As I joined the Water Polo team in high school, things got different. My teammates with their laughter made fun of me, because I had a different color skin than them. Last seconds of the game, “Ali, you get in” my coach had put me, sometimes last seconds of the game or no play time at all. That was my freshman year. With my teammates making racial comments of me and not being good enough in Water Polo. I faced two choices: to either give up or work hard and prove them wrong. Coming out of the classroom tired, I had a reason to show everyone of my teammates that we’re a team, we need to work as a team, and race shouldn’t divide us. Swimming breathless, and sometimes being blacked out, I pushed myself to the limit; worked on my technique and I was being able to improve myself, and although words of others tried to attack and slow me down, I let distraction to not distract me and work harder than ever in every morning, after school and Saturday practices. …show more content…
As season came to an end, student-athletes were being recognized for their hard work and talents. As awards being distributed to my teammates and the night was coming to an end, for the next award, my coach was describing one of his players, in which, based on his words, had worked harder and improved himself more than everyone else. Then he shouted, “I’m honored to give this award to Ali Najafi.” I won most prestigious award of the night, Most Valuable Player of the year for the Junior Varsity team. The award itself meant nothing for me, but I was just glad my coaches saw all of my sacrifices and hard works. Looking back to two choices that I had earlier, I felt strong and courageous that I didn’t give up and I was being able to succeed in both sports and