ENTRY 1 - A DIFFICULTY I FACED (To be marked)

ENTRY 1 - A DIFFICULTY I FACED (To be marked)

"He gallops behind, strikes the shuttlecock with all his might. What a smash and Prasith wins the point and the championship..." I am pretty skilled at badminton. I am a great badminton player in my school team. I could clearly visualise myself holding the glistening championship trophy in my hands, smirking at the losing player.

"Ring! Ring! Ring!" My irritating alarm clock screamed. All my dreams of being a championship winning badminton player had been a dream. How frustrating and saddening! I promised myself that I would make my dream a reality, by training extremely hard under a coach.

1 year later...

"Coach, can I rest now. I am exhausted. I cannot even move my limbs ..." See that. I've trained so hard now. I can't even walk. I think I can accomplish my dream of being a school player.

"Daddy, would you please send a letter to my CCA teacher, Mr Lee Boon Kee to change my CCA from soccer to badminton," I questioned politely.

"If it means achieving your goal, surely," he replied. "All right!" I yelled, acting like a dog with two tails.

My father sent a letter and he also rung the teacher up. I too did my part. I talked to the teacher in-charge of badminton and both the teachers asked me whether I had any experience in Primary School playing badminton. I replied in the negative as my Primary School did not offer badminton as a CCA, but I had a reason to cover up. I told the teachers proudly, "I am trained by an ex-national player for the last one year." Both teachers expressed surprise. I did not know what they were thinking!

In any case, they told me to attend the trials, which were for the Sec. 1 students. It was Thursday. The day of the long awaited badminton trials. There were two rounds. I made through the first round. The first round was pretty easy. We just had to stroke with the senior players.

It was a piece of cake for me. The second round was shortly later. I was called first. I had to play with a senior player. I was extremely nervous. I tried to be as confident as I could ...

"Bang! Zoom! Wham!" It was over. I had done my best and I knew I played well. The rest of the nervous students completed their turns. Now, it was time for the results. I think that my heart stopped beating at that time.

The teacher in-charge, Mr Johari announced the results. My name was not called. All Mr Johari had to say was that they did not need any Sec 2 students. "If they did not need any Sec. 2 students, why did they ask me to come for the trials in the first place." I was utterly disappointed. I felt shattered. I pinched myself to see if I wasn't dreaming. It was all real. It was done. I was not going to be in badminton. It was a big shock.

I staggered home and revealed the results to my parents. They were, however, not disappointed. They told me not to give up and to persevere and work hard.

I will continue to train under my coach and I will never give in because I know perververence and hard work will help me succeed in getting into the badminton school team.