Athletes in Action: reading poetry; The Coach 5

Read the poem, then answer the practice question.

I have a picture of Muhammad Ali on the wall of the gym,
Right where the boys come in to borrow basketballs
At lunchtime, chattering. They hardly glance at it.
Of all the accounts told, of man overcoming the odds,
Of all the journeys a hero could take—
One man alone stands immortalized.

It’s our heritage, I tell them as they warm up,
Their breath coming hard from fledgling lungs,
The biggest, baddest champion of all time. Could run
Circles around you. They assume I’m talking
About ancient history—the Romans, the Greeks.
Ali was an Olympian too, I say.
They’re spilling out the double doors,
Ears already tuned away from me.

But when they come in battered,
When they have played hard,
And the sweat of defeat still clings to their shirts,
I point to the wall. Here’s the ideal, here’s how to prevail,
Here’s how to resist.
Here’s how to rise up when you’ve failed.
Then eyes turn upward, saplings towards the sun.

Label each extract from the poem to show how it relates to the speaker’s opinion about Muhammad Ali.