Overall, I believe golf is one of the best representations of life that we have on Earth. You can hit a perfect iron shot right at the flag and bang...hits the flag and ricochets into the pond next to the green. You're heated walking up to the green, before you drop another ball and skull your chip shot 20 yards over the green. That is, until it hits a tree and bounces back onto the green, 5 and a half feet from the cup. Of course I drained the putt. "Nice bogey," my buddy tells me. I chuckle. Golf is really unlike any other game on the planet, and that's why I believe it is undoubtedly the best game ever. Since a young age, I have struggled with controlling my anger. I was a very good athlete, but I could not keep my head about me, and it hurt. When I was young, I wouldn't play golf a lot, but when I did, I'd get very frustrated. My dad would tell me that as I got older, nobody would ever want to play golf with me if that's how I'm going to act. This was a hard pill to swallow as a young boy, but it got through to me at some point down the line. As a result of the beautiful game of golf, I now consider one of my biggest strengths to be my mental toughness, and not just in golf. I will be attending college next year to play basketball actually, but I can thank golf for so much of my success on the basketball court. Once you adopt a mindset similar to this, everything changes, and it did for me. Whether it was the practice green, the driving range, or the real golf course, I used it as an escape, and it helped me a lot. When I was down, the golf course became one of my favorite places to go to, and the peace it brought me was unbelievable. Golf is one of the most peaceful things you can do, if you choose for it to be peaceful. It can easily be one of the least peaceful things as well if you want it to be. But overall, the game of golf and the game of life have a lot of similarities and it has helped me a lot throughout my lifetime. Not everything is going to go your way, and it really is all about looking forward, doing something positive for yourself, and not dwelling on the past. Not worrying about things you cannot control is another amazing thing I adopted from the game of golf, and it really is one of the most true things ever. I will wait here for the rest of my life until I hear a good reason for why someone should worry about something they cannot control.

I would obviously go with Eleven first. Then, I'd go with Hopper. For my third, I'd choose Joyce. I think my reasoning for Eleven goes with saying, but I'll explain anyways. She is by far the strongest, most powerful, and by far the coolest character in the show, so she just has to be there (Also I have had the biggest crush on her since I was like 12). My reasoning for choosing Hopper is his bond with El. El and Hop are just an unstoppable duo and I can never see them apart. To be fair, Hopper is a Sheriff and one tough son of a gun, so those are great reasons to have him with me. As for Joyce, her motherly instincts are just too good to ignore. Her instincts and passion are truly one of a kind, and that's why I believe she would actually be a larger benefit than one of the kids; like Mike, Dustin, or Lucas. Overall, my squad of myself, Eleven, Sheriff Jim Hopper, and Joyce Byers would take down any supernatural that came our way. The combination of intelligence, power, strength, and experience make our squad nearly unstoppable, even in the upside down.

I had just turned eight, and it was only my second year playing football. I was the backup quarterback, so I was nothing special and only played a little. Then, week 3 rolled around. Our starting quarterback, an outstanding player, had suffered a concussion with only a few minutes left in the game, and he didn't look good. The main concern was his health, but everyone was a bit worried with the following week's game against the best team in the division looming large.  Being an eight-year-old kid, I didn't know what would happen or what that meant for me, but it didn't take long to find out. My dad sat me down and told me that the coach called and that I would be the starting quarterback for the big game. After he told me this, you could say I had lived one of the most nervous weeks of my life. The last thing I wanted to do was have all the eyes on me and have a good portion of the game on my shoulders, but there was no running from it.  As the starting quarterback, I went to practice that week and was extremely nervous about the upcoming game. My coaches and father helped me by calming me down and letting me know that I would be just fine. But, you know, that only sometimes does the trick. I had a good week of practice and felt prepared for the game, but when Sunday morning came around, and I was on the way to the game with my dad, all the emotions came with it. I was more nervous than I had ever been in my life, and I just wanted to go home. My dad gave me a long pep talk, and before I knew it, it was time to play.  It was a cold and rainy morning. Of course, right? Cold, wet, slippery conditions would not make this morning any easier. The game began, and I started well. I settled down quickly, and the nervousness left my head. After an ugly, low-scoring game because of the rain, we won 8 to 7. That may have been one of the most exciting moments in my athletic experience. Following that game, I discovered a newfound self-confidence that grew as I got older. If you fast forward to today, about ten years later, confidence is my biggest strength. In everything I do today, whether it be school, the sports I play, or a job interview, I am always confident in myself and my abilities. Confidence is one of the most essential qualities, no matter who you are or what you do. Although I understand many people struggle with confidence, I can thank a football game when I was eight years old for the time when I found confidence in myself. Since then, I have built up my confidence more and more, and I could not be more proud of myself and how far I have come.

