Mental toughness is a skill that comes with hard work and perseverance.

My experience with overcoming my mental block shaped the way I think about myself and my tennis game.

As an eighth grader, my mental game was at an all time low. It got to the point where I was known to give up after losing a couple of games. I stopped training altogether at one point, but that was only a temporary fix. After that, Natalie Lorentz, the previous tennis captain, helped to make that the low point.

As my skills developed and my attitude toward tennis became more confident throughout the year, I became less focused on my mental game.

I pushed myself to get better by playing four to eight hours every day in the summer. While this helped my racquet skills, my mental attitude still created difficulties in matches.

At that point, I realized in these matches although my strokes were there, my mental game put me at a disadvantage to others at my level.

This rude awakening gave me the determination to work harder, and by the end of freshman year my tennis and mental game was greatly improved.

At my first tournament I got to the finals and then lost to a girl that was the same skill level as me because my overconfidence got the better of me.

This tournament humbled me and made me realize that while I was still better than eighth grade me, I had a lot of hard work to do.

The next tournament, I played one of my best friends in the second round, who I had always admired. I ended up winning which gave me the biggest confidence boost I have ever experienced.

Throughout the season I held this win with me, and whenever I was getting down on myself I remembered the tournament where I beat the girl who I had looked up to since I was 12.

All it takes is one win, one second, to switch the feeling of hopelessness to resolve and create a mental game of steel.

By retraining my mind, I have achieved more than I ever imagined as a sophomore.

I still have a lot of work to do concerning my mental game, as well as my racquet skills, but that is all within my reach.