Craig and his friends were outside of Samuel’s house throwing a ball around. Craig loved playing outside with his friends, playing all sorts of games with balls, bats, and plenty of Nerf guns. Craig threw a tennis ball to his friend Greg when suddenly three kids pulled up to the yard on their shiny red bikes. It was the neighborhood bullies, well known for their rude behaviour and mean actions, especially towards Craig.

“Nice throw, loser!” yelled one of the bullies.

The other bullies laughed, then went off down the street. Samuel walked over to a saddened Craig.

“Dude, don’t let those jerks make you sad. You’ve got a mean throw!”

“Thanks, Samuel.” Craig said, smiling again.

“Hey, I just remembered! Me and Greg are joining the local soccer team. Wanna join with us?”

“I don't know,” said Craig. “I’ve never done it before, I don't know if I’ll be any good, I’ll just embarass myself..”

“No you won’t! Come on, it’ll be fun!” Pleaded Samuel.

Craig thought about it. He figured  it wouldn’t be all that bad. Infact, it he thought it would probably be quite fun!

“Oh, alright.” Craig said.

“Awesome!” Yelled Samuel. Let’s go talk to your mom about it!

Craig, Samuel, and Greg all headed inside to talk to Craig’s mom.

Craig hopped out of his mom’s car and headed over towards the field where he could see his friends practicing different moves. Samuel was practicing his kicks, while Greg was doing some dribbling drills, along with many other kids. Craig walked over and started practicing. He wasn’t very good, but he tried his best to follow along. In the end, he had a bit of fun, but some of the kids made fun of him. Craig wasn't all that confident in himself. He thought to himself;

“After playing today, and seeing how well all the other people play, I don’t think I’ll ever play as good as them. I don’t think I’ll be able to kick the ball and score goals like everyone else. This all looks so hard. And, all the mean kids pick on me after practice, just because I couldn’t kick the ball as good as other people. I can’t do any of this, I’m just going to give up and quit...”

Just then Samuel ran up to Craig.

“Hey did you have a good time?”

“Yeah. but I don't know if I can do this, all these kids seem really good, and I don’t know how to do anything”

“Craig, you can do this. Be confident, believe in yourself, dude!”

Craig looked up at Samuel and smiled. Samuel motioned for Craig to follow and they both started to walk home.