heavy breathing fills the silence, in a packed gym, on the day of a semi finals game
I dribble up the court, moving in slow motion
the ball bounces off my foot
it slowly rolls out of bounds
heads turn to the referee
defenses ball

10 9 8
My coach screams in anger with his hands on his head
he looks at me and quickly looks away
my face falls in my hands, my heart starts pounding harder and harder
“Timeout!”
I am benched

7 6 5
“Break!”
the other team dribbles up the court
taking their time, because there is no need to rush
they have the final shot

4 3 2
The smallest on the team girl shoots
the ball rotates like a flat tire
slowly making it’s way towards the rim
there was no way the shot was going in
I look at the faces of my teammates
anticipation builds to see the result of the shot

1
they rush the court… cheering