The newfound team, now officially known as the Wildcats, started their basketball journey with a mix of eagerness and anxiety. The community center’s basketball court became their arena (竞技场), a place where failures were just stepping stones to success, and every dribble (运球), pass, and shot was a lesson in disguise.

Under Mr. Jordan’s guidance, practices became more than just learning how to play basketball; they were about discovering the strengths within and the power of unity. He had an approach to seeing the potential in every player.

One afternoon, as the team gathered around Mr. Jordan, he introduced a new drill that focused on passing and communication. “Basketball is a language,” he explained. “If you can’t communicate, you can’t win. This drill will help you understand each other without words. ”

The drill was a disaster at first. Passes went wrong, and frustration mounted. Jasmine’s quick passes were too swift for Mia, and Lucas’s attempts at humor during the drill only led to more confusion. Eli, ever the observer, noticed the tension and suggested a simple system of hand signals they had discussed in a previous practice. Gradually, the team began to find their rhythm, learning to anticipate each other’s moves and communicate more effectively.

It wasn’t just basketball skills that the Wildcats were developing; it was a sense of belonging and trust in one another. Each practice ended with a team gathering, where Mr. Jordan shared stories from his coaching days, emphasizing the lessons learned from losses more than wins.

In a small town located in the mountains, there was a young boy named Owen. He was crazy about basketball more than anything else in the world. He would spend hours every day practicing his dribbling (运球), shooting and passing. He dreamed of one day winning games on a team.

Owen’s town had a small basketball court that was often empty. Owen would go there every day after school to practice. One day, as he was shooting hoops (投篮), he heard a voice behind him, “Hey, kid! You’re pretty good!”

Owen turned around to see a tall man with a friendly smile. The man introduced himself as Coach Johnson and asked Owen if he wanted to join his basketball team. The team was made up of kids from all over the town, and they practiced every day after school.

Owen was overjoyed because he had never played on a team before. He wanted to start and win games. Owen quickly became the star player of the team.

However, the team never won a game. “I had trained so hard and performed excellently, but we were always losing! Jack should have run much faster towards me and Kris should have passed the ball to me!” Owen kept complaining to the coach.

The complaint seemed understandable! Owen was admired by his teammates because he was fast and had incredible shots. However, Johnson knew Owen lacked something important. He told Owen to learn to play with his teammates as a team instead of just focusing on himself. Owen didn’t quite understand that at first and insisted he just needed to practice harder to win games.

However, disaster struck. Owen injured his ankle one day and had to sit out for several weeks, which let him fall into anxiety. He felt his dream was slipping away.

During his recovery at home, Owen refused to see anyone on the team, except his coach. Johnson handed Owen a phone downloaded with some videos about the best basketball teams and some cards from Owen’s teammates.

Owen couldn’t wait to watch those videos.

After recovering, Owen returned to his team as a changed player.

Kids with cerebral palsy (脑瘫) join race.

Thanks to the efforts of some high school student athletes, who helped the physically challenged, the smiles on the faces of 9-year-old Lucas Myrick and 8-year-old Elsa Dent were a little bit brighter.

Lucas and Elsa had cerebral palsy (脑瘫), a condition that limited their physical ability, and couldn’t walk as fast as their peers who were free to walk everywhere. However, they had bright spirits and always held positive attitudes towards adversity and life in all aspects. Impressively, they participated in the Park Lane Elementary School’s annual Fun Run. They wanted to demonstrate that they could participate in the race as the normal kids at school. They were convinced that they could fight prejudice against the disabled in their own way.

When Lucas’ mother, Janell, mentioned their passion for the Fun Run to the athletic director of the school, he was more thanr delighted to assist them in taking part. At last, two members of the high school team showed up to push Lucas in his wheelchair. It was not just the football team that turned up to support the event. Members of the high school cross-country team (越野队) joined in the activity aimed to build up the strength physically and cultivate perseverance in face of difficulties mentally. They ran alongside Elsa who participated in the Fun Run using her walker.

The run was about 1.07 miles. But the athletes did much more than simply pushed Lucas in the Fun Run-they formed an emotional bond with him and even came up with a team name. “The team is called the wheelies!” Lucas said with a satisfied smile on his face. The players pushed Lucas at a steady pace and at the last part of the course, Lucas got out of his wheelchair to give running with his new friends a try. “I was beating one of them on my legs,” Lucas yelled at the top of his voice excitedly. “I was running ahead of him. he couldn’t even keep up with me!” Lucas wheeled himself proudly and gave the audience a triumphant (欢欣鼓舞) smile. He waved his hands wildly to cheer Elsa on.

When Lucas crossed the finish line, Elsa fell behind although she used her walker (助行器).

Elsa’s mother cheered her on and asked if she wanted to use her motorized (机动) chair instead of her walker to help her go faster but she declined.

Some kids play sports. They run hundreds of laps, and tackle, kick, or swing. Some kids do makeover parties. They pool their fashion magazines and organize their own spa hair salons. And some kids are computer geeks. Their programming ability is a thing of wonder.

Me? I had the spelling bee (拼字比赛). The bee was my World Series. And what happened during a Spelling Bee remained fresh in my memory.

I trained every day on my front steps after school, the dictionary pages rippling softly in the breeze. I formed a habit carrying around my buddies Longman, Webster, and Oxford.

As soon as I opened my eyes on Friday morning, I felt the hairs on my arm stand up. I glanced at my alarm clock—it was only 6:27. I usually woke up at 7:01, which meant I had an extra thirty-four minutes to study. Starting with the word “judgment” which I always spelt as “J-U-D-G-M-A-N-T”, I went over several words.

