I grew up in a poor family with nine children and my mother. We had little money and few goods, but plenty of1and attention. I understood that no matter how poor a person was, he or she could still 2 a dream.
My dream was to be a super sportsman. By the time I was, I could throw a ninety-mile-per-hour fastball and 3 anything moving on the baseball field. I was lucky to have my senior high school coach Jarvis, who not only believed in 4, but taught me how to believe in myself. One special event with my coach 5 my life forever.
It was the summer holiday in Senior Two and a friend offered me a summer 6. This meant a chance for pocket money, certainly, money for a new bike and the start of saving for a 7 for my mother. This job seemed exactly 8 I had expected and I didn't want to miss it.
Then I realized I would have to 9 summer baseball training for the summer job. I was afraid to tell my coach, but thinking of the money I could make 10 me to tell him.
After hearing my words, he was as 11 as I expected him to be. " You have your whole life to work," he said,"12 your playing days are limited. You can't afford to waste them. "
I stood before him with my head hanging, trying to tell him the reason.
"How much are you going to make at this job, my boy?" he asked,
"$3. 25 per hour," I replied.
"Well," he said. "Is $3. 25 an hour the 13 of a dream?"
That question made me 14 the difference between wanting something right now and having a long-term goal. I threw myself into baseball training that summer, and within the year I was offered a scholarship to the University of Arizona, where I could have higher education and more professional training. 15, I signed with a famous baseball team in 1984 for $1. 7 million, and bought my mother the house of my dream.
Live the moment but hold your dream forever.
