A Moment In Your Life When You Took On A Great Challenge

1. Describe a moment in your life when you took on a great challenge. What was the outcome?

It was a rainy and windy day In Valladolid, where the Spanish Rugby Championship was being held. Thirty teams had managed to enter the tournament; the Spanish crème de la crème (including little ol’ me), but now only eight remained. The other seven had withered away like leaves on an autumn wind. The other team seemed ready; an orgy of feelings flooded the pitch: fear, excitement, and anxiety…

Our team, “David” stand in front of several “Goliaths” but that doesn’t make us back down but stand up, our opportunity has finally arrived, or better said, we have finally gained what we deserve. As we entered the pitch, eyes gouging our backs, eyes that underestimate, eyes that devour. We headed to the locker room, our war room, where we get ready for battle. I visualize some plays, review the codes and I think about my team, my brothers inside the field, who I will protect and fight for during the whole day, and they will do the same for me.

Our first battle started at 9am, against a northern team from Barcelona, nominated as the second favourites to win the tournament. Expectations were clear. Six more teams were watching, in the same way a predator looks at it´s prey. We are ready, we get off to the field, we went over some tactics and strategy, from this moment I hardly thought, I acted and made my body do what it has so long trained for.

It was like an avalanche, we were the smallest team on the tournament, but we were still in advantage as we weren’t just a team, we were a family and each one of us we were willing to sacrifice for any member of our family. This made the tough, strong and motivated rival, crush against an impenetrable wall formed by us. As the battle advanced, our enemies started to back away in fear, they’re moral abandoned them and now they were nothing but scared kittens in front of powerful wolves.

We classified for the next round, the four teams that lasted now knew what we were capable of, or they thought they knew. The next round was against the host, a strong team with a well-disserved reputation. The battle was hard, but no matter how hard they tried, there was no way of breaking our defence. It was the semi final and everybody was watching, although looks were no longer full of disdain but respect. The game was over, our enemies, destroyed, although we all knew that the great battle was still to arrive, this had only been a mere warm up.

CAU Valencia, the authentic goliath was waiting for us, to destroy us. They had no kind of difficulty burying they´re rivals on the previous games, and they were waiting to do the same with us. The battle started at 8pm, by my side, my brothers, who will fight and bleed for me, as I will do for them. Nothing mattered but the game, suddenly some memories came up to my mind: Training, having dinner together, partying, helping down syndrome children play rugby… no, I couldn’t give up, no matter how big and strong our rival was, I knew I was going to give all I had.

The game was a real battle: every tackle, a blow, and every move, a lightning. Our rivals were real titans, they were the biggest team on Spain, the doubled our size and strength, but we had much more power of will, and that’s more than anything.

The game finished. We lost. We fought with all that we had and we were proud of each other, we made a legend out of nothing. It was then when captain of the rival team came up to us offering the trophy, saying that we were the real champions of the tournament.

A small team, full of small people in size, had shown everybody what we were capable of. Yes, we didn’t win the tournament, we ended up second and we rejected the trophy as it was then who won, although everybody knows who the real champions are, and if not, we do. And that’s how people remember us, as real rugby players, fighters, and brothers.

A year separates this event from today, but nothing has changed between me and my comrades, we are still together, aiming to win the championship this year, where things have changed a lot, and we are no longer a small team formed by brave wolves, it is a brotherhood of starving lions.