To put it simply, basketball has meant everything to me since a very young age. When I was a kid, I traveled all over the US playing AAU against some of the best competition in the nation. However, when I turned about 9, I stopped growing. I was a 5'6 4th grader, dominating everyone for years. Then, when I stepped foot on high school campus as a freshman, I was 5'7. I was more skilled than everyone, but I was just too small. I barely got in the game. At the very tail end of my freshman season, Covid hit and I broke my thumb in the playoffs. I finished the game, but we lost and our season was over. And because of Covid, there was no AAU. I was devastated. I knew what I had to do is just put my head down and work, and the results will come. That's what I did, and I finally grew as well. I grew to 6'0 as a sophomore, and averaged 7 points a game. We only played an 8 game season because of Covid still, so it barely felt like a real season. I had a sophomore year AAU season, and that's when it clicked for me. I knew I was poised for a huge junior season. I grew a couple more inches, and entered my junior season at 6'2. After being predicted to finish 17th of 21 teams in NHIAA Division 2, our team jumped out to a 12-0 start, and I was leading the team in scoring. We ended up finishing the season 20-1, and state champions. I was the leading scorer in the championship game with 20 points, and ended up taking home NH All-State 3rd team. I had a great junion AAU season, winning multiple HoopGroup tournaments in Jersey and Pennsylvania. Ever since then, I have been doing my thing and working my tail off. Next year, I will be playing college basketball in the New England area, and I couldn't be more excited. Currently, I'm a senior at Hebron Academy in Hebron, Maine and am about to finish up my Post-Graduate year. At Souhegan High School in Amherst, NH, I was a 2021-22 State Champion, 2021-22 NH All-State 3rd Team, and 2022-23 NH All-State 1st Team. In 2023-24, I was an All-NEPSAC and All-MAISAD selection at Hebron Academy. It is safe to say basketball is my entire personality, and I wouldn't change a thing about it. The best game in the world has taught me everything I know and contributes to some of my best qualities. I look forward to my future in basketball and also my future in life because of everything the beautiful game of basketball taught me.

I had just turned 8, and it was only my second year playing football. I was the backup quarterback, so I wasn’t anything special and I didn’t play much. Then week 3 rolled around. Our starting quarterback, who was a very good player, had suffered a concussion with only a few minutes left in the game, and he didn’t look good. The main concern was his health, but with the following week's game against the best team in the division looming large, you could say everyone was a bit worried. Me being an 8 year old kid, I didn’t exactly know what was going to happen or what that meant for me, but it didn’t take long to find out. My dad sat me down and told me that the coach called and that I would be the starting quarterback for the big game. After he told me this you could say I lived one of the most nervous weeks of my life. The last thing I wanted to do was have all the eyes on me and have a good portion of the game on my shoulders, but there was no running from it. I went to practice that week as the starting quarterback, and was extremely nervous about the upcoming game. My coaches and my father helped me by calming me down and letting me know that I was gonna be just fine. But, you know, that does not always do the trick. I had a good week of practice and felt prepared for the game, but when Sunday morning came around and I was on the way to the game with my dad, all the emotions came with it. I was more nervous than I had ever been in my life and I just wanted to go home. My dad gave me a long pep talk, and before I knew it, it was time to go play. It was a cold and rainy morning. Of course, right? Cold, wet, slippery conditions was not going to make this morning any easier. The game began, and I started out well. I settled down quickly, and the nervousness left my head. After an ugly, low-scoring game because of the rain, we ended up winning 8 to 7. That may have been one of my most exciting moments in my athletic experience. Following that game, I discovered a newfound confidence in myself that began to grow and grow as I got older. If you fast forward to today, about 10 years later, I would say confidence is my biggest strength. In everything I do today, whether it be school, the sports I play, or a job interview, I am always confident in myself and my abilities. In my opinion, confidence is one of the most important qualities to have no matter who you are or what you do. Although I understand tons of people struggle with confidence, I can thank a football game when I was 8 years old for the time when I found confidence in myself. Since then, I have built up my confidence more and more, and I could not be more proud of myself and how far I have come.