding, I walked through the park filled with women of all ages practicing. It took me a while to find my team. They were all high-school girls, seventeen and eighteen years old!

The coach was not at all happy to see me. He had put together top athletes for his team, and he didn’t want some old lady messing things up.

That first day, he had me run bases. What that meant was I’d stand near home plate(本垒板)while one of the girls batted, and then I’d run as hard as I could to first base, trying to get there before they threw me out. I did this over and over and over. I never got a chance to bat or play the field. I just ran bases all night. The next morning, I could barely stand.

I was still feeling pain when I showed up to play the next week.

Having seen my determination, the coach changed his attitude toward me.

Different sports filled my days in my youth. I dreamed or a big win some day, with a big trophy (奖杯). I was skillful and fast, or so I thought. However, I soon learned my skills seemed quite weak because the bigger, stronger boys seemed to occupy every corner of the playground. Once I was in the 100-yard hurdles, the only recognition I received for my performance was two bloody knees.

In college, I took a swim competition, dreaming of the glory! It turned out I achieved nothing. As an older adult, I still maintained an active lifestyle. In 2010 I signed up for a stair-climbing challenge to raise money for fighting against lung cancer. My father had died of the same disease, so this was a meaningful cause for me. Then, in 2019,the organization offered an even more challenging climb option: the vertical (垂直的) mile. So I would have three hours to climb up and down twenty-eight floors fifteen times, plus three more.

I trained hard. When the challenge started. I felt confident. But soon my legs started feeling heavy. What was worse, I began experiencing leg cramps (抽筋). My progress slowed dramatically and I quickly fell behind. When came down after finishing lap 14, it was past the time limit, so my big win had escaped once again.

Soon after the climb, I struggled to experience the sense of self-satisfaction. And I had, after all, set a goal for myself to prove what I was made of, what I had inside me. And what I had inside me was, “Nice try, but you didn’t make it.” So, a year later, at age 62 and after numerous workouts, I was back. Like last year, I was well ahead after an hour and I again started feeling some discomfort in my legs. I heard myself cry out loud, “Oh, no not again!” I finally stopped and sat down on the stairs, feeling quite depressed and wondering if my dream was over. A few climbers stopped to offer help. I was touched, but embarrassed to accept. Except for one climber. An angel climber, really.

Jessica, who I happened to know, was a salesman’s friend when I bought new running shoes at his store. And without that connection, she might have climbed past me as I sat on those steps, my legs shaking. But all those things did happen, and Jessica stopped to help.

When she saw I was cramping, she offered me some sports drinks containing electrolytes (电解质).

The cramps in my legs finally started to go away.

The first time you give a speech is truly a special moment, a beginning of something special, and I will surely never forget the first time that I gave a speech.

As a kid, I was extremely shy and seldom said anything. When I was twelve and about to graduate from junior school, I remember that my teacher pulled me aside one day and told me to take part in an online speech. My first thought was that giving a speech didn’t sound like much fun, but finally I agreed.

As the morning neared 9:30 a.m., I sat in front of my laplop screen nervously. I clicked the link to join “Round One”, put my nerves aside, and smiled at the other faces on the screen as my name was called to perform. Slowly, I stood and began speaking. I could only think that the other participants felt as anxious as I did.

The Novice (新手) Speech Tournament is the first Speech and Debate competition of the year specifically for first-time competitors, and this year’s event took place on October 24. Speech Team Co-Captain Anna Sheehan, a seasoned speech leader, reported her Novice experience, “I remember leaving the competition even more excited to do speech because I had seen some great pieces and was eager to improve.” After experiencing Novice myself, I completely agreed!

Two Montrosians—Josie Marcucci and I—competed while Anna Sheehan and Lucy Stefani took part as judges. Although it took place online, the Montrose Speech Team did its best to follow the normal arrangement: At 8 a.m., we met in our virtual (虚拟的) team room for warmups to help cheer ourselves up before the big day. Next, we attended a meeting for some announcements (通告). Then, we were off to compete. In each of the three rounds, competitors had a chance to perform. In between rounds, we met as a team in our “room”. Before I took part, I went to my teacher for some practical help. And my teacher patted me on the back, smiling, “Calm down, and you will make it.”

The restlessness I felt that morning went away when I finished my first performance.

Following Anna and Lucy’s advice, I felt more confident for the third round.

Dave had loved basketball for as long as he could remember and he had never had a day without playing it. At primary school and junior high school he joined basketball clubs, attended training programs and watched basketball games, from which he learned the moves of the star players, wishing to play in a professional team like them and shine on the court.

Now as a senior high school student, however, his dream of becoming a professional player was dimming (变暗) because he was only of average height. He had to give up the hope of joining the school team. The guys on the school team were all tall boys who played matches and won honors for the school. They were like heroes. Dave watched them play and cheered them but he knew he would never be one of them.

Dave felt it a pity not to be tall enough, but this didn’t stop him from pouring his passion into basketball. He just played for the love of the sport. He played in the school gym with other boys or by himself every day, even during holidays and weekends, when it was open for two hours in the morning. He enjoyed every minute on the court making every effort to play better.

It was one Saturday morning. Dave was playing in the gym by himself, as all the other boys were busy with other weekend affairs. Then he noticed a tall boy approaching. It was Lankas. Everybody knows him as captain of the school basketball team. “Hi, Lankas,” Dave greeted him. “My name is Dave.” “Hi, Dave,” Lankas replied as he got closer. “Nice to see you here. Do you need an opponent to play against?” Dave was shocked, frozen right there, unable to believe his ears but somehow, he answered, “Why not?”

I’m glad to be here to say something about sports and health.