When Ray was about seven, he had a very close friend．Ray and Mike went to an all-boys school and were in the same class．To Ray, Mike was 1 people would call the“best friend”．They lived near each other, went to and from school together, played together, were together in school, and 2 time in each others' homes．
Once, in school, Ray encountered an academic 3 and was very down．He just 4 round and round the school playground． Mike 5 Ray, and their distance is far enough not to stifle(使压抑) him, but 6 enough never to let Ray out of his 7 ．Ray was very angry at that time．He just wanted to be 8 ．At one point, he got so worked up that he even blurted out, “ 9 leave me alone!” But Mike just 10 walked on behind Ray, still never uttering a 11 ．
It was only after many years, almost two decades later, that Ray truly began to 12 the profound lesson on 13 which had been shown to him that day．Ray and Mike had already separated by then, 14 seeing each other every year, and 15 then only in big groups of friends．Mike had taught him that true friendship does not only 16 when one wants or needs it．A true friend will be 17 when he thinks you need him, 18 whether you want it or not or whether you would 19 it or not．
Till this day, Ray is still 20 ．And he will always be．
In my third year as a high school athletics coach, I gave a speech telling students and parents about the benefits of football．I gave the same 1 each year, aimin g at recruiting(招收)new team members．I talked about 2 football wasn't just for 3 athletes and how everyone could 4 from it．This year, a 5 looking couple approached me after my speech．They said their son really wanted to play football．They had tried to 6 him out of it, but he had his heart 7 on joining the team．
When they told me his name, my heart sank．Michael was five feet and ten inches tall and weighed about 108 pounds．He was a 8 boy, the constant target of other kids' jokes, and as far as I knew he had never 9 sports．I knew he would never 10 it through football practice, let 11 as a player．But we told them we could give it a try．
On the opening day of practice, Michael was the first player on the field, we did 30 minutes of warming-up 12 starting a one-mile jog around the track．I 13 my eye on Michael．At 50 yards he fell, and I helped him to his feet．“Michael,”I said,“Why don't you just 14 the mile?”He said in tears that he wanted to run with the others, so I let him go on． 15 he fell, but each time 16 himself up．
The same thing happened every day for weeks, and Michael gained strength both 17 and physically．By the last week of practice, Michael could run the mile without falling, we had 18 only one game that season, 19 the team cheered louder for Michael's run than the victory they had, Afterward, Michael approached me, and I told him how 20 I was of him．
