Portfolio
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Dominik Benger
Dedication
It was a cold November. Most people stay inside of their houses watching TV or hanging out
with their family. Dominik was a different type of person. You’ve never seen that type of
dedication like he dedicated his all free time, and even sleep to get better as a basketball player.
Dominik was a basketball player, and although he started to play ball pretty late when he was 14,
the passion to the game that he created soon became so important o him that he cared about
basketball more than girls. During the whole summer, he was working out in the weight room to
get better, and stronger, spending multiple hours per days on the court.
The season was approaching and the first official day of practice was here. Dominik was
ready; he was in perfect shape, probably in the shape of his life. On the day of practice, he came
first to the gym, just to get some extra shots. The practice started; the practice that will change
his life.
`Dominik caught a rebound at his end of the court, and instead of passing the ball to the
point guard; he decided to push the ball. In his mind he thought he had a while open lane to the
basket, but there were two players on him. Instead of stopping and pulling the ball back, he
decided to continue. Probably not a good idea at that point of time. One of his teammates tripped
him and Dominik “blew up his whole knee.” Now he is badly injured, and stocked with acl, Lcl,
Pcl and meniscus torn. He is frustrated; he can’t play basketball for 8 months as the recovery
starts soon. Surgery was already done, and now is the time to focus on rehabilitation and fixing
the knee.
Although he is frustrated and it hurts him that something is taken away from him, he
stays positive. He already decided what is going to happened. He will get back and he will be
stronger and better that before. He will play college basketball at high level and all the dreams
that he had, he will accomplish trough dedication that he will put in. he is motivated than ever
before, and he is doing everything that doctor said to get better because that is the only way to
accomplish the goals that he has.
Reading is the ability that nobody can take away from you
When I was a little kid, I was always fascinated with the people like my mother who
would read newspapers every morning. It always impressed me how she was enjoying doing that
each day, even when she didn't fell well. For example when she had flu, reading was something
that brought a smile to her face. Even though at first I wasn’t sure how she got that ability, I fall
in love immediately. The desire to learn how to read was more important to me than playing
video games, which was odd to my parents. Although skeptic to that idea at first, my mom
agreed that she will show me how to read.
It was not easy at the beginning, and it took a lot of work to learn the skill. I remember
once my mom and I were setting in the living room, watching television and she realized that
with sitting on the couch will not develop my reading skills, in order to create a motivation, she
promised me a surprise gift if I learn to read in two weeks. “ I will take you to the movies and we
can see any movie you want.” she said, and at the time I was really into Jimmy Neutron, an
animated movie about kid genius. I took a couple of minutes of serious thinking before I respond
“ I accept the challenge, but only if I can get large popcorn in the movies?” The response was, on
my happiness, “ yes.”However, it took me a month or so, before I was able to read. Sometimes I
was thinking about quitting; I had days when I just could not focus on accomplishing my mission
at all, and no mater how much I tried, I would finish the day thinking about the worst- that I am
going to fail. My mom was always cheering for me, and being supportive when I was struggling
to overcome reading barriers really helped me a lot. I didn't want to disappoint her, but show her
that I can finish something what I started. Although I didn’t not learn how to read in two weeks,
Mom was still proud of me, that she took me to the movies anyways.
The problem was that I did not always understand what I was reading. I would read a
passage not understanding what I just read at all, which was really frustrating fact. Mom told me
that is another ability that will come with more experience, and it cannot happened over night.
My dream was shuttered; I learned how to read but what is the point of that if I cannot
understand the author’s thoughts? I wanted to understand the author and realize how he feels
through his text. To be honest it took me a while to accomplish that, and I still did not end with
developing that skill. Every book that I read with help me to improve my reasoning and
understanding skills, so the process is ongoing.
Since then, every single article, book or even a passage, I try to read with fully
understanding and to get improvement out of it. Only with hard work and trying you will
improve, and that works with pretty much everything in life. However, for topics that I am not
very interested in, I takes me a while to really focus on the book and what does author has to say
to me. Sometimes I asked myself why is that so, but I really can't figure it out. On the flip-side,
books that are related to the topics that I am in favor of, like sports, are easy to read and
understand. I was always a sport type of person. When I read newspapers, sports section is
always first on my list, and the same thing goes for internet news portals. Sport is something that
is big part of my life, so I guess I understand why I prefer sport literature.
What do I mean by understand the book? When the reader is able to acknowledge all the
metaphors and ideas that author is trying to present, then in my opinion you and
erstand the book. That is what I am trying to do when I’m reading any type of literature.
However, I am fan of sports books, which in some sense are easier to read; there are not a lot of
metaphors, if any, and the ideas are not twisted like in drama books or similar. So far in my
lifetime, I had a chance to read all type of literature, from Shakespeare to Phil Jackson, and each
book gave me different experience on how to better understand the author’s thoughts.
