The Game of a Lifetime | Teen Ink

The Game of a Lifetime

April 10, 2017
By SamGray11 BRONZE, Billings, Montana
SamGray11 BRONZE, Billings, Montana
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Frank Porter had been dreaming of this moment his entire life. It was the morning of the state championship basketball game and his stomach wast crammed with butterflies and he wasn't even out of bed yet. He climbed out of bed and ascended up the stairs where he met his mother making his favorite, scrambled eggs and bacon. "Good morning Frankie!" she said with a smile. "Good morning mom." He responded. "Are you ready for the big game?" she asked. He responded with a confident look in his eye, "Ready as I'll ever be."


Frank was a junior at Lakewood High School. He was you're typical high school athlete. He excelled in both of his sports, football and basketball, and was a great student. He had jet black hair, and when he smiled, huge dimples appeared on his cheeks. He stood about six foot five with a medium build. Frank had a huge crush on the captain of the girls basketball team, Tammy Johnson. He was hoping that the big game would be a chance for him to prove that he was the one for her.


The whole school day was moving slowly. Every class, Frank would catch himself either staring at the clock or daydreaming about his name being called for the starting lineup. After lunch, Frank was walking to his locker with one of his buddies. Suddenly he bumped into someone and nocked all of their books and papers onto the ground. Without hesitation, he quickly began to help pick them. After he was done, he looked to see who it was, it was Tammy. He instantly started blushing and could feel his face turning beet red. He managed to squeeze a "hi" out of his mouth before continuing to the locker room to get ready for the game.


Before he knew it, Frank was running through lay up lines, getting ready for the game. It seemed like after every layup as he jogged to the back of the line, he would be scanning the crowd for Tammy. His teammate, Stan, asked "What are you looking at Frank?" He replied with a simple "nothing." Frank continued through warmups, still worrying that Tammy wasn't going to make it to the game. Warmups came to an end and the team retreated to the locker room where coach gave his pre-game speech. It all sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher to Frank as he couldn't get the thought of Tammy out of his head.


The ball was thrown up for the opening tip and the it landed in Frank's hands. He did as he always did and dribbled it up the right side of the court. He ran the play and as he drove to the left, he bounced the ball off of his foot out of bounds. The next possession, he was wide open in the corner, and air balled a three. Before he knew it, the team was down 35-21 going into half time. Frank had zero points and six turnovers. Frank's coach pulled him to the side and asked, "What is going on Frank? You're not yourself out there and it's hurting your team." Frank answered, "I don't know what's going on coach. I'll pick it up the second half."


Halftime was over and as the team jogged out of the tunnel, Frank glanced into the stands and saw Tammy with her sandy blonde hair and cherry red lips. Frank instantly cheered up and got ready for the second half. Frank started off the second half on fire. He made every shot and even did a flashy dunk to fire up the crowd. He brought his team back to within one point with thirty seconds left in the game. Coach called a time out and drew up a play for a layup. They broke the timeout and set up the play. Frank was camped out in the corner, ready to go get a rebound in case of a miss. As the point guard drove down the lane, the ball was deflected on a pass attempt and it rolled to Frank. He grabbed the ball and released it just like he had one hundred times before all year. As the ball gracefully flew through the air the clock counted down. Three, two, one and the buzzer sounded. Swish! The crowd roared and the student section rushed the court. Frank had just won Lakewood High their first ever state championship. Before Frank could jump in the air to celebrate. Tammy met him with a hug and huge kiss on the side of his cheek. He was thrilled and couldn't think of a better ending to the season.


The author's comments:

Basketball and the different feelings it can bring to someone. 


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