“More Than a Game”

It was half time; we headed to the lockers as were down by five points. As I sat down, the first thing I notice was the frustration in everyone eyes. Than our coach had appeared in the room and grabbed everyone attention. He had started telling us what was needed to be emphasized in the court. The next advice he said to us was, “When it comes down to the last minute or quarter of the game, it’s about the team who has more heart, passion, and pride to finish out and win the game.”

As he interpreted those words it brought me flash backs of how I became a part of the team and becoming a basketball player.

My basketball career had begun when I was a freshmen trying out for the school team. As I proceeded throughout the week it was the last days of tryouts. As I put on my shoes and tying them, I could see who were left after he cuts the coach had made. All I wanted to believe was I didn’t want to get cut on the last day. As we did the drills, I started to get tired. I knew I wasn’t in shape like most of the people trying out. The coach had told all of us to do nine suicides which I couldn’t believe. The first three were okay but after the sixth one I started to feel the fatigue. As we all put our foot on the base line to do another one, my legs started to feel heavy on top of that I started to gasp for air in desperation.
In the end of the tryouts the coach asked me to talk to him at his desk. The first thing he said to me was, “You have a lot of potential but you don’t have the talent like some of these guys out here.”

I knew than my hopes of becoming a part of the team were crushed. A day had past after the tryouts. The alarm rang; it was morning I was in my bed staring at the roof. I was thinking about what he had said to me. At first I wanted to cry, but I kept my composure and understudied his words. After a couple of minutes, I got up and went to the closet and grabbed my basketball. It was the beginning of my legacy to prove myself. The first thing I thought of was getting better at basketball. I knew I was missing some fundamental so I started going every day after school to the basketball court at the park. I kept shooting and dribbling until my legs and arms gave out on me. All I could think was why was I cut? Over and over until I thought I was insane. In my mind it wasn’t about basketball anymore but to prove the coach wrong. After months of training I could see the results. My shot had gotten more accurate and my mind more focused.

I had started to change my diet and began running more. During the running, I had realized how beautiful nature was. I could see the huge blue sky with the floating white clouds, than I had seen the green shiny grass and the trees with the birds singing as I ran. It was a wonderful experience for me because I was such an indoor person. I felt like I missed a huge part of life and that now I run often just to view the colorful scenery. Than to keep up with my conditioning I had to change my intake of food. My diet consisted of no sodas and junk food. My first reaction was will I make it through this without going crazy? After a month, I actually did it, the funny part was that I became a fan of the fruits, water, and pasta.

Ever since I felt more conditioned and that I saved more money for my family, which I felt, was another positive. During this time I had motivated myself to set a foundation for my life. This foundation was to never quit and just give it your all. This ambition had transitioned from sports to everything I do now. Since then, I came back and made the school team two years in a row. I felt like I accomplished the goal, yet I felt more humble. In the end I knew the hard work would pay off and that all I needed to do was never look back and keep striving for what I believe in.

As we headed out from the lockers to the court the only thing in my mind was what he had said to us. I knew this was the time to change the losing reputation of our school and show them right now that we have more heart and passion for the game than any team out there. As the minutes were elapsing we had manage to make a little run. During that time I managed to be in the right moment, the ball was passed to me in the top of the key and I manage to put up a shot but was fouled. I had made both my free-throw and soon the lead started to become a huge number. It was the last seconds of the game, the crowd went crazy and the team was ready to jump off the bench. We had won the game and through this experience from the beginning to the end of the journey, in my head I had finally proved the coach back than that I was meant to shine through the darkness.