From this essay I learned that I am really passionate about sport literature and that
reading about sports makes me happy. I kinda have a passion to work for sports magazine or
network house like ESPN, because I think my passion for it would give me a lot of motivation to
successfully accomplish every day assignments.
Budha chillin
Once upon a time, a little while ago, there was a world religions class and their “weird show.”
Students were learning about religion and what it means to their lives, but nobody was able to
come up with the definition for question what is freedom. Majority of class said that having
money mean to be free, and as soon as teacher heard that, she said “guys I have a nice poster
with Buddha on the motorcycle.”
Really good prompts
1. After realizing that you need egg to make all that delicious treats, you had to take your
chance on go to the store out in the blizzard. You got happy because you overcome your
fear of being outside during the blizzard, but 30 yd before the store, you slipped and fall
on your head. That left a permanent damage to your bran cells.
2. You realized that one skeleton has four arms, and you were really confused. Although
you were thinking to call security and tell them to fix that, you decided to leave it as it is,
thinking that it might be alien skeleton.
4. The person slaps me because I am a total failure. How was I able to get a D in a science
project, that is impossible. However, you turned back and kick the hit out of that person
tho.
6. Jane realized that Greg is a really messed up guy, so instead of listening to his cute
messages hop he loves her and all that crap, he decided to live it up and go party and get
crunk as hard as she can.
12. The girl finds out 3 different passports, and although worried a little bit, she was really
impressed by saying “wow”, this men is really smart, if he needs an extra passport, he
doesn’t have to go and get another, he already has one.”
Run or Gun
Some people say the world we live in is cruel, fulfilled with pain and suffer. Others
would say it is the best time to explore a lot of opportunities that can provide you with a so called
“good life.” “You just have to go by the rules and everything is going to be fine, and don’t
forget, you always have to be honest,” they would say, not realizing that it is easier to say than to
accomplish it. However, when it comes down to how much you want certain things, all the rules
don’t matter anymore; or at least some of them. Materialism is a very complex thing to
understand. Some people can use it as a motivation to work harder in order to earn more money
for them and/or on the flipside; well bank robberies, stealing, and even fighting is subconsciously
caused by materialism. Or maybe not; decision is yours.
In my neighborhood back home there was a kid name Bruno; at first sight you would
think a regular kid from the block. And he was; he was going to high school, he occasionally did
his homework and he was listening to his parents to some extent. Oh yea, and did I mention he
was hustling on the streets. Yea you heard it right. Realizing that his parents were not able to
provide him with everything he wants, he decided to sell weed. That was a year ago, and by then
he joined the big league; weed became no profitable for him, cocaine and ex were the shit. Soon,
he was getting that money by all means, which he spent on fancy clothes and gadgets. The
problem that occurred was not the police or feds, or some internal government agency, but even
worse; jealous kids who wanted to have money like him, and more less stuff that he had. The fact
that he was born with a scar on his face made the situation even worse. Bruno was not very
friendly, and whenever somebody got close to his heart, he would pull out some prank to scare
them away. Going to the school where he had 35 kids in the classroom did not make the situation
easier. Students would steal his ipods and clothes that he was carrying with him. To prevent
further problems he got a gun; Glock 9 millimeter with a full clip that he was carrying with him
to school. He was saying to himself “maybe I should quit the business, but the money is good,
hmm…. Nah, I’ll be fine, especially now when I have my nine with me.”
Although the thinking process was there, he was not enough mentally strong to quit his
every day job. One day after the school, Bruno was on his way to the block, or to say more
precisely, to his spot. Strapped up as always, and listening to his ipod, he did not have a clue
what is going to happen. In a second three guys surrounded him in a circle; and those guys were
not a joke; they looked like a former convicts with two of them having visible scars on their
faces. “Give us your backpack and that pair of J’s, I kinda like them,” one of the guys said.
Going through the decision in his mind, Bruno thought about run away somehow, but if he
wanted to be in the BIG LEAGUE, some stuff had to go down. He pulled his nine quickly and
aimed at the biggest guy. Bruno was surprised that neither of them got scared or ran away; they
stood there barely holding their smile. In a split of a second all three of them pulled out their
knifes and Bruno realized that having a gun maybe is not that good of an idea. The decision had
to be made; Run or Gun.
Dubrava
“Is he/she alive?” Most common question that people will ask you in my neighborhood. Either
you are future convict or an athlete. Since the money makes the world go around, people, and
especially teenagers would find funny ways to earn money fast; or maybe only funny to me?
They are going to school to earn money! To earn money if you know what I mean! Life is
sometimes not fair.
Life is unpredictable
Life is always unpredictable, and you never know what can happen the next day. People often
meet with the situations that change their opinion. It can be a simple commercial that you have
seen on television or event that can change your whole perception of life. Although I can say for
myself that once I start to believe in something, it's hard for me to change that thinking, the
situation that I faced with when I was 15 years old, changed my life and my way of looking at it.
