I held onto my teammates and my friend’s hand tightly, before we started our first game of the SAIC season of 8/9 basketball. This game was special; some might say the most important of the season. This year I wanted to leave something that the younger underclassmen can look up to and follow; a legacy for myself. As I released my good friend’s hand, who was also playing her final game at SAIC, we spoke through our eyes. No matter how insignificant this game was to the world, to us it seemed like this one victory could change everything in how others view us. There was one action that I was at first hesitant in doing, afraid of failing and encumbering my team, I had to make a shot from the three-point line. The ball escaped my fingertips, my
Her particularly favorite sport was basketball. She remembers, “We don’t play like you do now. It was three on three. You either played offense or defense. I was defense. I was good, very scrappy,” Connie describes. Now-a-days she enjoys yelling at referees from the stands and giving her two cents on coaches. She has even gotten in a few fights with opposing teams’ parents in the stands. Even with her quirks, Connie Sallquist may seem like an average midwestern, sports-loving woman, but she is far from it. Facing odds that no one thought she could defeat, she proceeded to prove everyone wrong. And unlike most patients, Connie was able to walk out of hospice alive and healthy. She is a true miracle. While her life may not be back to the normal it was a year and a half ago, she’s aspired to a living condition that didn’t seem possible. Connie is loved by everyone she meets. All of her granddaughters friends refer to her as grandma. “Everyone calls me Grandma Connie. I’m everyone’s grandma,” Connie explains. Last year when her granddaughter’s volleyball team found out about Connie’s condition, the entire team donated money towards a bouquet a flowers and a card to send to Connie’s room. A few weeks later, Connie was able to attend her first volleyball game of the season. After the game, every player on the volleyball team came up and talked to her. She knew each and everyone of them, but each of them knew
The television was shining bright as the sun in the dark family room, on a nice Saturday afternoon in the mountains of Durango, Colorado. It was barley 7:20 in the evening, on June 19th, 2016 when Barack Obama was still president and the Zika virus was spreading around faster than memes. “Blocked by James!” suddenly is yelled on the the bright television in the dark family room. Lebron James just blocked Andre Iguodala off the backboard. At this moment, all the Golden State Warriors fans in the dark family room erupted in anger, confusion, and stress. My mom and I both yelled “Let’s go!”.
Growing up, from the time I started my first day of class until walking across my hometowns football field to receive my diploma I never had thought that I let something define the person that I have become today. However, being presented with this essay I have come to the realization that football has defined me as a person. I don’t mean to say that the sport has had this much of an impact on me, I’d rather like to think that the memories associated with the sport has made an everlasting impact on my life.
One day in Plainfield, Indiana a 0-13 baseball team won against 12-1 team, with 2 players Norm and Neil Fossmeyer leading the team to victory as Norm hit a double with Neil on third base. The team celebrated as if the Browns won the Super Bowl. After the game they went to get pizza but along the way their coach set them aside and told them “You are your best asset don’t let anything bring you down”. Norm was going to middle school in the fall and Neil was going to a new school for third grade and they weren’t ready for the change. But that made them feel better and more confident.
Ever since I was a little boy, about eight years old or so, I had an extreme passion for the sport of basketball. On weekends, I would wake up in the morning, eat a bowl of frosted flakes or cheerios, put on basketball shorts and then go in my driveway to shoot around. I would be out there for hours just shooting around or playing with some random kids that I would occasionally see walking around my neighborhood. This was satisfaction to me, but even better was playing on multiple public teams and not just playing in my driveway every day. In elementary school, I played in a recreational league, just like almost every other kid who tries out basketball when they were younger. This was fun and all but it was nothing too serious. There were never any practices, it was just one or two unorganized games per week. I never took
Ever since I was three, I could never be caught without a basketball in my hands. My father played in college at Syracuse University. My mother played basketball at Syracuse as well, that is where my parents met. That is probably where my love for the game stems from. I grew up an only child and got full attention from my parents.
Basketball tryouts were this week and I real like basketball so I decided to sign up. Tryouts didn't start till 5 so I had a whole hour to get ready. I think I'm actually really good at basketball. I'm probably going to be the best guy in the team. I mean basketball ever scene I was eight years old. It was 4:30, almost time for basketball so I grabbed my things. As I was waking out of the house I remember my shoes how could I have almost forgotten my shoes that's the most important thing that is needed in sports. My shoes are gray high top basketball shoes. They can make me jump three times higher than I usually jump.
The championship game loss helps the audience, especially young adults with high, aspiring dreams, to understand, that even if you do work-hard and aren’t awarded with winning your goal, this isn’t the end of your journey. It only means you have to work harder in the future, if you want to succeed at your goal. This conclusion shows young children how to lose properly and how to be grateful for what they have, since being good a winning is a much easier task. For like a quote from Colin Powell, “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” The under-class, basketball players learned from the mistakes in the title game, so they could go farther and win next year’s championship, because failure should never be your excuse to not attempt something.
