“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game’s winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

— Michael Jordan

Everyone fails sometimes, but that’s okay. You need to know how to fail in order to be able to succeed and do well. There are a lot of things you can do to help with that. In the middle of a sports game or competition you might have a terrible stomachache where you feel like you are going to vomit your guts out. Or you might have felt like you going to fall over because you have no energy. There are lots of ways to be a great athlete and be a healthier person. These are some that have helped me to achieve my goals and be healthier.

In sports you have to be a humble player and have good sportsmanship. If you win, please don’t celebrate in the other team’s face because you are being cocky and rude. People call this over-celebrating. If someone from the other team scores a point or goal or does anything well and then jumps up and down and screams and makes your team feel bad it’s just not cool. But, if you smile and high-five your teammates that’s okay.

I play for SOL, which is a soccer team, and it was a very foggy and cold morning in 2018 I was playing mid field. We lost the game and the other team was over-celebrating. They were jumping up and down cheering and it was annoying. Afterwards when we had to do the “good game” thing some of the girls on my soccer team weren’t high-fiving or saying good game to the other team. In this game neither our team nor the other team were showing good sportsmanship. Remember not every team can win everything but you have to accept that so don’t start balling and punching people when things didn’t go your way. You need to accept that you lost and think about how you can improve during practice so you can do well in your next game.

In sports you have to fuel your body with the right foods. Stack.com reports, “Because food is the body’s fuel, proper nutrition leads to better performance. Provide your body with the right nutrients, and you’ll be rewarded with higher energy, more muscle and faster recovery.” I know it’s hard to avoid sugary foods like cake or cookies. Healthy and nutritious foods give you more energy. If you don’t have a nutritious diet you don’t have enough energy to be your best. If I don’t eat healthy I won’t have enough nutrition to fuel my body so I can’t do well in sports. Imagine if you eat a whole cake and then go to soccer practice. Your stomach would be dying and you would feel like you were going to barf. In addition you would be really hyper at the beginning of the practice and by the end you would want to take a nap. I call that a sugar crash. It’s okay if you eat a cookie here and there but you can’t be eating a piece of cake everyday. I have been eating healthier lately and it has made me feel more energized, sleep better, and much more. Before, I was eating a bowl of ice cream at night and pretty much eating cereal, bread, and pasta. It is hard but since I have been doing it for about a month now I haven’t really been craving sugar!

You also have to get exercise when you’re not on the field. You don’t need to run 15 miles to get exercise. You should get at least 1 hour of exercise a day. There are many ways to get exercise like going on a walk with your family, dancing to your favorite song, walking your pet around the block, or pretty much anything where you are moving and generally not interacting with a screen. It’s just important to keep moving and being active. Exercise helps me feel energized and ready for the day.

In sports you have to make good choices. This means a lot of things. I can’t play in a basketball game if my ankle hurts because I know what could happen. Why would you sit out? You should sit out because if you don’t tell your coach that a part of your body is hurting, you can get injured, and playing on an injury will take even longer to recover. But if you do tell your coach it will take less time to recover and will be less painful. You can also be safe by using athletic tape to support an injury.

Also, if you’re injured you have to make good choices, you should do physical therapy. I broke my arm once and it was hard mentally and physically. It was hard mentally because I saw everyone do what I love while I was unable to participate. It was hard physically because I had to stay fit and eat healthy. I do gymnastics and I went to almost every practice and did conditioning for 3 hours. I did physical therapy to strengthen my arm to get back to gymnastics when I was injured.

Have you already been doing these things? Are you going to start doing these things? These things have made me and my brothers better athletes and has helped me be a healthier person. They have affected my life in a great way. Sports have taught me to also put my full effort into everything even if it’s not my favorite thing to do. Maybe you should try these to so you can be the best athlete you can be. With a perspective, I’m Kate.