Dwayne Wade has said in one of his best commercials, “Fall down seven times, get up 8.” I had never fully grasped this concept of getting back up until my first basketball championship game.

So there I was, it was my team’s first ever championship game in over six years of playing together, and to add to all the anticipation, we were playing in the Phoenix Suns’ stadium. As our nerves grew, we scouted out the opponent, we knew we would have to play our very best to eek out a victory.
It was the fourth quarter, “The quarter where champions are made,” as my dad would always tell me. The score had gone back and forth like a see-saw. I knew it was time to take control of the game. As the fourth quarter ticked down to its final minutes, the ball had begun to be in my hands more and more. Although the ball had come into my hands more often, the team’s turnovers and mistakes began to pile up. The clock was spiraling downward, and we knew we had been defeated.
Tick, tick tick, tick tick, the clock was coming closer and closer to the painful end of a great season. 10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2. and foul. As our team staggered over to watch the other team shoot the final free throws of the game, we couldn’t help but hold our heads low. This was not how it was supposed to end. All I did was kept on telling my team, “Don’t worry, we’ll be back. And we’ll be the ones hoisting the trophy.” Ahnkkk! The sound of the final horn rang through my head as if I had just been shot at point blank range. The game was over, and my team had fallen. But to top it all off, we would have to wait and accept our second place medals, as our opponent would be crowned kings.

Now as I look back on this tragedy, I remember feeling depressed and useless. “What good could a loss bring?” I continued to ask myself. Looking back, I realize that even though I may have fallen down, and that I will definitely fall again, I will always get right back up and work even harder to make sure that I never fall again.