Sports have played an important role in my life ever since I was very young. My interest began early in life when my parents would take me to the Redskins, Renegades, and Braves games. I loved the excitement that I would feel when we went to watch these events, especially when the scores were close until the very end of the game. One of my most memorable moments was at the Junior National Championships, when I was fifteen years old and played on Team USA East. The July heat in Orlando, Florida was unbearable. It was the semi-final game in the National Championships. Sweat dripped off my nose as we skated onto the bench for the last period. "We need some points!  the coaches yelled. We were down by one point in the last period. I was taking the faceoff as my hands shook the stick back and forth on center ice. I was ready for this moment; this is why I stayed late after every practice; this is why I was the captain of the team; this was my moment. In the next few seconds, I had the chance to show my strength as a player and my ability to be a leader under pressure. As I was about to take the faceoff the coach screamed, "Trevor, make something happen like you always do. Let's go number 22!  That made me even more nervous, but now I was more determined than ever to win that puck. I knew that I had to find a way to lead my team to victory. All of my hard work and dedication should payoff now! The puck dropped, I won the drop back, and now my teammates have the puck. We are all skating up the ice, which feels like in slow motion. The puck is being passed around, it gets passed to me and I swing back and rip a slap shot right into the back of the net. My coaches and teammates all charged me because we had just won the semi-final game! "Trevor, way to give it your all! All of that hard work paid off in that shot. You're a great player and you have earned my respect.  I believe my strength gave me the ability to score that goal that day.