Siddhartha Travels to America

On a warm fall day on a Saturday, I was home working on college applications. I was filling in all the information about myself when I came to a section where I was lacking tremendously. This section was community service. I had not completed a single minute of community service. I had been concentrating on academics and athletics my whole high school career, but I forgot to help or care for others besides me. From there, I searched the internet to find something I could do as soon as possible and complete in the least amount of time. I came to this one opportunity that looked very interesting. It was a program that sent people from their home that they had always lived to a new place they have never seen before in order to experience new life. There was no cost and I thought this could give a strong advantage on my applications. I read further into the program to see if this would actually work for me. The person would come for a weekend, which would account for 72 hours of straight community appreciation. I then brought this to my parents and they were surprisingly over excited that I would take the initiative to help others. I then signed up for the program and it said I would get a letter in the mail containing the name of the person I would receive.
The letter came only a few days later and the name of the person went by the name of Siddhartha. He was from India and an older man. I went to the airport to pick him up on a Friday after school. I had a sign that read “Siddhartha” so he would know who I was. When his flight landed and the people exited the airplane I picked out Siddhartha in a heart beat. He was bald and wearing a loincloth as he was walking towards me. I thought to myself, “Wow, he does not get out much.” The intro of us went well. I learned a little about his life and honestly speaking, it was a little boring. I then informed him that he and my family would be taking a trip to my beach house in Newbury, MA up on the north shore. He showed no emotion as a reaction to what I just said but I wasn’t expecting much. I brought him home and introduced him to the family and everyone seemed to get along well. It also helped that he wasn’t much of a talker so it was not hard to get along with him. We then set off on our trip to my beach house and the ride took about 2 and a half hours. Everyone listened to music on the way up, while Siddhartha stared out the window the whole time observing his surroundings. He made one comment while on the ride saying, “There is so much life here and everyone looks like their in a rush. This is much different from my home.” When we arrived at the house I showed him around. It was very quiet and calm, which I knew he would enjoy. He walked around with a giant smile on his face. When everyone was settled he took himself down to our dock on the water and sat down for a few hours. The weather was beautiful. There were no clouds in the sky and a beautiful breeze swept through every once in awhile. Siddhartha sat on the dock and watched the boats go by as their wake sent a ripple effect to the dock, which swayed the dock back and forth multiple times. I brought him some water and replied, “This place is beautiful. It reminds me of my home and the river I have visited where there is much peace and quiet and I can just relax and just think. Thank you for bringing me here.” I was truly happy he was pleased. However, we were only at my house until the next day where we would leave around noon to head back home because my dad had work.
When we arrived home I was informed there was a basketball game around 7. I thought it might be a good idea to show Siddhartha what my life is really like and why the 6th man of South Hadley are the greatest fans ever. He agreed to attend this event; however, he had no idea what I was talking about. We arrived at the game and the 6th man was already loud as ever. I looked at him and he looked terrified. “I have never seen so many people at one time as loud as this. This is out of order and extremely disruptive.” I stared at him in puzzlement until he gave in and was fine with it. I could tell he was not happy. The game got underway and the fans went crazy. Siddhartha and I were sitting with my friends in the front row. I could tell Siddhartha was feeling the love as our team kept draining 3’s and holding their offense to minimal points. However, it got really close towards the end of the game and everyone was on their heals. The 6th man cheering was loud as they could hoping the home to team could pull away. I looked at Siddhartha, “we need your help to help us cheer. We have to be louder!”, I said
No, I can’t see myself doing that, Siddhartha responded.
Please! I need you to feel it. Feel the adrenaline. Feel the players. We are all a family and they need our help right now”, I pleaded.
Alright. I will for you Mr. Dickinson.
After he agreed, he started to cheer and it seemed to work because we won the game.
He experienced a lot that weekend. He was introduced to a whole new life and was reacquainted with a life that was similar to his. He was extremely happy when he left and said he wanted to come back every year. I happily agreed with him. Soon after he left I finished my applications and was pretty positive after that weekend I was a sure in to the college I wanted.

Heart of a Champion

It was the beginning of my junior year and we had a home match against Hampshire Regional High School. It was a league game and everyone was focused. The setting of this match was home to us, the South Hadley Tigers. We were not favored to win but that just gave us more of an incentive to play harder and with more determination.
At the beginning of the first half, I started the game at the sweeper position. The sweeper is the center defender and the last man back on the field. The sweeper is also known as the “the General” because they have the power to see the whole field so they can command their players into seizing their opponent. The game began with even possession on both sides. There were very few shots in the first half because the defense of both teams was exceptional. The half ended with the score remaining at 0-0. We then realized we had chance of at least getting a point against this very good team.
In the second half, however, did not begin so well. They scored within the first 10 minutes on a cross from the left flank. My team began to stare defeat right in the eyes. I motivated my teammates and told them that the game was not over and if we played hard we can equalize. The team got fired up and believed me when I said this. Hampshire had no shots for the next 20 minutes. With 5 minutes left to play, my coach decided to move me up to forward. I was excited and realized that coach is moving my position because he believed I could make a difference. I’m glad he did because the result was that I scored 1 minute later. It was one of the greatest feelings in soccer I ever had. I felt like I scored a goal in the world cup as the crowd was cheering and your coach is jumping up and down screaming for joy. It just feels great when your team runs up to you after the goal all at once and congratulates you and jumps on you. If I recall, I think I was tackled to the ground but I didn’t even care because we were not losing anymore.
The game ended 1-1. Even though we didn’t win, we would find out at the end of the season that Hampshire had an undefeated season and beat every team they faced except for us. We forced their only tie and were very proud of it. We played our hearts out on that day. The Hampshire Regional boy’s soccer team went on later to win the State Championship and obtain and undefeated season.