Benjamin "Jude" Segura II '19 Recruiting Profile

When faced with certain challenges, many people either crumble or rise up to the occasion. Whether it be repeated failures, or times when we feel like just giving up, there is no greater measurement of a person than when they show the courage to get back up after being knocked down. When it comes to my failures, I don't look at it as a negative, I'd rather think of them as a chance to better myself. I always like to commit my mind to the positive effects I get out of a failure in life.

One of my greatest encounters in life that dealt with failure was when I was a freshman in high school, on the varsity football team. Our season had begun with my team being demolished, and after that game we had doubts on what we could accomplish that year. No matter the outcome of the game at the end of the week, I always came with the mindset that we were going to turn the season around, day by day, we were going to keep pushing ourselves to the limit. As the season drove on, so did our work ethics. By the time it came to show what we were worth, we stepped up to the challenge, defeating our rivals in the state playoff semifinals and reaching the state championship game. Not knowing what to expect, we came into the title game a little on the edge, and with that one characteristic being our downfall, we took the loss but did not accept it.

Throughout the course of the next year, and entering my sophomore year, I knew I had to step it up even more in order for us to be successful. I had the drive to work even harder this year just because the failure my team and I had experienced the previous year. We took the season game by game, never looking ahead too far but always keeping the goal of a championship in the back of our minds. My teammates and I had made it back to the point where we were at just a year ago, but this time we were focused and prepared. Going into the game we were confident about ourselves, but we were up against a great team. We gave it our all on every single down, and in the end, still came up short.

After that game, there were doubts in my head and I was thinking if this was just an impossible task to complete. Even with all the doubts, I knew this couldn't be the destination. I brought my work ethic and leadership and lifted it up onto another level. I came in with the same mindset as last season, taking the season game by game with only one goal in my mind. With the season coming to a close; we again made it to the championship game. We weren't just ready, we were humbled, and we were not going to let this one slip from our fingertips. In the end, our drive, focus, and most importantly our ability to get back up from a knockout, was the thing we needed most in order to retrieve the goal of a championship.

Without the failures of the previous two seasons, I do not believe we would have attained what mattered most to us. I feel in order to get what you really want, you need to experience some sort of failure in your life. With the positive affects you get from a failure, and it being used in the right way, the only thing standing in the way is your work ethic and mental strength. Most importantly, you have to believe in yourself when others may not, or when you even have self- doubts. This mindset not only translated into a championship, but into a legacy that will never be forgotten.