Our quarterback called the play, and the pass rush got through and sacked him instantly - for the second time. We’d entered this game doubting our ability to win, and it showed. 

Confidence is one of the most important things to have in life. If you are not confident, you have a lesser chance of succeeding. In that football game against New Canaan, we were not successful. In fact, we lost by 7 points.  Prior to this game, we were having a really good season; we only lost 1 game and that was to New Canaan in our first match-up. In every one of our match-ups, we had never beaten them, so when we went into that game, we thought we were going to lose, we weren't confident. We did lose and we were mad. We played horribly and took our first loss all because we went into the game lacking confidence. 

So when we went into the playoffs and it was time to play them once again, we knew what we wanted, but we didn’t know how to go in with confidence. We had talked about this for years, our chance to finally beat them. Our coach gave us a speech the night before the game, and it gave everyone chills, it was our time to beat them and avenge ourselves. That speech gave us more confidence in our ability to finally beat them. 

We played really well but it was still a back-and-forth game. Our confidence was definitely helping, but it still wasn’t easy. We went to OT, and on the 10-yard line we called a pass, our receiver caught the ball and we scored, we won the game. We played with confidence and like we were better than them, and we won. It felt great to finally beat them. 

To connect this to life, if I go into an interview say for a new school, or a job someday, and anything else really, even just talking to new people, if I am confident, it is way easier to succeed. Also, confidence establishes a good first impression. Even for this declamation, I know I needed to come into this with confidence so you would enjoy my story and hopefully understand the lesson. 

Before I started this past football season I wasn't as confident and sometimes doubted myself, but after our win, I understand how important it is to be confident in everything I do.