When I was 15, I was still in Croatia and I was going to a public school that wasn't ideal
in terms of academics. Even though almost all my grades were A's, the only thing on my mind
was basketball. I was obsessed with basketball 24/7, and even during the night dreaming about it.
Me and my best friend Marko, who was 3 years older than me, shared the same dream; to
become a professional basketball player. In today's world a lot of times people judge others
based on their appearance. And that is what happened with me and Marko. When I was going to
school, I was dribbling basketball on my way, in order to improve my skills. Every lunch break
at my school I was spending at the nearest basketball court. People always thought I was a bad
student because of that habit. At the time Marko dropped high school, in order to pursue his
dream. The truth is he was a bad student just because he did not care about grades at all.
Considering him as my big brother, I was influenced by Marko a lot. He was the one who
showed me the passion for basketball and most importantly, hard work. However he did not use
his hard work attitude for academics.
Two months after he dropped from high school, he got hit by a car while he was on his
way to practice. He lost his left foot due the injury's that he suffered. His dream was crushed,
knowing that he was not able to play basketball anymore. Even worse, he did not finish high
school so in his eyes his life was ruined. After I heard what happened I felt terrible, like I
experienced the same thing. I couldn't believe that my best friend who had the same dream as me
is not able to accomplish that anymore. However, the thing that he did for me I will never forget.
After I visit him in hospital he told me that I should fully focus on school and my academics, and
that basketball should just be “a tool” to help me in life, because I don't want to end up like him.
At first I couldn't promise him that. However after realizing that my dream can be crushed by
some event like that at any point, I promised to him and to myself that I am going to mainly
focus on academics. Since then, I change my whole perception of life; that event change my
opinion about what matters in life, and what is going to help me succeed in it.
Wild card
I strongly believe that individuals personality can be a key factor that attracts people and makes
that individual more sociable among the community. In today's world, if a person is not able to
make friends because of its personality, most likely he is not going to be successful at his job. As
recent study at Harvard University showed, if your personality allows you to be sociable and
attract other people, there is 83 percent chance that you are going to be successful in life. A lot of
famous individuals embraced the statement “ personality is going to make you or break you,”
once said by Elvis Presley, realizing that for success they need more than a skill.
One of this famous individuals is the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael
Jordan. As a college player at the university of North Carolina, Michael was no very sociable. He
often got into a trouble because of his bad temper and personality that drag people away from
him. Once after his game, a fan asked him for autograph and instead of doing so, he spat on him
and cursed him. However realizing that his personality is going to prevent his long term success ,
he decided to change. 5 years after that incident, when he was already in the NBA, he was given
a “best personality” award, which is the one that the league gives every year to one player who
showed himself in the “bright light,” and the accomplishments was not just a coincidence; all of
the people who were nominated for the award, he was the one who received 96 percent of the
votes. All of his teammates once said that Michael 's personality is “something that improves
everybody's life, on and off the court.” he is truly the person whose personality helped him
achieve great things in life.
Although I am not famous, I had a similar experience like Michael Jordan. As a kid I was
always mad and angry for no reason and anytime somebody wanted to play with me I would start
a fight. During my 8th
grade I did not had close friends at all, and my group of friends did not
even existed. That was the time when I started to play basketball, and although I was very
talented, because of my temper I got kicked out of almost every other practice. Coach kept
telling me that I have to change my personality or I am not going to achieve anything. He even
mentioned that 90 percent of people with good personality succeed in life. Finally I realized that
with changing myself I am not going to achieve a lot, I spent following summer on fixing my
personality. When school started in the fall, people were surprised how much I changed. I was
not a angry guy anymore. My personality started to attracts people and soon I gain a group of
friends that were there always for me. Not to mention that I became one of the popular kids in
school, not for the things I did, but simply because of my improved personality.
Therefore, personality is something that can help you a lot in life; nobody can go through
it alone and by realizing that you can change you personality. Also, as I mentioned “personality
is going to make you or break you,”, and as soon as people realize that, their life is going to
become much better.
Another Wild Card
Basketball was always my first love, the sport that changed my life in a positive way. I would
use basketball to help me in my life; to get me from point A to point B. However, this
November, I injured my knee during basketball practice. At first it seemed as a minor injury, but
unfortunately I tore two ligaments in my knee: ACL and LCL. It required surgery to repair it
which I already had. At first I was depressed knowing that I am not going to able to play my
senior year season and be able to stand on the court with my teammates who had so much trust in
my. However, with the support of all my friends and school community I realized that this is just
another obstacle on the way to the top and final success. I started physical therapy, and although
at the beginning was painful and unpleasant, I came to the conclusion that I can and will come
back stronger and better than before. Hopefully one day I will use my story to help others with
similar problem and prove them that nothing is impossible.
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