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The Importance Of Adversity In 'Summer Ball'

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In many of our lives we face adversity and crucial scenarios that seem to be impossible to overcome, but the one thing that allows us to persevere is ambition. In the novel Summer Ball by Mike Lupica he demonstrates the key aspects of how to overcome adversity through the life of Danny Walker a eighth grade boy who plays the sport basketball. Danny and his closest friends are from New York and are heading to a summer camp for basketball in Maine, but this is not just any camp it is a camp for the top players in the country. The mood and characterization demonstrated in Summer Ball illustrates the ambitious attitudes that reflect the focus and importance of success to overcome many obstacles. In the beginning of the novel, Lupica portrays Danny as a hardworking individual who is hesitant with himself and uncertain with his abilities in the sport basketball. He was uncertain with his confidence due to him being the smallest player on the court and was questioning if he would be able to play with the top players in the country at the camp in Maine. Whether Danny wants to admit it or not, he was scared and “as brave as he tried to act in front of …show more content…

Danny encounters adversity for the first time in the novel by not being able to put with his friends in the same cabin. Before even playing at “Camp Right Way” he already dislikes the camp: “Well, are we having any fun yet? Welcome to Wrong Way” (Lupicia 33). Here Danny is experiencing false hope thinking the camp will be a waste of time but this issue is to help develop a positive perspective to teach nothing that one will do in life with be perfect or the way you want it to be. This will help Danny later on in the novel to be more positive when he encounters more adversity. As Danny experiences adversity for the first time and learns to make the best of every situation he is still determined to perform well at the

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