I used to watch her from my kitchen window, she seemed sosmall as she muscled her way through the crowd of boys on theplayground. The school was across the street from our homeand I would often watch the kids as they played during recess.A sea of children, and yet to me, she stood out from them all.
I remember the first day I saw her playing basketball. I watched in wonder as she ran circles aroundthe other kids. She managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net. The boysalways tried to stop her but no one could.
I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing alone. She would practice dribblingand shooting over and over again, sometimes until dark. One day I asked her why she practicedso much. She looked directly in my eyes and without a moment of hesitation she said, “I want togo to college. The only way I can go is if I get a scholarship. I like basketball. I decided that if I weregood enough, I would get a scholarship. I am going to play college basketball. I want to be thebest. My Daddy told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.” Then she smiled andran towards the court to recap the routine I had seen over and over again.
Well, I had to give it to her—she was determined. I watched her through those junior high yearsand into high school. Every week, she led her 4)varsity team to victory.
One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head cradled in her arms. I walked acrossthe street and sat down in the cool grass beside her. Quietly I asked what was wrong. “Oh,nothing,” came a soft reply. “I am just too short.” The coach told her that at 5’5” she wouldprobably never get to play for a top ranked team— much less offered a scholarship—so she shouldstop dreaming about college.
She was heartbroken and I felt my own throat tighten as I sensed her disappointment. I asked herif she had talked to her dad about it yet.
She lifted her head from her hands and told me that her father said those coaches were wrong.They just did not understand the power of a dream. He told her that if she really wanted to playfor a good college, if she truly wanted a scholarship, that nothing could stop her except one thing— her own attitude. He told her again, “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.”
The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she wasseen by a college recruiter. She was indeed offered a scholarship, a full ride, to a Division I, NCAAwomen’s basketball team. She was going to get the college education that she had dreamed ofand worked toward for all those years.
It’s true: If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.