To calm my butterflies in my stomach, I reminded myself that I was one of the best spellers in my class. I was not ambitious enough to want to go to the Scripps National Spelling Bee or anything—I just wanted to win the bee at Meadowbrook Middle School, so that I could defeat my main enemy, Nathan Fortescue.

Nathan thought he was a better speller than I was, but he didn’t even study words. He just read tons of science and math books. Really, he wasn’t a speller at heart—he was a mathematician. Nathan and I had nothing in common except being good spellers, but since he was a good speller without even trying, it didn’t count. I bet if you gave Nathan a modern literature word like “denouement”, he’d be out on the first round.

The Spelling Bee wasn’t until after lunch, so all I did in the morning was stare at the clock and wondered how seconds could possibly pass by so slowly. I sneaked away from lunch early so I could get in a few extra minutes of study time.

As soon as I shut the classroom door behind me, I heard a voice.

“Now it’s time for the Spelling Bee!” Ms. Hawking said brightly.

The boiling hot sun beamed onto us as we walked out for the state-cup finals. The mix of excitement and nervousness created tension in the air as everyone walked out onto the football field. I could feel my heart pounding everywhere in my body as both teams lined up.

Starting midfield, like always. 90-minute game, like always. But this was the most extraordinary stage we’ve ever played on. All parents of us were invited to watch the match. As we got ready for kickoff, fear took over my body. Coach says confidence is the biggest part of the game, but for me, it’s my biggest enemy.

My thoughts were interrupted as the high-pitched whistle stabbed my ears, and the game began. The ball came straight to me. I drove forward, slipped around a defender (后卫), and lost it. On the very next play, I gave it straight away again. I could feel my confidence just seeping away. I told myself I wouldn’t lose it again.

“Come on, Aidan, keep the ball!” shouted Griffin, my teammate. It wasn’t mean or anything. We’ve known each other for years and played together for a long time. But it was not helping. I just played it safe next time and passed it back. Barely even on target, I was losing it. I could feel our coach, Caden’s eyes burning into the back of my head.

“Aidan, stay out wide on the start and get up that field. You’ve done it before, it’s coming to you on this kickoff. Use your speed.” once again shouted Griffin. But I didn’t feel fast enough. I felt like there were rocks tied to my ankles when I ran.

The whistle blew twice for halftime. The score was still 0-0. It was a bad game on our part, sun peeked through my hair into my eyes. My mouth was as dry as a desert.

“Are you OK?” Griffin passed me a bottle of water.

Exchanging a high-five with the coach, we walked back onto the field.

At Piedmont Middle School, a kid could run track or play tennis, but everyone wanted to be on the soccer team. Piedmont and the surrounding towns were pretty small, so instead of having separate girls and boys teams, each school had one team made up of both girls and boys. Laura had dreamed of earning glory for the team Los Halcones ever since the first grade when her older brother Toni won in the county middle school championship. Now he was away at college on a soccer scholarship. The day she joined the team as a sixth-grader, she felt like she could fly.

But, unfortunately, her joy didn’t last. She spent most of the season on the bench.

Walking to the car after the last game of the season, Laura tried to smile at her mother. Having spent yet another game sitting on the bench, Laura hadn’t even broken a sweat. “Well, at least you don’t have to wash my uniform,” she joked, but she could feel tears in her eyes. Her mother said, “You still have chances. Don’t lose heart. Toni once made the same mistake. And now you can watch soccer videos to learn more skills when sitting there.” Laura could only shake her head.

Lying in bed that night, Laura thought back to her first game, the day of her huge mistake.

“Pass, pass, pass!”

“Clear that ball!”

Voices yelled from every side. Laura ran nervously in front of the goal (球门) as both teams rushed down the field. She knew the children in green were her teammates. Those in blue were on the other team. At that time, a boy on the opposing team had the ball when a battle for that ball broke out a few feet from her. Green and blue uniforms swirled (打转) around her, and Laura could barely keep track of the ball. Then, suddenly, it came her way!

“Laura, I’m open!” one of her teammates called from near the sideline. Then Laura kicked the ball.

But the ball went in the completely wrong direction!

Sitting on the bench for game after game, Laura decided to tell Toni that she wanted to quit.

My aunt Helen is an expert on baseball. She is the one who taught me how to play well either as a pitcher (投手) or a batter (击球手). Also, she has always kept me spellbound by her stories of playing baseball as a batter in the 1940s — she was really good at swinging the bat. I love listening to her baseball story over and over. She always says, “Go after what you want. Don’t be afraid of failing. That was exactly what I did when I was young.”

And this is how her story goes.

In 1943, she was one of the young women trying out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League which was created to entertain baseball fans because many of America’s young men were fighting in World War Ⅱ.

Aunt Helen had heard rumors that a team would play right in South Bend, Indiana. She dreamed of what it would be like to win a championship for her hometown! She imagined a large flag hanging at the baseball field, and on it the name Helen Baker would be there for all to see.

On the day of the tryouts, Aunt Helen played baseball for hours with many young women. For this new league, some of the rules were different from the rules for regular soft ball. They still used a standard soft ball, but the bases (垒) and pitcher’s mound (投球区土墩) were placed at longer distances, for example.

About a week later, Aunt Helen collected the mail and found an envelope with her name written in blue ink. The envelope was postmarked from Chicago, in which the letter was from the leaders of the girls’ baseball league! Wild with joy, Aunt Helen tore it open and learned that she had been invited to the league’s main tryouts!

But as the days went by, Aunt Helen became worried about traveling to Chicago. “What if I went all that way and failed?” She asked her father as usual, hesitation clear in her tone. When the day of the tryouts was drawing near, she was too afraid to go.

Paragraph 1: She locked herself in the bedroom for most of the day.

Paragraph 2: “Helen Baker!” Her name was called and it was her turn to try out.