Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words approx.)
From the age of 6, I was trying to hit my first tennis strokes. I acquired a love to the sport and throughout my teenage years in Brazil I competed in junior tournaments. My goal was to become a professional tennis player.
When I was 17, my father sent me to a reputable tennis academy in Florida, United States, where world top young tennis players attended classes and practiced tennis for five hours a day. I spent one and a half years at the academy competing on national and international professional tournaments. After that, I accepted an offer to play for a college in the country’s top division.
I was determined to following the path to a professional tennis career. However, my first year in college proved to be extremely demanding physically and mentally to me. Therefore, in my case it was impossible to perform at high levels academically and athletically. I could not accept that I was not able to provide the results I knew I was capable of in my studies or at the court. So, decided to take a year off from tennis, since I did not feel that leaving the university was a wise choice. It was a very tough decision and a disappointment at some level, since tennis was a big part of my life. However, in school, I developed the same passion for business and opened my eyes to other areas of interest, such as arts. Finally, I set new goals for myself which I am pursuing with the determination of a world class athlete.