Story with a diverse use of tenses

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10Playing to Win 12br
10by Margaret A. Whitney 12br
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101 My daughter is an athlete. Nowadays, this statement won’t strike many parents as unusual, but it 12br
10does me. Until her freshman year in high school, 11b10Ann was only marginally interested in sport of any 12br
10kind. When she played, she didn’t swing hard, often dropped the ball, and had an annoying habit of 12br
10tittering on field or court.12b12br
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11b102 Indifference combined with another factor that did not bode well for a sports career. Ann was 12br
10growing up to be beautiful. By eighth grade, nature and orthodontics had produced a 5-foot 8-inch 12br
10125-pound, brown-eyed beauty with a wonderful smile. People told her, too. And, as many young 12br
10women know, it is considered a satisfactory accomplishment to be pretty and stay pretty. Then you 12br
10can simply sit still and enjoy the unconditional positive regard. Ann loved the attention, too, and 12br
10didn’t consider it demeaning when she was awarded “Best Hair,” female category, in the eighthgrade 12br
10yearbook.12b12br
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103 So it came as a surprise when she became a jock. The first indication that athletic indifference had 12br
10ended came when she joined the high school cross-country team. She signed up in early September 12br
10and ran third for the team within three days. Not only that. After one of those 3.1 mile races up hill 12br
10and down dale on a rainy November afternoon, Ann came home muddy and bedraggled. Her hair 12br
10was plastered to her head, and the mascara she had applied so carefully that morning ran in dark 12br
10circles under her eyes. This is it, I thought. Wait until Lady Astor1 sees herself. But the kid with the 12br
10best eighth grade hair went on to finish the season and subsequently letter2 in cross-country, soccer, 12br
10basketball, and softball. 12br
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104 I love sports, she tells anyone who will listen. So do I, though my midlife quest for a doctorate 12br
10leaves me little time for either playing or watching. My love of sports is bound up with the goals in 12br
10my life and my hopes for my three daughters. I have begun to hear the message of sports. It is very 12br
10different from many messages that women receive about living, and I think it is good. 12br
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105 My husband, for example, talked to Ann differently when he realized she was a serious competitor 12br
10and not just someone who wanted to get in shape so she’d look good in a prom dress. Be aggressive, 12br
10he’d advise. Go for the ball. Be intense.12b12br
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106 Be intense. She came in for some of the most scathing criticism from her dad, when, during 12br
10basketball season, her intensity waned. 11b11i10You’re pretending to play hard, he said. You like it on the 12br
10bench? Do you like to watch while your teammates play?12i12br
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107 I would think, how is this kid reacting to such advice? For years, she’d been told at home, at school, 12br
10by countless advertisements, “Be quiet, Be good, Be still.” When teachers reported that Ann was too 12br
10talkative, not obedient enough, too flighty. When I dressed her up in frilly dresses and told her not to 12br
10get dirty. When ideals of femininity are still, quiet, cool females in ads whose vacantness passes for 12br
10sophistication. How can any adolescent girl know what she’s up against? Have you ever really 12br
10noticed intensity? It is neither quiet nor good. And it’s definitely not pretty. 12br
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101 Lady Astor: wealthy socialite admired for her beauty 12br
102 letter: athletic achievement award 12br
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108 In the end, her intensity revived. At half time, she’d look for her father, and he would come out of 12br
10the bleachers to discuss tough defense, finding the open player, squaring up on her jump shot. I’d 12br
10watch them at the edge of the court, a tall man and a tall girl, talking about how to play. 12br
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109 Of course, I’m particularly sensitive at this point in my life to messages about trying hard, being 12br
10active, getting better through individual and team effort. 11b10Ann, you could barely handle a basketball 12br
10two years ago. Now you’re bringing up the ball against the press. Two defenders are after you. You 12br
10must dribble, stop, pass. We’re depending on you. We need you to help us. I wonder if my own 12br
10paroxysms of uncertainty would be eased had more people urged me—be active, go for it!12b12br
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1010 Not that dangers don’t lurk for the females of her generation. I occasionally run this horror show in 12br
