This past summer I learned a very important life lesson. I will carry this lesson with me for the rest of my life. To tell this story accurately, I will have to rewind to the beginning of the summer.

I was really nervous because it was the first day of volleyball open gym. I could still tell you in detail how it felt to have my hand shaking so much I could barely serve the ball. I had been playing for two years, but now I was in the big leagues. I didn’t want to mess up in front of the upperclassmen, and I was so afraid that they would laugh at me. They never did, and they were always helpful!

I continued to go to open gyms, and I continued to work extremely hard. I can remember the sweat pouring down my face, the burning in my arms, and pushing my body to its limit. If you would have told me that at this time I would be running cross country, I would have laughed. I never expected not to play volleyball, and I figured it would always be a part of my life. It would always be a part of my life, just not the part of my life that I expected. I never would have guessed that playing volleyball would simply be a part of my past.

I can still remember exactly what I was doing when the coaches broke the news. We were in hit lines, spiking the balls. When all of the sudden one of the coaches asked me to put my ball in the cart and go into the locker room. So I did as I was told, and I went in the locker room and sat down. All I saw on the coaches’ faces was sorrow and pity.

Then I hear them say, “I’m sorry but you will not be playing on the team this year we had to cut you.”

I felt as if my whole world had flipped upside down. I was sad, and I cried for a long time. You could say I got knocked down.

Then the best thing that could have happened occurred. The cross country coach, coach Rush, walked up to me. When I told her the series of events that had occurred in the past fifteen minutes, she brought up running cross country, and she invited me to practice. So the next day I showed up, and I loved it!

The lesson that I learned from this experience is that it’s not how hard you get knocked down; the only thing that matters is how fast you get back up. This lesson is so important in life. Whether it be in school, at work, or just in everyday life, this lesson is important.

It could be that you didn’t pass a big math test; you have to get back up and study hard so you pass the next test. Or maybe you didn’t get the job that you applied for, and you really wanted it. You have to get back up and apply for more jobs.

This life lesson can be a very hard one to learn, or at least it was for me! The thing that you have to remember is to get back up quickly. You have to show the world that they can’t knock you out forever! No matter what’s going on in your life, you always have to remember to get back up, it’ll be worth it!