Facilitators, ask your girls to find "Never stop being Amazing" in their books or read aloud here :
Never Let Anyone Stop You from being Amazing!!!
As a freshman sitting on the steps at my high school my heart was so heavy watching all the other girls trying out for the freshman soccer team. My confidence in myself was at the lowest point it had ever been. The problem had started when I started to hear other students some which happen to be my very own friends say “black girls do not play soccer” “soccer is a white girl sport “.
Those very words spoke loud into my spirit and instantly created doubt in myself like I had never experienced before. It created a conflict within in myself to choose if I wanted to defy the odds and go down on the field and show them that black girls can play soccer because I was one of them and could actually play very well, or give up on the only sport that I had played since I was 3 years old and absolutely loved. My stomach felt like it was in my shoes as I continued to watch my chance at making the soccer team fade away as the tryouts continued to go on without me.
Until all of a sudden I developed this feeling inside me that I would like to now describe as courage take over. I pulled my cell phone out of my book bag and decided to call my mother for some much need advice. Just hearing her voice instantly soothed my soul.
I remember telling her all about how I had been crying because I was so afraid of what everyone would say about me playing soccer and not being able to fit in because I played a sport that was not too familiar by others. I can also remember her exact words in telling me that “People are going to talk about you no matter if you’re doing good or bad things that’s just life baby so you might as well give them something good!!”
She then added how great of a soccer player I was and that if I tried out she would bet her last dollar that I would not only make the team but would be the star player!! You know that moms always have a way to make things better and it worked. I immediately ran to the locker room to put my soccer things on and ran back as fast as I could down to the tryouts.
I approached the coach and told him how I was afraid to follow my heart and tryout because of what others would say and admitted that I was being very foolish in my thinking. He made me feel so much better by welcoming me out to tryout and added that he had been watching me sitting on the top of the hill and was waiting patiently for me to finally make up in my mind to come down.
The coach had already heard that I was a good of a soccer player from the junior high coaches and was already very excited at the possibility of my addition to the team. He noticed when tryouts began that he didn’t see me out on the field but instead he saw me sitting up at the top of the hill. He had already assumed I had a personal dilemma I had to sort through but knew after I had it figured out the rest would be history.
So imagine that I had more people rooting for me to succeed than the few individuals that helped in created the initial doubt. I ended up trying out the 3days of tryouts and secured a starting position on the freshman team and a week later asked to move up to the junior varsity team. Look at God so what God has for you is for you.
Never be afraid or discouraged to reach your dreams.
You define you and your legacy is your story you create so make it a great one. It all starts with you!!
Never Let Anyone Stop You from being Amazing!!!
Written By: Rhonika Jones
Red Book Question Reading
What makes you feel amazing or worthy?
The catch is, they cannot use anything that is an accomplishment or has to be done. For example they cannot say, "I'm worthy because I make good grades" Instead, encourage them to dig deeper into WHO they are versus WHAT they have accomplished. This exercise is designed to challenge the girls to place their worth and value on the internal vs external. For example, "I am worthy because I am kind to myself and others" or "I am worthy because I don't give up on myself"
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