10my own mental movie theatre: an unctuous3 but handsome lawyer-like drone of a young man spies 12br
10my Ann. Hmmm, he says, unconsciously to himself, good gene pool, and wouldn’t she go well with 12br
10my BMW and condo? Then I see Ann with a great new hairdo kissing the drone goodbye-honey and 12br
10setting off to the nearest mall with splendid-looking children to spend money. 12br
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1011 11b10But the other night she came home from softball tryouts at six in the evening. The dark circles under 12br
10her eyes were from exhaustion, not makeup. I tried too hard today, she says. I feel like I’m going to 12br
10puke.12b12br
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1012 After she has revived, she explains. She wants to play a particular position. There is competition for 12br
10it. I can’t let anybody else get my spot, she says, I’ve got to prove that I can do it. Later we find out 12br
10that she has not gotten the much-wanted third-base position, but she will start with the varsity team. 12br
10My husband talks about the machinations of coaches and tells her to keep trying. You’re doing fine, 12br
10he says. She gets that I-am-going-to-keep-trying look on her face. The horror show vision of Annas- 12br
10Stepford-Wife4 fades.12b12br
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1013 Of course, Ann doesn’t realize the changes she has wrought, the power of her self-definition. I’m an 12br
10athlete, Ma, she tells me when I suggest participation in the school play or the yearbook. But she has 12br
10really caused us all to rethink our views of existence: her younger sisters who consider sports a 12br
10natural activity for females, her father whose advocacy of women has increased, and me. Because 12br
10when I doubt my own abilities, I say to myself, Get intense, Margaret. Do you like to sit on the 12br
10bench? 12br
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1014 And my intensity revives. 12br
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1015 I am not suggesting that participation in sports is the answer for all young women. It is not easy—the 12br
10losing, the jealousy, raw competition, and intense personal criticism of performance. 12br
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1016 And I don’t wish to imply that the sports scene is a morality play either. Girls’ sports can be funny. 12br
10You can’t forget that out on that field are a bunch of people who know the meaning of the word cute. 12br
11b10During one game I noticed that Ann had a blue ribbon tied on her ponytail, and it dawned on me that 12br
10every girl had an identical bow. Somehow I can’t picture the Celtics gathered in the locker room of 12br
10the Boston Garden agreeing to wear the same colour sweatbands.12b12br
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103 unctuous: very smooth, fervent, or earnest, especially in a false or affected way when trying to please or persuade 12br
104 Ann-as-Stepford-Wife: reference to a story by Ira Levin where women are replaced with more passive and beautiful replicas 12br
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1017 No, what has struck me, amazed me, and made me hold my breath in wonder and in hope is both the 12br
10ideal of sport and the reality of a young girl not afraid to do her best. 12br
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11b1018 I watch her bringing the ball up the court. We yell encouragement from the stands, though I know 12br
10she doesn’t hear us. Her face is red with exertion, and her body is concentrated on the task. She 12br
10dribbles, draws the defense to her, passes, runs. A teammate passes the ball to her. They’ve beaten 12br
10the press. She heads toward the hoop. Her father watches her, her sisters watch her, I watch her. 12br
10And I think, drive, Ann, drive.12b12br
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10Copyright © 2001 by the New York Times Co. Reprinted by permission. July 3, 1988.12br
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10There is a number next to each paragraph. Could you guys explain to me what's going on? I'm confused with the tenses. Sometimes she uses past tense to talk about her past happenings and then she switches over to present? She uese past tense, present tense, present perfect, etc. I don't get it. I'm lost. I don't follow the story. It's so frustrating to read. What is the point of doing that? 12br
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10The bold parts are used to show that I'm confused with the tenses/change of tenses. 12br
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10I also noticed that the writer didn't use quotation marks for her reported speeches? I have italized them to make them stand out. Are they correct like that? 12br
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10I'm very sorry if I have consumed of lot of your valuable time. Thank you very much in advance for taking your time to read this. 12b12blockquote