In the book, The Game of Their Lives, the story’s plot revolves around overcoming the odds and doing the impossible. The book is an underdog story about how the United States Men’s National Soccer Team defeated the superpower, England, in the 1950 World Cup. It isf about how the little guy defeated the big guy. In the book, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team was a very poor team. The team roster was put together in a rush, and the players had little chemistry. The odds of them defeating the team expected to win the whole tournament, England, was near zero. Despite all the statistics, however, the United States National Men’s Soccer Team defied the odds and shocked the world and England. I myself have had an underdog experience in …show more content…
soccer, similar to that of the men’s national team at the time. My underdog story takes place over the time span of the whole soccer season. I was in seventh grade and soccer was really big in my school. I was the captain of the team and one of the best players. Unfortunately, we had a very rough previous season and were not looking forward to the new season. We felt like we had no chance against our competition and we did not want to be a laughing stock to the other schools. In addition, we had heard that we were getting a new coach and were nervous to see who it would be. When we finally found out who the coach would be we were upset. The new coach turned out to be the principal of the school. We all knew who he was, but we thought he was an old man who wouldn’t know how to properly coach us and manage the team. I remember going to my best friend and complaining that our principal was going to be worse than our previous coach and our season was already doomed. My friend agreed. The first day of practice, the principal introduced himself and we did a few drills and practiced, but I can recall going home that day and dreading the first game of the season. Before I knew it, the first game of the season came and we surprisingly won.
To my surprise we defeated the team. Winning the first game of the season sparked a burning passion in the team to win and become the best. Our desire and lust to be the underdogs was fueled by our atrocious previous season. Game after game, we defeated our opponents, and game after game we became stronger and stronger. We began to believe in ourselves and instead of dreading the games, we could think of nothing else. I realized that I was wrong about my initial thoughts about our new coach, and that I should not have judged him without giving him a chance. Soon, our confidence grew to the point where we wanted to win the championship. Off the field, we had our doubts. We convinced ourselves that we would not be able to qualify for the championship, based on our statistics from last season. On the field, however, our play style could not be defended against, and our skill was unmatched. Every game we gave it all we had because we had nothing to lose. We knew going into the games that it couldn’t be worse than the previous season. As a result, we began to play for fun, and by doing so we got into our rhythm. Soon enough, we qualified for the championship, and we were going to the semi-finals. Our opponents were no match for us, and we won the game. Next was the finals. It was all surreal at the time. We were the worst team, or thought to be at least. We had done horribly the previous season, and not a single one of us could have even dreamed of this happening, but it did. We went into the finals knowing that no matter what happens, we had a wonderful season and we all had fun. We knew that even if we lost, we would be happy because we had fun and it was a great run. Despite the odds, we won the finals. We were the champions. I remember the game ending and joy rushing through my body. We, the underdogs, had won the
championship. Looking back it now, I realize that our team was so strong because we no longer had anything to lose. We all knew that we were supposed to lose, very much like the United States’ men’s soccer team during the 1950 World Cup. We were the worst team and the worst team loses, that is just how it is. After hitting rock bottom the previous season, however, we went into every game with a fighting spirit. We weren’t afraid to lose anymore, because we had already done that. The only other thing left for us to do was win, and we sure did. We had our off games that shook our confidence, but in the end, like the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, we gave it our all and became the underdogs.
The Only Game, by Mike Lupica, is about a 6th grade boy named Jack that is very good at baseball. When the book starts out Jack and his old team mates are very excited that baseball season is just about to start up again. They all are out on the field explaining how it looks and smells so great. Then the day arrives that they had all been waiting for, tryouts. Jack explains how it is great to be back at it with his best friend Gus. After tryouts they found out who all made the team and it was basically the same team that they had last year. This year was supposed to be the year that they win the Little League World Series. They had all the offence and defense they needed to go all the way. Last year’s team made it to the World series
What seemed to be a very long and difficult game, the Worland High School Varsity Girls come through to winning the game against Powell. Still remaining number one in the 3A division in the state of Wyoming, Worland has put up a fight regarding their loss against Lander last year at state soccer in Jackson, Wyoming. Worland’s very first game of the season this year in 2014 was against Jackson. The defending state champions were demolished by the Warriors, and Jackson also did not score a single goal. Majority of the girls soccer players this year are very young, only three seniors are on the team this year. As observed on April 4, 2014, the Warriors went against a stronger team in their division, Powell. Not only does Powell have bigger, stronger, and faster girls, but they also started worrying the Warrior crowd after they had put two shots into the goal of the goal keeper. With the score 2-2 it became more and more intense in the crowd. Only about 10 minutes were left in the game, and like last year at state Worland did not want to go into overtime because if there was no goal after overtime match it would lead into penalty kicks. As horrifying as it is to have that kind of pressure within about 6 minutes left of the game a goal was finally made for the Warriors! The score was now 3-2, and Powell was not happy. As the head coach from Powell was jumping up and down saying that they have this game motivated his girls. However, Worland put up a fight and as close as it was Worland finishes off the game with a win. An evaluation of the game was indeed a struggle to write on; however, Anna Hepp will give me information from her perspective of the game along with the another senior, Yesie Herrera.
In the book Boys In the Boat, Daniel Brown tells the story of the U.S.’s rowing team’s Olympic journey to gold in 1936. The games were held in Berlin, right under Hitler’s eye. Though the games were held in Berlin that didn’t stop Joe Rantz, the book’s main character, and his team from going for gold. The boys had to show perseverance and teamwork to even be able to row. From country boys, to gold medal winners, rowing and hardships helped them embody the American spirit of hard work and teamwork. The boys had to overcome hardships, to work hard, and they never stopped being a team in order to win gold in Berlin.
