January of 2019 was a great month. The highlight of the month was defiantly my game against Allendale. This game was definitely my greatest game ever. I went off. I remember walking up into the gym. It was at Brookside Middle School in Allendale.

 Our team and Allendale were fierce rivals. Every matchup between us was always close. Our team desperately wanted to win this game to show them that we are better than them. As I walked into the gym, I saw my team in the back corner of the gym near our bench changing into our basketball shoes. We were all ready to smack Allendale. 

Coach Steve told us how important this game was for us and the seedings for the playoffs. 

Coach explains to the team, “No fooling around during warmups. Especially you Gavin. Go through it hard. If I see any of you guys walking, you are not playing.”

I respond to coach, “Come on coach. You know that I’m always working.” 

“Show me then,” Coach responds.

I say back, “I got you. Just give me the minutes and you will see.”

I walk over to the bag of basketballs that coached dropped by his seat. I grab one and I run over to my teammates who are shooting around. I can feel the pressure surrounding me. This game was super important to both my team and my overall confidence. After going through our warmups hard, I can feel a little sweat dripping off the top of my head. I feel the energy from all my teammates getting me pumped.  

As I hear the buzzer ring, my teammates and I head over to our bench as the game is about to begin.

“I want everyone giving 110%. No slacking off and hard defense. Stay in their faces and be aggressive. Get them nervous. We got this game! Play like a team and trust your teammates,” Coach yells. 

“Hard work on three, one, two, three, hard work,” the team yells!

AJ, Tyler, Jayden, Rob, and I walk onto the court to start the game. We are the usual starters for most of our games. The starting five on every team are usually the team’s best players who score the most points and play the most minutes.

“I got eleven,” I announced to my teammates.

A team that plays man defense where everyone guards one guy on the team instead of playing a zone defense like our team have to say the number of who they are guarding to make sure everyone has a man that they could guard. The tall kid’s guard the tall kids and the shorter kids guard the shorter kids. 

“AJ, tip it forward to Jayden and then Jayden, bounce pass to Gavin for a layup. On defense, we are up. Full court,” coach explains. 

The ref blows his whistle and the game begins. Allendale wins the tip and we find our man. Right out of the gate, the other team scores. They begin to pressure trying to get us to turn over the ball but we are fierce and are not going to let up that easy. I bring the ball up and make a chest past to Jayden. He then passes it to Tyler in the middle. I fade back to the corner and he finds me for a quick three. This play brought back the team’s confidence which we needed. 

As we run back on defense, Tyler’s defender makes a quick move to the basket and he stays up with him but he trips over Rob’s leg and falls to the floor. This is a horrible sign. He is one of our best players and without him, winning this game is going to be several times more difficult. I know that I need to gain some confidence and push through this downfall and play hard. 

Swish, Swish, Swish. That’s all I can hear after making several three’s in order to give us a lead into the second half. 

“Let’s go Gavin,” my teammate yells to me!

I can feel the energy that I am getting from my teammates and my motivation to get a victory. I can feel my legs tremble after playing some hard defense several positions in a row. 

I need to get through this. My teammates need me, I thought. 

I glance up to the scoreboard and see that we are losing by two points with only a minute and thirty seconds remaining. The pressure and intensity are building up. This last-minute or so is really going to show everyone what kind of player I am and that I never give up. I pass the ball up to Jayden as he dribbles the ball up the court breaking the press. I run over to Rob and set a back screen where I curl to the corner for a three. Jayden sees and opening and delivers a crisp pass directly on the numbers. I square my shoulders, release the ball, and hold my follow-through as I see the ball go straight through the net. 

I hear and erupt come from both my teammates and the parents. I pound my chest with excitement feeling my heart beat fast. There are still twenty seconds left. Enough time for the opposing team to score a basket and win the game. We were only up by one so we could not foul and let up an easy basket. I follow my man like my life depends on it and prevent anyone from passing him the ball. The point guard has nowhere to throw the ball too so he has to chuck up an awfull shot. Off by a mile. 

“Yes,” I yell as I head the buzzer ring. We did it. Time for them to go home.