No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own_________.

I learned this lesson from a(n)_________many years ago. I took the head coaching job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.   

It was a tradition for the school’s old team to play against the_________team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn’t even practice to_________the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment we were defeated. I couldn’t_________ I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to   _________that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were _________me. I had to change my_________about their ability and potential.   

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little_________. Most important, I began to treat them like winners. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their__________, we met every day and__________passing and kicking the football.

Six months after suffering our defeat on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to__________. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a victory for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn’t what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest thrills of my life!   

From the experience I learned a lot about how the attitude of the leader can__________the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and__________them. I helped them to see themselves__________, and they built themselves into winners.

Winners are made, not born.

I had always been warmly praised for my basketball shooting ability when I was in high school. But when I went to Ohio State, I discovered that everyone on the team was ______ in his hometown.

To win a starting job on the team, I had figured I would have to ______ the coach with my shooting ability. But it turned out that the team was ______ full of attacking players and what it needed was someone to ______ on defence (防守). Unwillingly, I decided to take that role, but didn’t expect the ______ was to make all the difference to me later.

One day, when we were ______ a game against the Bucks, I was called out by the coach, Milwaukee, who gave me the ______ to guard our court (球场). Though feeling a bit ______, I accepted. Throughout the game, I continued playing the defence role.

Then, near the end of the game, in a(n) ______ to widen the score gap, Milwaukee gave me a precious ______. He asked me to organize an attack. Running to the center of the court, I ______the ball. It was a ______ three-point play and the championship was ours.

Standing there in that circle of cheering audience, I came to ______ the importance of teamwork. Just as Milwaukee said, “______ teams often have one or two players who stand out; good teams have five who work together. It is amazing what can be achieved when no one cares who gets the ______.”

“Have you ever considered giving up during a race?” a runner asked me during the Geneva Marathon. We’d _________ and keeping going felt like walking through a marsh (沼泽). Even the appealing scenery along the way wasn’t enough to _________ our spirits.

“I can’t think of a single race when I haven’t!” I answered _________. The runner beside me looked a little relived. Encouraged, I went on to _________ a few of the weak moments I’d overcome to persuade her to _________. My biggest _________ came during the first half of the 56-mile Marathon in South Africa, I told her. Running it was a _________ dream, but when I found myself on a steep hill with painful blisters (水疱) between my toes after a(n) _________ decision to wear no socks.

“If I give up now, I’ll _________ myself six hours of pain,” I continued. In that moment, 1,000 km of __________ training and the thousands of pounds I’d spent on flights and accommodation didn’t __________ at all.

__________, someone at my running club had laughed at the idea of a slow runner like me entering the marathon like this, and recalling this inspired me to keep moving.

“I may not finish this race before the 12-hour __________, but I’m not going to give that man the chance to say, “I told you so”, I said. Soon afterwards, I buddied up with another __________, a six-hour chat __________ and we got each other to the finish with 17 minutes to spare.