Narrative: I am on a basketball team we are called the Havoc. We are mainly out of Aplington-Parkersburg (A.P.), Dike-New Hartford, and Iowa Falls. There are 6 from A.P., 2 from Dike, and 1 from Iowa Falls, and that is me. We have won tournaments in Ames, Des Moines, Cedar Falls, and Waterloo. We go all over the state, for tournaments. Our coach’s names are Andy Luscomb, and Cody Switzer. The guys on my team’s names are Elijah, Sam, Kale, Jayden, Christian, Jake, Benton, Parker, and Me of course.
It was July 23, 2015, a day I’d always remember. At this time I had committed my time primarily to basketball and had become a really successful point guard. I was finally finding myself on the court and had worked hard to earn my spot as our captain. We had won both of our previous games, sending us straight to the championship bracket. I knew this was our game to win. After mentally preparing myself, it was time to start the game. This is it, everything I’ve worked so hard for was now coming into motion. I walked out onto the court with pure confidence in myself. We won the tip off and the ball was in my hands. My body flying down the court, I was truly unstoppable. In this lasting moment, I felt I had reached a new level of skill, and had never felt so confident. We were dominating the team and had a steady lead. Little did I know my favorite sport, my outlet for life and my passion was
newcomer to the team I was nervous but after a few games I had so much
It was a cold cloudy Friday morning. The day of the most nerve racking championship game had finally arrived for the two rivalry basketball teams, the Kress Lady Roos and the Hart Lady Horns. Weeks and weeks of hard, aggressive, closely won ball games one after another. Only a little bit of time after that to get ready for the most important game ever; this is the game everyone has been preparing for. A ton of exhausting conditioning and an enormous amount of shooting lead up to this moment. Every girl on the Lady Roos basketball team feels excited, pumped, and ready for the game later tonight. Constantly thinking and feeling overly enthusiastic of what the outcome of the game would be like. We all had predictions of what we wanted the game to be like but it was up to whichever team wanted it the most. With all the confidence and motivation that we had that morning we just wanted school to be over with already. It did not end quickly though. School was such a drag. We all could not wait for that three-thirty bell to ring so we could hop onto that big, yellow, warm bus. Finally, the loud, annoying bell goes off. It was now, “Game Time”! Only hours away until we would play the game of our lives. As we approached the humongous school our opponents were already there. We did not want to even look at them when we walked in. We did not want to be discouraged by what kind of players they were. As the minutes passed by it was time to get ready. We could already hear our loud and passionate fans approaching the gym. We love our dedicated and supportive Kress community. As the warm-up started we all became very anxious and jittery but knew we had to shake it off and stay focused. As we had our last talk with the coach and said our glorious ...
It was at this moment that I realized that there truly is no “I” in team. A team is not characterized by the individuals within, but rather what the individuals can come together to achieve. For so long I had tried to discover where I belonged on the team. In reality, I should have realized that from the moment I stepped on the court, I was already a member of the varsity team. With a newfound sense of strength, we continued the game. Every single point we won felt like we were putting our lives on the line, while every single point we lost felt like ten-ton chains were holding us down. Even so, it was just another volleyball game. One I had experienced on multiple occasions, perhaps not to the same magnitude, but it was a relatively familiar situation. Strangely, it felt different. I felt more relaxed, more confident, and I was having more fun. At the time, I was not sure what it came from. I was too focused on finishing out the game to pay it much attention. But reflecting on it now, I realize that without a doubt, it was because I truly felt like I belonged on the team. For the first time, I knew that my team was behind me, ready to help me up whenever I fell. We continued on with the game. Despite being down two sets to one at one point, we now found ourselves nearing victory in the fifth set. Finally, we were able to overcome the opponent to win the match three sets to two and secure the second SPC championship for Greenhill Boys Volleyball in three
The buzzer sounded and Carmel tops Libertyville 56-54 in a thrilling comeback over our rivals. After the game observers would’ve thought we were just the opposite. About seven or eight of us seniors from both teams got together after the game commemorating on what would be the last time we would be on the court together. We all congratulated each other on the performance and shared great memories we had together in the past playing on the same teams. The outcome of the game did not alter the way we approached one another afterwards. Rather than being sore losers towards us after the contest, they expressed respect towards us with class and dignity. We acted the same way rather than being too good for them after a win.
I was playing soccer with my friends in my neighborhood, just a normal day; everything looked as usual. But while I was playing soccer, I was hearing a noise; not knowing if I was the only one who was hearing it, I felt deluded for a moment. I stopped playing soccer and headed to the direction where the noise was coming from. It was from my neighbor’s house, so I went in, and looked from their outside window, which was opened; the TV was on and they were watching some type of game. During that time it was the Beijing Olympics, I assumed that my neighbors were watching the ten thousand meter race, which my people loved because of having runners that have been winning gold medals, but it wasn’t the case. I saw a game that I have never seen before; there were tall players wearing jerseys and bouncing a ball and throwing it to the rim of the board. One of the players was crossing his opponents and scoring points easily. At that moment I felt happy just seeing how they played the sport.