I remember the moment vividly. Everything is moving around me in slow motion. The basketball is in my hands. I see an opening. I repeatedly pound the ball against the floor. I pass by the first defender with ease, and drive to the hoop. I jump up for what seems to be a normal layup, and I try to lay the ball in. I miss… but that isn't the worst thing that happens. As I come down to land, I get bumped slightly by one of the defenders. This throws off my balance and I land hard on my left ankle. Crack.

After that everything was a blur. But, I do remember everyone thinking I was faking it. They finally believed me after the trainer took my shoe off, and my ankle was so swelled up that it looked like a balloon. I hobbled down to the trainers room, and they rapped my ankle in ice to help the swelling go down. The trainer said it didn't look broken. I wasn't so sure though. It hurt pretty bad and I felt it pop when I landed on it... Crap.

I was furious. I was mad at myself more than anything else. How could I get hurt the night before the huge Rockford game! This was a giant obstacle in my sports career. I was just happy that it happened to me now, instead of my senior year.

How would I overcome this? I had to help us win somehow. Since I obviously couldn't play with a broken ankle, the only thing I could do was cheer on my teammates. Which I did… quite loudly to be honest with you.

The next day was insane. The big game, Grandville vs. Rockford. The game was at our school this time. We needed more than a little home court advantage though, since they had beaten us every time since we started paying them in 7th grade. They usually blew us out by 20 or 30 points. But not tonight. With the home crowd cheering, we took the court.

The game was close the whole way. I was screaming on the bench for my boys. “Let’s go guys! Take ‘em down!” In the third quarter, another injured player and I were even getting a little too rowdy. The ref had to give us a bench warning. It didn't stop me from cheering at all.

In the fourth quarter, with time running out we hit a big shot. It put us in the lead. In the final minute of the game we started pulling away. It was a great moment: my cheering, and our team hitting shots left and right.
At the end of the game, I couldn't believe that we beat Rockford for the first time! Their players looked defeated. It was a great game for both teams, but we pulled out the win somehow.

The thing I took away from this whole experience was that there are going to be plenty of obstacles in life. Whether they are big or small, everyone has them. You can always find a way around them. Even though I couldn't play, I kept a good attitude and cheered my team to victory.