The school was across the street from our
home and I would often watch the kids as they played on the playground. She
seemed so small as she pushed her way 36 the
crowd of boys on the playground. She 37 from
them all. I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing 38 .
She would practice dribbling（运球）and shooting over and over again, sometimes until 39 .
One day I asked her 40 she practiced so
much. She looked 41 in my eyes and without a
moment of hesitation she said, “ I want to go to college. The only way I can
42 is to get a scholarship. I am going to play
college basketball. I want to be the best. My daddy told me if the dream is 43 enough,
the facts don’t count.”
Well, I had to give in to her—she was 44 .
One day, I saw her sitting in the grass, head 45 in
her arms. I walked toward her and 46 asked
what was the matter. “Oh, nothing,” came a soft reply, “ I am just too short.”
The coach told her that at her height she would probably 47 get
to play for a top ranked team, 48 offered
a scholarship. So she 49 stop dreaming
about college.
She was 50 and
I sensed her disappointment. I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it
yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They just did
not 51 the power of the dream. He told her 52 she
really wanted to pay for a good college, if she truly wanted a scholarship, 53 could
stop her except one thing---her own attitude. He told her again, “If the dream
is big enough, the facts don’t count.”
The next year, as she and her team went to
the Northern California Championship game, she was 54 by
a college recruiter(招聘人员). She was indeed offered a scholarship. She was going to get the
college education that she had 55 and
worked for all those years.
