It was early in the morning on the fifth day of summer. The crimson bright sun was shining off the

coffee brown paint in my bedroom walls. I got up out of bed and went to go wash my face. As i walked

out the restroom,my monster brother walked out of his room wearing black gym shorts and a red

muscle shirt on.

“Are you ready,” He asked with a drowsy voice showing that he just woke up

I was confused, i didn’t know what he was talking about so i asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Dude,” he looked at me as if i was dumb, “you have your first practice in half an hour.”

I completely forgot about football and jumped up liked a spring. I went to get ready, I

didn’t even respond to my brother.

You might be wondering why this was so important to me. You see i’m the youngest of three.I

have a brother who is 15 and a brother who is 18 and i am 14. My brothers are smart and athletic. As

for me, not so much. I am not the type of person to get straight A’s or the type of person who can run a

mile in 6 minutes but my brothers are. A lot of people expect me to be like them but i honestly don’t I

think i can live up to these expectations.

The first thing I did to try to prove that I was at least a little bit like my brothers was joining football. The

coach liked my brothers so he kinda knew who I was already. Football wasn’t as bad as I

thought it would be. For the first half of my summer, I had conditioning for football and it was going

pretty good but every once and awhile, I would mess up. I don’t like messing up because when i mess

up i would be hard on myself.

I never liked messing up. If I messed up I would tell myself you’re an embarrassment and you

are a loser. It could be something little I messed up on but i would feel like i am worthless like I can

never do anything right. No matter how much I failed or how much i doubted himself, I would never

quit. I would get right back up and try again.

But during the summer is when i realized i messed up bad. I saw my grades from 8th grade. I

had no A’s and no B’s. i had C’s and D’s. i felt weak when i saw those grades. My whole body was

numb. I told my family and they were not happy. My mom was angrier than a bull at a bullfight. She

even said she would take out of football if I didn’t bring my grades up but instead I got everything else

taken away from me. My room was an electronic ghost town.

After i had all my things taken away and school started. I started to study right after practice. I

didn’t even shower I went straight to studying. I would smell like sweat and i would look all beat up

with bruises scratches but that didn’t stop me. Then after a couple of weeks I looked at my grades and

saw that i am doing really good in my classes. Every test i had done so far was an A. Why was i

getting good grades? It was at that moment i realized was the little things that mattered.

I had to stop focusing on the big picture and i had to start paying close attention to the little

details. I was doing better in school because i focused on the little things like studying a little bit

everyday, moving to the front of my classes and doing homework. You can’t make a big house without

small bricks.

I started doing the little things in every aspect of my life. When I would go to football practice

I wouldn’t just focus on the tackle, I would focus on how to tackle and if i had to block i would focus

on the best way to block. Doing the little things like that made me a better football player.

I am a better person now that i focused on the little things. I don’t do a lot of things without

paying attention to the little details. I don’t messed up a lot anymore. I don’t think i am a screw up

anymore. I think i am a better person and i am living up to the expectations set by my brothers, friends,

and family.