Benjamin Beckas

Dr. Christie L. Daniels

WRA 110
January 27, 2015

During my first semester at Michigan State University I experienced failure. I had failed
my first test in CEM 141. My goal for my first semester was to 4.0 all my classes because I felt I
owed it to my parents after all the money they had paid for me to attend this University. Despite
my failure on the first test I knew I could achieve my goal of a 4.0 in my classes if I worked hard
and dedicated myself to it. I learned this from my freshman through sophomore year of high
school.

The spring of my freshman year in high school I tried out for the high school baseball
team. I made the junior varsity team and was put in the starting lineup for the first part of the
regular season. After some poor performances on the field I was moved out of the starting lineup
and to the bench. I then only came into games occasionally. After pitching, in one of the few
games I played in, I felt a strong pain in my elbow. Shortly after I received an MRI to see what
was causing the pain. The test revealed that I had fractured the growth plate in my elbow. The
diagnosis of the injury forced me to miss the rest of the high school season and the first few
games of the summer season. During the time I was sitting out games with the injury I gave
myself a goal. I told my dad my goal Im going to start on varsity next season.

After diagnosing the injury to my elbow I attended physical therapy sessions to help heal
my elbow. There I did light weight workouts and was stretched, iced, and heated to help heal my
elbow. My physical therapist informed me that the physical therapy sessions would not be
enough to prevent the injury from coming back if I were to play baseball again. As a result of
this news I joined Athletic Republic, which is a physical training program designed for
increasing the physical ability of athletes. The workouts were very intense. My trainer, Jordan
Sabourin, was a former pro basketball player, so he knew what workouts it takes to perform at
the highest level. He pushed me like a pro athlete. When the workouts got hard I would always
remember my goal and why I was doing this in the first place and that helped me push through
the tough workouts. On non-workout days I would go outside in the cold and throw the baseball
against my brick chimney. When I was out there throwing I would work on my form and
accuracy. Whenever I didnt want to be outside because it was too cold or I was too tired I would
think of the goal I set and push through just like the workouts. After my Athletic Republic
training was complete I did an evaluation that I had also taken before I started my training so I
could see the difference the training had made. The results showed that I was much faster,
stronger, and more flexible than I before I started the training. I then started my baseball training
which included pitching, batting, and fielding practice. I worked hard during the training sessions
and during them my goal never out of my mind. I did this right up until high school baseball
tryouts.

When baseball tryouts started I was assigned to the junior varsity tryouts. The system for
making the varsity team from junior varsity works like this. The first two days of tryouts the
junior varsity coach will evaluate the performance of the players and then will discuss with the

varsity coach some of the players that have the potential to play on varsity. The third day the
varsity coach will come to the junior varsity tryout to evaluate the junior varsity players. He then
takes a few players that he believes have the potential to play on varsity to the varsity tryout. The
fourth and fifth day the varsity coach does a final evaluation to decide if that player belongs on
varsity. The first three days of tryouts I gave my best effort. Another player and I were selected
to join the varsity tryout. During the few days of the varsity tryout I strived to be perfect. I
constantly reminded myself that this is what I worked hard for and not to throw it all away by
screwing it up. On the final day of tryouts the varsity coach informed me that I had made the
varsity team. When I received this news I was very happy and wanted to be satisfied with that
but I knew that the goal I set out to achieve was not complete. For the next few weeks before the
regular season I practiced with the same intensity I had in tryouts. I constantly thought about
how close I was to achieving my goal. On the day of the first game the starting lineup was posted
on the wall of the locker room. Right next the third base position I saw the name Benjamin
Beckas. From that moment on I have never doubted that hard work and dedication can achieve
something.

Knowing that hard work pays of is a great tool. With it I was able to 4.0 CEM 141
despite failing my first test. I pushed myself every morning to wake up early, so I could attend
the lecture of another professor that I preferred. The knowledge also helped me push through
long study hours a week before a test to make sure I did as well as I needed to succeed. Knowing
that hard work does pay will be very helpful in the future to help me do anything I desire to do.