The great Vince Lombardi once said, "It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up. Well, our team suffered defeat; and we were either going to feel sorry for ourselves, or we were going to man up and get back up. Our team, as well as me, learned a lot about ourselves that day that have stuck with us. In 2008, our baseball team, the Bayou Bombers, set foot on a mission. Our group of thirteen boys and four coaches traveled to Cooperstown, New York, to play in a baseball tournament of one hundred teams. Our team was the only Louisiana team playing in this tournament; however, we were the clear favorite to win it because of our talented players. Tournament announcers said things like, "This team should have no problem winning the tournament  and "This team is stacked with talent.  As a twelve-year-old adolescent, these words intimidated me. I felt like there was a huge knot in my stomach and was going to throw up. These words filled me with nervousness and pressure that I never thought of until our coach told us what the announcers were saying about our talented team. Then, our coach told us that we should block out all the distractions and play the same game that we have played our whole lives. The words "just have fun  from our coach lightened up the mood of the team and eased our minds, and we were ready to destroy any team that walked in our way of the championship. August 1st, 2008, finally came around; and the Bayou Bombers boarded the plane for a direct flight to Cooperstown, New York. As we departed the plane, all of our families waited for us to wish us the best of luck in the tournament. This also lightened the mood up for some of us because our parents told us that no matter what happens out there, they were still going to be proud of us. As a young twelve-year-old, those words encouraged me to just play and have fun out there, no matter the outcome. After we left the airport, we finally arrived to our room where the whole team stayed. The room reeked of wet, dirty socks, while the smell of mildew lingered throughout the bathroom. However, it did not matter because our team knew we were here to win and not for vacation. We settled in, unpacked all our belongings, and prepared to go to sleep. We knew that it was going to be a long week. The night passed, and I can clearly remember the 7:00 a.m. sirens going off. The loud, piercing sound just about woke up the entire city of New York. After the two minutes of obnoxious sirens, our team got dressed in the bright, red Cooperstown shirt that the host handed out to us. Finally, it was game time, and we were about to face our first opponent. We arrived to the damp, f