Reaching the top

by Ed Kalski
(Atlanta, Ga. USA)

I have learned that working hard, focusing on what I'm doing, and practicing a lot can produce some pretty remarkable results no matter what God has given a person to work with.

I was on the track team in high school. Throwing the discus was my event. Most people who throw the discus are large individuals. I wasn't. I weighed 175 lbs. my junior year. That's not small for someone in high school, but it was pretty small for a discus thrower.

I had fallen in love with throwing the discus at the age of 13. It seems silly saying that now that I'm 58, but that's what happen. As a junior, four years after first picking up a discus, I won the Georgia State Championship and set a school record.

Winning the state championship at 175 lbs. is not easy. I did it because I not only practiced after school with the rest of the track team, I also practiced on Saturdays and Sundays. I was able to do this because the coach saw my desire and gave me a discus to bring home. I threw it literally thousands of times.

By working so hard, I got that spinning motion that discus throwers use perfected beyond belief. I got every ounce of strength out of my body. Result - a school record and a state championship as a junior.

I know that my story is one of many stories used to illustrate how a person can master anything. But it's one thing to hear a story and another thing to live it. If you haven't already done so, I hope you develop your own mastery story.