It was just a normal winters day. It was the first day of basketball tryouts. My nerves were biting through my whole entire body. I knew that this team was gonna be tough to make with all the talent the boys had to offer. I knew that if making the team was an option I would have to give it my all and put it all out on the court. I did not want to have any regrets about my tryout. During the day of the tryout, all I could think of was how it was going to go. I had no clue what to expect. I would do whatever it took to make the team.
The tryout was nearly here. It was about an hour before I had to be out there. I get a call from my mom telling me that she knows I will do great and that I should eat something to give me energy. My mom is always there for me when I need her. She always give me the confidence to succeed. I grab a granola bar and go watch sportscenter. As the tryout nears my heart rate increases. I now decide it is time to go get dressed for basketball and need to get mentally prepared. I walk downstairs when I’m ready and simultaneously my mom gets home. On the car ride to the tryout I'm shaking and extremely nervous. I get out of the car and see my friend ,Will. He talks to me to help calm us both down. We realize that it just basketball. As long a we both play our games we will definitely make the team. We walk into the locker room and see everyone looking nervous. This makes me feel better that I'm not the only one nervous and that it is normal to be feeling this way. These other guys have gone through this for 3 years and they are nervous so it is normal.

While the team is sitting around in the locker room, coach Pinone calls us all into the gym to warm up. We all get up and walk to the gym all shaking not knowing what he has in store for us. We enter the gym and all the seniors tells us to grab a ball. Whenever we grabbed a ball the seniors would take it if it was better than the one they had. The freshman would always end up with the beat up, old, raggedy balls. The ball would either bounce too much or barely even bounce.
The warm up for the tryouts that we had to do was dribble up and down about 10 times. Then we had to do spin dribble, pivot, foot fire, hesitation, etc. Then we ran up and down with the ball over our head then we would put it down. We probably then did a total of 50 up and downs. All the players were exhausted. After all the running the veterans all do the 3 man weave, 5 man weave, 11 man, and 3 on 2 with help. While they do that all the freshmen are on the sideline trying learn all the drills. We don’t enter because coach feels we will mess it up. After this the JV and varsity split up on to opposite sides. The JV do a scrimmage so the JV coaches (Coach Carrier and Coach Grande) can see the skills we have to offer. There are about 22 kids trying out for JV. This means that they will have cuts so this makes me a little nervous. During the scrimmages I felt like I did pretty decent that day. After the scrimmage we come together to go run on the baseline. We end up running about 40 up and downs. After that Coach Carrier calls JV in and tells them to go home and come back ready tomorrow for tryouts.

That night I go home and go to my bed to evaluate my performance and see if I have a chance of making it. I came up with the conclusion that I will make the team if I work hard. I was up to the challenge and knew I had a chance of making the team.
The next day I did the same pre tryout routine. I gave myself pep talks throughout school to keep myself from freaking out and so I could get through the day.
Today, when coach called us into the gym we did the same warm up but we did a lot less running. This was good so later in practice when we would be showing are skills to the coaches I wouldn't be as tired. When we did the scrimmage today I felt like I did a decent job. After an hour of playing coach Carrier calls us in and tells he will call us all in one at a time to his office. The sophomores go in first and all but 4 players make the team.. Then the freshmen go in and most of the boys in front of me tell me they have made it. It gets me a little anxious and nervous about what will happen. He calls me in and talks to me. He tells me that he see a lot of potential and he just hasn’t seen enough of me yet so he wants me to come back and have a third tryout. He told me that I will make the team as long as I give it my all I can because he knows I'm good enough to make it.
That night I go home heart broken. This was a wake up call to me that not everything in life will be easy. I need to work hard at everything so that it will become easier.
The next day I do my normal ritual except I'm more nervous than before. I realize I have one last chance to prove myself and just need to work hard to make the team.
After tryouts I go into the locker room nervous to get changed to go home. When I'm all dressed coach calls me into the office. He starts by telling me I made the team. I had the biggest smile on my face because I was so proud of myself. He thens continues saying how he sees me as a future star of CHS and I have a lot of potential. He just wants me to work extra hard every day so that I can become the best that I can be.
I go home the happiest person in the world. I tell all my family members that I made the team and they are so happy for me. I call my friend Will and tell him I made it and he happy for me and can’t wait for practice. We both knew it was going to be a great season.