I like playing tennis, badminton, basketball, pingpong, all kinds of ball games, ~except football. It is because most of the time it takes over twenty people chasing only one ball. And when you are waiting the ball from your teammate, he may pass to the other one, not you. The other situation, if I am the one to set a wall, you can only hold your body, not the ball. If you are a backup, you probably might not have a chance to hit the ball. And I don’t like those awful experiences.
Entrance test
Dear toastmasters and guests, Good evening. We can gain some insights from a book, movie, or a talk. But this times, I gain some insights from a ball.
Two weeks ago, the date of 6th of February, was the date of the entrance test for the Macau youngster football school. My 7 years old son has been waiting a long time for a ticket. The football court was full of crowd. On the one side, some young performers showed what they learnt from the school, on the other side, some parents were busy getting their kids to have some warm-ups, putting some clothes and gears.
The event was a big success. The atmosphere was exhilarating to my son, but not for me. It is because there were over 300 hundred kids getting into a long queue for this entrance test. It would at least last two hours, my daughter and I were sitting outside. After 1 hours, her drawing and ice cream were finished.
Parents time
At this moment, the emcee called out, “Hi, folks, we are glad to see so many kids and parents were gathering here. To have some excitements, now we prepare a game called “Hit Your Goal”. Every parent, as long as you kick in the goal, you will get a fabulous souvenir. Hurry up, hurry up! Limited souvenir.
Just do it vs just don’t do it
If you were me, would you join it?
No, I was so scared because I didn’t have any experiences and when people saw my outlook, they might think me as the famous football player, Cristiano Ronaldo. “Sorry, I am not always strong. I am just Macau Cristiano Samaldo, who just say more than do.”
I was standing still for a long time. Suddenly, my daughter asked me,
“Daddy, why are you standing here? Don’t waste your time. Do you still remember what you told me about NIKE’s slogan?”
Dear friends, what is the NIKE slogan? ~ JUST DO IT.
Yes, this is my favorite slogan I often encouraged to my daughter. But I really wanted to retaliate her at the same time. But, she was playing my mobile phone. It meant she at least had something to do but I haven’t. SO, I would rather shout up.
The hit the goal game seemed to be easy. The distance between the ball and the goal was around 8 meters. When the game almost began, the emcee announced, “Before we start, we are glad to have the former goalkeeper – Albert. Although he is only 10 years old, he is experienced and got so many championship. “
What? I didn’t realize that the goal included a goalkeeper. At this moment, there was no way to escape. Because it was a bunch of parents around me.
Why me?
What an amazing shot! The people in front of me easily got the souvenirs. Again and again. Then, the emcee stopped it and said,
“Our souvenirs are almost running out. Our goalkeeper was not as good as we expected. So, I rather replace our adult goalkeeper. “
“Wow, why me, why this moment?”
There were over one hundred kids and parents looking at me. My face kept smiling but my heart was beating. The goalkeeper could be intimidating. And I told myself,
“Where can I escape?
If it is not now, then when?
If it is not here, then where?
If it is not me, then who?
And I Just kick it no matter what. And I lost it, the goalkeeper caught the ball. But I was so happy that finally I didn’t escape.
Dear friends and guests,
For a computer keyboard, do you know that where is the escape button? It is on the top left hand corner. The button is very tiny, and people seldom press it, because it supposed that is a good choice.
Surely, we are not always strong. Facing a challenging sometimes can be daunting. Where can you escape? If we escaped now, the problem still exists and it may become bigger and bigger or finally it will swallow us in the near future.
My dear daughter really bombarded me – Just do it. Don’t waste your time. Dear friends, take a closer look, Hit Your Goal. The first letter of these three words - HYG are in the middle of every keyboard. Why, because the repetition for using HYG is high, is a must. Just in front of you. There is no way to escape, leave your comfort zone. Let’s Hit YOUR GOAL.