Brent Syvock

                                                                                      Brent Syvock                                                                                                                          English 1106                                                                                                                          February, 4 

Putting it On the Line 

            There have been many times where I have felt pressure.  I believe some pressure is important because it motivates you to do something.  Money is the cause of a lot of pressure and when money pressures you it is easy to be motivated.            It was last summer and I was in a paintball tournament in Menomonie, Wisconsin.  Once the whole team was there we realized that the person who was supposed to pay for our tournament didn’t and was out of state.  We were really in a bind considering we already drove to Wisconsin and paid for hotels.              At this point the man who runs the tournament offered us a deal.  Being one of the only top level teams there the promoter needed us to play for the benefit of the tournament. Realizing this he told us that if we were willing to put all of our gear including our paintball guns on the line he would let us play.  The guns themselves cost well over the price that they would cost us but we decided to play anyways because the cash prize that we could win would cover the cost of the tournament and then some.              Having all our gear on the line really put the pressure on because losing all my gear would result in the end of my paintball forever.  If I lose all my gear I can’t afford to by anymore.  This would be devastating to me.              We made it through the preliminary rounds without problem.  Then we played good enough in the semi-finals to make the finals.  It was in the finals when I felt the most pressure because these final games determined whether we got out gear back or not.  The finals was a best of seven between the two top teams.  The pressure only got worse as the finals proceeded because the games were close and both teams had three wins a piece.  Before the last game is when pressure was at its peak.  All that I could think about is the next two minutes determines my paintball future.  Once the game started the adrenaline took over and I no longer thought about losing my gun, instead, I could only think about winning the tournament.  As the game started, both teams lost a player.  As we were advancing down the field we shot two more players and only lost one.  At this point we have one more player then they do so we go for it.  Aaron makes a move down the left why I make a move down the right.  Aaron shot one of the remaining two before he was shot out.  Then both me and Marcus went and blasted the last guy to win the tournament.  We were very excited and relieved once that game was over.   Luckily we were able to pull off the win and save our gear. 

            Sports can put a lot of pressure on people.  That pressure may come from many different things like parents or peers but I’m not sure if any pressure is worse than cold hard cash.