I remember the first day when I saw Sally playing basketball. I watched in wonder as she struggled her way through the crowd of boys on the playground. She seemed so1but she managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net. The boys always tried to stop her2nobody could.

    I began to notice Sally at other times, basketball in hand, playing3She practiced dribbling and4over and over.

    One day I asked Sally why she5so much. Without a moment of hesitation she said, "I want to go to college. The only way I can go is to get a6 I'm going to play college basketball and I want to be the best one. I believe that if I am7enough, I will get one. My father has told me that if the dream is big enough, the facts don't8"

    I9her through those junior high years and into high school. Every week, she led her team to10 One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting on the grass, her head11in her arms. Slowly and quietly, I12and sat down beside her. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Oh, nothing, "came a soft reply , “I am just too short." The13told her that at 165cm she would probably never play for a top team-still less she would be14a scholarship-so she should stop dreaming about college.

    I felt she was extremely15I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were16. They didn't understand the17of a dream.

    The next year, Sally was seen by a college basketball coach after a big game. She was18offered a scholarship and19to the college team. She was going to get the college education that she had20and worked toward for all those years.

    It's true: if the dream is big enough, the facts don' t count.