College Essay

Gavin Miller

Have you ever put a lot of time into something and it just didn’t turn out the way you

wanted? Last summer, I spent a tremendous amount of time practicing and preparing for the

upcoming high school soccer season. I had a goal; the intent was to impress the coach as it

was my first season moving up to the varsity team. To meet my goal I attended all the practices

and training that I could. I knew that if I was determined, I could achieve my goal. One of my old

coaches always said, “hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”

After working hard all summer, I looked forward to the first game and getting to show off

my skills on the field. As the first game came along, I ended up sitting on the sideline the whole

game. I was frustrated because I put a lot of work in and didn't get any playing time. A few more

games passed and the same thing continued to happen. I decided to confront the coach. I

asked him how I could improve as a player. He told me he needed to see me work harder and

push myself at practice. I took his criticism to motivate me to do better. At practice the next day,

I did so much better than I ever have before and the coach seemed impressed with my skills. I

thought I would finally get a chance to play.

The next game came and nothing changed. Still no playing time. I found ways to stay

motivated and I pushed myself to do better and show him what I was capable of. My biggest

motivation was my passion for soccer. I had been playing soccer since I was a little kid and

wanted to keep getting better, no matter what it took. I continued to work and improve on the

field. I arrived to practice early to warm up and kick the ball around. Off the field, I watched

videos of our games to see what my teammates were doing well and what we were doing

wrong. I used what I learned to improve myself. A few games passed and the coach finally put

me in and I played most of the game. The coach told me I really impressed him.
 There were still games when I had to sit on the sideline but I never gave up. At the final

game of the season, the coach called me to go in. The game was tied with less than five

minutes left. I had to make sure I played my best. With seconds remaining on the clock, I stole

the ball from the opposing team and passed it up to my teammate. He shot the ball and ended

up scoring a goal at the buzzer. It felt great having assisted with the winning goal. It was one of

the most exciting soccer games I have played in. After the game, all my teammates told me,

“way to go,” and the coach was proud.

Looking back at the season, I had many moments where I was upset, but many exciting

and happy moments as well. During the season I had to learn how to always stay motivated

even If things were not going my way. I felt like I learned a lot of things about how to be a better

person and to not give up on my goals. My biggest takeaway from this experience was if

something is not going right, that doesnt mean to give up, it means to keep moving forward.