The book Head games is a fictional story written by Mariah Fredericks. The novel is about a girl who plays a game online and sometimes in the real world. She creates characters that she plays as in her head. One day she runs into the troublemaker who lives in her building, they discover they both played the same online game with the same group of people. The girl and boy make up their own game to play, they often meet up and play as certain characters.
The story explains that this particular team was a group of underdogs who were able to use an exhausting strategy against teams that were far more talented than them. Using this story as a reference, Malcolm was able to explain that in this situation, being an underdog can give an edge because the team was able to “try things no one else even dreamt of.” (37) The strategy used by this team was then contrasted with the fact that if a talented team were to have tried the full-court press strategy, they would not have the motivation to successfully execute the strategy. Furthermore, Gladwell contrasted ideas was by using the Big Fish - Little Pond Theory, which he used to look into the advantages and disadvantages of students attending very good colleges versus mediocre colleges. After looking closely into this theory, Gladwell was able to find that the “best students from mediocre schools” (87) happened to almost always be a “better bet than students from the very best schools.” (87) Simply, what this means is that while it might seem to be a good
Although pride can lead to beneficial outcomes, pride with the absence of empathy can lead to a devastating result. The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell shows that having too much pride and no empathy can get someone in some terrible trouble. The theme is proven by Rainsfords pride and unempathetic-ness, how the general had too much pride, and how the general only saw himself as the hunter, not the hunted.
Richard Connells “The Most Dangerous Game” is a short story which illustrates that calm analytical thinking can increase your odds of survival and controlling panic.
The first day we got there we had started off so wrong by arguing. We weren’t doing well and we argued most of the time. Us as a team, we honestly made ourselves look bad in front of the coordinators and other teams that were watching us. The coaches had given us a real big pep talking about sticking together as a team to make us better. Although we didn’t think we needed it, it actually
Entering my final season of AAU basketball I knew I had set myself up for a roller coaster of emotions, whether it was from the night of my first practice, the weekend of my first tournament, or my first time on the road with my new team. This was because a lot was on the line this season, and I strived to make this season my best, and most enjoyable. This is mostly because this was the final year getting the opportunity to put on my red and black jersey every tournament. It was my last season traveling around the country with my teammates every weekend with one goal, to win, and it was my last season to improve my skills all around, in an attempt to further my basketball career into college. During the first few practices I was nervous for how the season would go because I noticed my coach was a lot harder on me than he was to my teammates and I did not know how to take that at first.I was not used to to his coaching style of being loud, in your face, and tough, or his emphasis on "perfection" because on my past teams I was used to being the best person on the team, and my coach rarely had negative criticism for me, so I took his intense coaching style terribly.
Competition is a killer, in a way this story is killer, everything you'll learn in this book is killer. The story is about strategy, and mainly survival of the fittest. Richard Connell the author of “The Most Dangerous Game.” It's about a island called shipwreck island. Where a man named Rainsford a good skilled and trained hunter. Who was ready for anything. General Zaroff, a man who is quite hunter himself. But not in the way you would expect. Richard Connell uses mood/tone in his story “The Most Dangerous Game” to convey the theme of competition rarely enhances a person’s character.
Once again, the next year, I was on the All-Star team. This time we were all determined to stay in the tournament and win the championship. We started off lousy, though, making four errors in the first game and losing 4-0. We now had to win every game and beat the last team twice. We did defeat every team we went up against, including the team that beat us the first game, and once again ended up in the championship game.
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell, the setting is necessary for the plot to work. For example, there are rocks surrounding the island. The huge boulders keep people off of the island and trap General Zaroff’s prey on the island. Rainsford sees that, “jagged crags appeared to jut up into the opaqueness” (p.3). As Rainsford swims towards the rocks, after he fell overboard, he can see himself on the boulders before he can even get to them. He is anxious to get to land, not knowing what is in the near future. The boulders usually keep intruders out, but Rainsford is one persistent man. If someone sees the island with boulders surrounding it, they will not want to want to climb them to reach the island. Another
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, one major theme that is expressed throughout is the theme that animals have instincts, while humans have reasoning. Rainsford and his close friend, Whitney, hunt animals for sport. At one point, they argue with each other about whether or not animals have emotions. Rainsford does not agree with Whitey and believes that animals don’t have fear or feelings and are meant to be hunted. Whitney says with confidence in her voice, “‘Even so, I rather think they understand one thing--fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death. Nonsense,” laughed Rainsford”’ (Connell 1). Although Whitney and Rainsford hunt animals for entertainment, they both have different opinions on how animals react
In the classes, Coach provided the class with a safe and warm environment to learn, providing every scholar with an equal opportunity to succeed higher and higher above all society’s critics about students in New Orleans. We proved and continue to prove what people said were impossible, by our rapid growth. On the court other coaches look for skills, but not my coach. She looked for growth, she confidently believes in the idea of a no perfect team, there were always room for growth. Despite how many losses, the scores weren’t what mattered. Instead, it was about the growth and fight of never giving up until the buzzer went off at the end of every game. I was a part of a team that came from 0 wins from freshman year to having my team finally able to enter the playoff with just one more win to reach. My view of life began to change and evolved over time since
But rather than focusing on the game, he is more concentrated observing the fathers of the young players. While he sees excitement and pride on these men’s faces watching their sons playing, he also perceives frustration and helplessness. The narrator tries to presume that while they watch their sons playing, they are “Dreaming of heroes” they will never be. Through their sons, they live their fantasy of being sport celebrities. One can rationalize that since sport stars are considered idols, because of their economic and social success, these fathers imagine being in their position.