The Word: Dream
The Definition: To imagine, to try for
Everyone has dreams. You have dreams. I have dreams. We all have dreams. Some dreams
are big. Some dreams are small. But, whether they are large or small, one thing is true about all
dreams – including yours. Dreams never come true unless the person who has the dream is
willing to pursue that dream. And, the more far-fetched this dream is, the more important it is
to be totally committed to pursuing the dream. Here’s a great example.
There’s a small town in South Georgia called Damascus. Only 245 people live in this town, and
there’s not even a stoplight there. There’s no movie theater, no Wal-Mart, no McDonald’s and
definitely no mall in this tiny town. As you can probably imagine, everybody knows everybody
in this town, and everybody knows everybody else’s business. That means if somebody messes
up and does something stupid in Damascus, everybody, and I mean everybody, hears about it,
knows about it, and talks about it.
On the other hand, if somebody from Damascus does something extraordinary or really amazing,
then everyone in town knows about that as well.
I said earlier that dreams only come true if you pursue them. You can’t just have a dream and
expect to sit around in your room and wait for that dream to come true. Dreams require action,
and action gets results.
I know a girl who grew up in that tiny little town of Damascus, Georgia. Her name is Lea
Henry, and when she was a kid, she had a dream – a big one. Some people think that kids from
small towns rarely succeed. That’s totally wrong. More successful people come from small
towns than from anywhere else in America. There were only 34 people in Lea Henry’s
graduating class – and only 140 students in the entire high school. That’s what I call small.
Speaking of small, when Lea Henry started high school, she was just a little over five feet tall.
Not that size has anything to do with success or anything to do with dreams coming true…
unless, of course, you have one of those far-fetched, long-shot dreams like Lea Henry had when
she was a kid.
Most people thought it was crazy, but Lea Henry’s dream, when she was your age, was to play
on the U.S. Olympic Basketball team. Can you believe it? How far-fetched can you get with a
dream? Are you kidding me? What was Lea Henry thinking anyway? She was just slightly over
five feet tall. She was living in tiny town, USA, and she wanted to play basketball in the
Olympics. What a joke!
If ever a dream sounded impossible, surely this was it – but not to Lea Henry. From the day
she first dreamed it, she never stopped believing it, but to most people, Lea’s dream was totally
ridiculous. Little girls from small towns in South Georgia who barely break the tape at five feet
tall don’t get to play basketball in the Olympics. Right?
I told you that Lea Henry grew up in a small town, but the truth is she really grew up in two
small towns. Probably, like a lot of you, Lea’s parents got a divorce when she was a kid, so she
had to shuttle back and forth between two different homes in two separate towns, Damascus and
Colquitt, Georgia. Not that Colquitt was much bigger than Damascus since it had no stoplight,
no movie theatre, no Wal-Mart, no McDonald’s and no mall either.
For many, divorce can devastate kids and destroy their hopes and dreams. For Lea, it only made
her more determined to follow her dream, to set her sight on the ultimate prize – the Olympics.
She never stopped believing because Lea Henry knew that you can’t make the long shots if
you don’t take the long shots.
Lea once told me that every night, as a kid, when her head hit the pillow, she would paint a
mental picture of herself achieving her dream. She would imagine herself actually playing for the
U.S. Olympic Team – wearing the Olympic uniform, making big shots, making great steals, and
playing awesome defense. In Lea’s dream, the crowd would be on their feet going crazy as the
U.S. Olympic Team ran up and down the court. In Lea’s mind, it wasn’t a matter of if her
dream would come true; it was simply a matter of when.
Seeing a dream come true in your mind while you’re lying in bed is one thing. Making it happen
in real life is a whole other deal. Lea’s dream was far-fetched, just like some of your dreams. A
lot of people tried to talk Lea out of pursuing her dream. Get ready because that’s going to
happen to you, too. A lot of your dreams will be too far-fetched for some people out there to
understand. If someone tries to talk you out of your dream because they think it’s a joke, don’t
worry about those people. They are the real joke.
Everybody you meet should support your dreams and encourage you to pursue those dreams –
not because every dream always come true, but rather because when you pursue your dreams,
other doors often open, and other opportunities present themselves.
Lea Henry did not let anyone talk her out of her dream. She made a decision to work harder at
her dream than anyone else in America, whether they lived in a small town or a big city – and
whether they were 5’2” or 6’4”. This was her dream, and she wasn’t going to let anyone steal it
from her.
Lea did everything she could do. She invested her time, her mind, and her body in her far-
fetched dream, and all of a sudden some amazing things began to happen. She got taller – a
whole two inches! She got faster. She got smarter.
As her high school years passed, Lea made the move from a good basketball player to a great
basketball player. All of a sudden, nobody seemed to care how big or small Lea Henry’s
hometown might have been. All of a sudden it didn’t seem to matter that Lea’s total graduating
class was a whopping 34 students.
Lea’s hard work, dedication, determination, commitment, and focus had finally paid off. She was
no longer the best basketball player just in Damascus, Georgia – population 245. After her
senior season, Lea was named to the Parade High School All-American Team, so now Lea was
one of the top 10 high school basketball players in the entire United States. The far-fetched
dream – the one that so many people laughed at – was starting to unfold.
The obvious next stop on Lea Henry’s dream journey was college basketball. She knew that all
along, and she also knew that she would never play basketball in college if she didn’t have the
grades to get into college and if she wasn’t totally prepared to do the work she would have to do
to stay in college. You see, the road to the Olympics was going to require two things – a good
athlete and a good student. Luckily, Lea Henry was both. When her window of opportunity
opened, Lea Henry was ready.
