The Story of a Champ

It's a chilly, windy morning just outside of a small town in Wisconsin. The landscape shows trees of all sizes and fields as far as the eye can see. A friendly, beige home lies in the country side, all alone for miles. A puny, red Saturn rests in the driveway. There is no movement and only silence around the cute, little home.

A door creaks open, but no one is there to hear it. A young boy creeps out of the home and silently shuts the door. His name is Peter. A worn, orange basketball is gripped in his hands. He trots down the driveway, dribbling the ball in the process. He makes his way to the road to begin his daily routine. The basketball goes from being dribbled with his right hand and then his left hand and back again. He keeps repeating his repetitive dribbling over and over again while on his run. He dribbles the ball between his legs and behind his back, too. His hands look like a blur as he does different combinations of dribbling. He speeds up the pace of his dribbling. He knows exactly where the ball travels and its destination. His dribbling is becomes faster and quicker. He sprints at a full tilt down the road. He still keeps control of the ball while running. No one person has the power to stop the concentration that Peter possesses over the basketball.

Peter stops his fast-paced dribbling when he barely breathes. He falls into the ditch, utterly exhausted. Peter lies on the ground, panting heavily. After the sun slowly rises higher into the sky, Peter unsteadily stands up and trudges home with his basketball.

The sun shines a bright ray of light over the entire country-side by the time Peter reaches his home. As Peter walks into his home, a disarming smile meets him at the door. It’s his mother. Even though she seems happy and perky, she reacts a completely different way. Inside, she is furious with Peter for leaving so early in the morning to practice his ball handling.

“Where were you, Peter?” asked Peter’s mother nonchalantly.

“I was just taking a walk. How did you sleep this morning?” Peter replied in a cool tone.

"Oh, just fine... eat your breakfast and do whatever you want, I'm cleaning today," Peter’s mom exclaimed with a shooing gesture.

"All right, thanks Mom," Peter replied with a sheepish grin. Peter's mom couldn't help but smile herself whenever Peter had a smile on his face.

Peter quickly chowed down on his breakfast, kissed his mom on the cheek, yelled good-bye and sprinted out of his house. Peter then trotted to the back of the house to grab his beautiful, blue mountain bike. The bike stood leaning against the side of the house. Peter grasped the handles of the bike, hopped over the seat, and plopped onto it. He then started to ride his bike onto the driveway and then onto the road. Peter must ride five miles to arrive in town. It took him no more than ten minutes to ride there. The road to town was smoothly paved, and not a single hill blocked his way.
Keller would soon appear in front of Peter. Keller was the only town Peter knew. He never traveled anywhere. The idea of going to another town frightened him, and his mother would never take him anywhere because it frightened her more than him

A sign loomed in front of Peter. It said Keller in bright, curvy letters. The population size was exactly 789 people. Peter knew every detail of the sign. It's dirty, dusty backside to the chip in the bottom, right corner. It was Peter's gateway into a different world. It was his gateway to basketball. This was the most important part of Peter’s life. Without basketball, Peter would be a lifeless, empty shell. Nothing could compete with Peter's love for basketball, except how much he cared about his mom.

Peter rode his bike another mile or so and found himself at the park. There were already a couple of people there playing basketball at the old court. The basketball court was built before the park. The park just seemed to grow around it. It was one of the oldest places in the town. Nothing had ever been replaced including the backboards and the nets.

When only a couple of feet away from the court, Peter quickly dismounted his bike and loped onto the court, ready for action. There were three other guys on the court named Ricky, Josh, and Martin. Ricky a very tall boy and had short, fair hair. He seemed like a mountain compared to all of the other boys. Josh a shorter boy with long black hair, but moved very fast and quick. Finally, Martin the second tallest and the best shooter out of the four. They weren't Peter's greatest friends, but he knew they would be able to get along well enough to play a game between the four of them.

"Where have you been?" asked Ricky curiously.

"My mom made me eat my breakfast before I left. So what are the teams going to be?" replied Peter with a new sense of enthusiasm.

"We were thinking that it would be you and Ricky against Josh and me," said Martin pointing to each person as he said their name.

"Sounds good to me," said Josh with a nod of his head.

Thus began the start of Peter's love. Peter and Ricky both knew who they would cover. Peter would defend Josh and Ricky would defend Martin. Peter let Josh and Martin start with the ball and the game began. Martin set a screen on Peter and Josh slipped by to take the ball to the basket. Ricky stopped him short standing crouched and ready for anything. Josh appeared ready for this and started demonstrating complex dribbling moves. Ricky barely followed the balls movement. He tried moving his feet to halt Josh, but he tripped on his ankles and fell over. Josh then made a layup for two points.

Josh passed the ball to Peter with a slight smirk on his face. Peter knew exactly what he was going to do next. As soon as Ricky was ready, Peter passed the ball to him. When the ball left his hands, Peter took off like a rocket. Ricky passed the ball back when Peter was at the baseline. Josh been followed very easily. As soon as Peter got the ball he pretended to shoot the ball. Josh flew into the air thinking he would block the shot. As Josh floated through the air, Peter dashed down the baseline and made an easy layup.

Many more exchanges took place until Martin yelled," Next basket wins!" The ball was in Josh's and Martin's possession. As soon as everyone was ready, Josh passed it to Martin. Martin took the shot as soon as he had the ball. The ball seemed to move more slowly as it went through the air. Peter's heart almost stopped as the ball bounced off of the rim and Ricky got the rebound. Peter immediately got open and was given the ball. Ricky set a screen so that Peter could easily dribble to the right. Martin seemed to know this would happen and appeared out of thin air as he hopped in front of Peter. Peter then went to the left. Josh stood crouched ready for Peter there as well. Peter stood just outside of the three point arc. Out of desperation he grabbed the ball, leaned back, and shot the ball. The ball soared off of Peter's hands. Peter closed his eyes praying the ball would go in. There was nothing but silence. A swish broke the silence, and Peter knew he had won.