“I knew this was my moment.”Loud roars of cheers can be heard, synchronized with  the strong adrenaline pumping in my veins. This is my moment, the moment I’ve been waiting for my whole life. More than 10,000 hours spent at the rink, I know I can nail it. My confidence shines through my nervousness and the cold crisp air of the arena welcomes me. Gliding gracefully across the glass like surface, I come to a stop. The crowd is now silent and all eyes are on me. I raise my arms and breathe a silent prayer. A soft tune flows out of the speakers, and the music and I become one. My momentum is ready and I prepare myself for the triple jump. Cheering, chanting, screaming, yelling, and I’m done. My hard work has paid off, I nailed it. I know that I couldn’t have been more proud in my life, to see that all that you have ever worked for, all your dreams and your goals to come true. I’ve made my country, my parents, and myself proud. I skate back to my coach, and wave to the crowd.  Everyone watches how I nail every move, turn, jump, and, spin there is.

But I know that it’s much harder than it looks. Hours and hours of practice spent each day. Missing hours of gossip, educational hours, and extra-curricular activities. There’s always sacrifices that have to be made. Doing something and sticking to it, is not easy. Waking up three hundred sixty five days a year, to dress up in my skating clothes and skates was not always something that I enjoyed. The pain, money and effort I spent would be remembered by the thousands of times I would fall, hurt myself, and cry in desperation. When I fell down, it was like no one was there to help me and support me. Everything was in my hands, I had to stand up again and learn to accept the failure. No one else was going to do it for me. The bruises, sprained ankles, broken hips, fractured bones, tears, sweat and blood all remind me of this difficult path I began when I was 7.  Success didn’t always come to me, I’ve experienced it first hand what it’s like to be at the bottom but also the peak of the mountain. I learned after all my failures that if I wanted to be the best, I had to work at it twice as hard as others did. I didn’t get to the top of the mountain sometimes, but what matters the most is the climb, the hard work and dedication. Isn’t trying the only thing that matters? Nothing in life is easy. You can’t wake up one day, announce you’re going to do something, and expect it to be a success. You have to put the time and energy, and whatever you’ve got. You have to want to do it, want it badly. I was taught to dream big and chase after them. If I didn’t, wouldn’t I fall short; it is never a failure to go after your goals with everything you got. I imagined, I dreamed, I planed, I reached. There were obstacles but with faith, hard work, confidence, trust in myself, and those around me, there are no boundaries. At last I believed.