Her dream took 5’-4 ¾” Lea Henry to Knoxville, Tennessee. Why Knoxville, Tennessee? Well,
if you know anything about women’s college basketball, then you know that Knoxville,
Tennessee is the home of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols – one of the most successful
women’s college basketball programs in the country. Lea was recruited by Hall of Fame Coach
Pat Summitt to play basketball at Tennessee – one of the greatest honors any athlete could ever
hope for.
It’s important to remember, though, that just because you are a high school All-American, and
just because the greatest women’s basketball coach of all time wants you to play for her college
team, it doesn’t mean that you automatically get to take advantage of that incredible opportunity.
Lea didn’t just play for the Tennessee Lady Vols; she was actually one of the best players on the
team. During her four years at Tennessee, the Lady Vols compiled a record of 105 wins and
only 29 losses, and year after year they were one of the greatest teams in women’s college
basketball. Lea Henry had taken on another huge challenge, major college basketball, and once
again she succeeded.
Not only did Lea Henry succeed on the court, but she also succeeded in the classroom. When
she graduated from the University of Tennessee, Lea was honored as an Academic All-American,
making her one of the best college basketball players in the entire country who also excelled in
the classroom.
The far-fetched dream continues.
What would you do if you had just been named one of America’s best basketball players? Would
you kick back, take it easy and enjoy the honor? Would you go out and party all night or do
nothing for a while? The average person might do all of the above, but Lea Henry wasn’t
average. She had a goal. She had a dream. She knew she had been blessed with incredible
talent, and she was going to make sure she used every bit of that talent.
After college, Lea kept on practicing and training to improve her basketball skills. She knew she
was still on the journey, and she had not yet reached her final destination. Day after day, night
after night, she worked out, she ran, she dribbled, and she trained. She never lost hope. She
never gave up on her dream.
And then, one day, it finally happened.
Lea walked down to her mailbox in Knoxville, Tennessee, and when she opened the mailbox, she
found a letter from the U.S. Olympic Committee. She started at the letter for a minute and then
tore it open. It wasn’t a long letter, but it was long enough to tell Lea Henry that she was being
invited to try out for the U.S. Olympic Basketball Team.
Lea packed her bags and headed for Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the U.S. Olympic Training
Center. It was there that 5’ 4 ¾” Lea Henry, from tiny Damascus, Georgia, would compete
against the country’s best basketball players for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.
For five days, the ‘best of the best’ battled it out up and down the court in Colorado Springs.
On day six, all players and all coaches gathered in a room for the first round of eliminations.
When this day was over, only eighteen players would be allowed to continue their quest for
twelve spots on the U.S. Olympic Team. One by one, the eighteen names were called out. Lea
Henry was on the list!
Lea’s heart pumped like a freight train when she heard her name called out. She was so close to
the ultimate dream. She had come so far against such great odds… but she wasn’t there yet.
All those days of grueling practices, all those hours of exhausting drills, thousands of jump
shots, millions of dribbles… had all come down to one more day and one more opportunity. It’s
hard to imagine how anyone could sleep the night before an event this big. But Lea Henry did
sleep. In fact, she slept well.
She had given her all. She had done her best. She never stopped believing that her dream could
come true. Lea had spent an entire lifetime preparing for this moment. Her next window of
opportunity was about to open, and she was sure she was ready.
Eighteen incredible basketball players walked into a room at the Olympic Training Center in
Colorado Springs. One hour later, six of those girls walked out of that room, packed their bags,
and left for their hometowns all over the country. Those six girls wouldn’t be seen as losers,
and they would never be labeled failures. They would forever be known as six extraordinary
basketball players who almost made the U.S. Olympic Team.
Six players would go home. Twelve would stay and go on to represent their country in the
Olympic Games. From that moment on, the twelve girls who stayed would never again be
considered just basketball players. For the rest of their lives, they would be called Olympians.
And when they took the court for every game they would play in the Olympics, thousands of
people in the arena and millions more watching on television would hear the game announcer
introduce each player by name, followed by their respective hometown.
The twelve Olympians came from all over America – California, Oregon, Ohio, Illinois,
Louisiana, and New Jersey. And believe it or not, one of the twelve Olympians actually came
from a tiny town in South Georgia. You remember, don’t you… the town that had no stoplight,
no Wal-Mart, no McDonald’s and definitely no mall.
That’s right; Lea Henry, from Damascus, Georgia, (population 245), had made the U.S. Olympic
Basketball Team. Her far-fetched dream had finally come true. All of that hard work had paid
off. Lea Henry was an Olympian! She would be just one of twelve players representing the
United States in the Olympic Games.
This is an incredible story. In fact, it’s almost hard to believe. But it’s true… every word of it.
And if the story ended right here, it would be an amazing accomplishment for anyone – especially
a kid like Lea Henry.
But, this story does not end here.
When Lea Henry was chosen to play on the U.S. Olympic Team, she was excited and she was
proud, but she was not finished. She was now a member of a team, and that team had work to
do. They practiced, they trained, they traveled, and they came together in a big way – really big.
Three months later, that team of twelve basketball players, including 5’ 4 ¾” Lea Henry, did the
unthinkable. They won six straight games to capture the Olympic Gold Medal. Lea Henry was
now an Olympic Gold Medalist! Unbelievable… what started out as one kid’s far-fetched
dream in tiny Damascus, Georgia, eventually led to Olympic Gold. I’ve seen that Gold Medal. I’
ve held it in my hand.
I hope you now believe that dreams, even the far-fetched ones, really can come true.
By the way, what’s your dream?
Long Shot Workbook Questions
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1. What is your dream?
2. What can you do now to start pursuing your dream?
3. List three people who can help you pursue your dream?
4. What sacrifices will you have to make for your dream to come true?
by Chad Foster