Dear Passion
By: Dear Passion
Tags: Life Lessons, Dear Passion, Kids, Basketball, Stories

Episode 7

The next day, when we all came back to school I was in the hallway, and I saw Marcus he said, “ About the tournament coach Barton asked me about trail game.” I was surprised and excited about the game, however, the boy didn’t feel the same way. During the lunch period, I went to coach Barton, asked him about the specific trail game. He said, “ We need to train hard”. I said, “ But coach, he is on the other side”, to which he said, that is the reason I asked him, not his school to have a trial match

He said, “ Get back to the gym as soon as you finish school.” I was thinking about the excitement of the game, the teaching, and learning which I am about to get and experience. However, the boys were not happy with that decision at all. I went to talk with George and Stephen, they were thrilled by the news, Austin was a little nervous about the game, Matt and Paul were a little scared, as they had just started playing ball. I couldn’t talk as he was not available during school. The school was over, now we had 4 players who were ready for practice. We were entering the gym, the coach already sat there, with the ball and pad with a whistle hanging on neck. As we were to enter the court, we saw Cole already, run his sprints. I asked, “Man! Since when was he here? “, and the reply came as before or after the game. I said to myself, “ I need to start doing more “

Then coaching started, the coach gave very specific instructions. He said to us, “ We have a mock game, 2 days from now against Dayballer at 7 pm, at Wisconsin. “ We were unaware of their game, team, or what coach they played under. So he instructed us to know, what they played and how they played. From there I got to learn paying more attention to details. The coach told us to take this game seriously as the opposition was coming in hard and we should be better prepared for everything. The drill was designed in such a way that we 2 1/2 hours after school which was 4 pm to 6:30 pm. We had drills for 2 hours and the last half an hour was a game which I was thrilled to listen for because for the last 2 1/2 hours we were not allowed to touch the ball and had drills without the ball.

Drills were majorly focused on our team stamina and build as we all lacked fundamentals and the coach quickly picked up on that. He put us through Suicides, sprints, pushups, running and again the same drill continued for 2 1/2 hours.

Austin asked when are we going to learn how to shoot a coach. Coach Barton replied with a smirk, “ You want to shoot You have to run “. We were running like mad for 2 hours, we were sweating and drained out of energy. Matt said, “ I am exhausted, man,” I said, “ Think about the game day, do you won’t feel exhausted on that day? “, he couldn’t say nothing, as he was catching on his breadth. Then “ Come on, move man, run it.” came the voice. For the final half an hour, we were given the ball, I was pumped to we were to be given the ball to shoot and score, however, it turned out completely different.

Coach called out, “ Austin “, he said, “ Come here “, coach handed the ball and looked at us, “ We were running without the ball, Now we are going to run with the ball. “ I said to myself, “ I ain’t giving up.” For the final half, an hour was running and dribbling with the ball, and I suddenly remembered a movie I saw on the computer and I wanted to do it. I went for it and got applause from everyone with a bonus prize of running 5 suicides in a row, which running the entire court baseline to free throw, baseline to half court, baseline to the opposite free-throw line, baseline to baseline. The practice was over and everyone was leaving expect Me, George, and Stephen.

We went to the coach and asked, “ Can we come in the morning for practice? “, Coach questioned, “ why? “, to which I said, “ I have to become better and the only way to do that is if I start learning and doing more “. Coach gave us a time at 5 am at the gym, 7 am school, and 4 pm back to court. We were excited and ready to be present at 5 am on the court with a surprising person Cole. We were heading home after a tiring day, all of a sudden Marcus was here. He said there is a twist, about the game. I asked to tell us, he said, ask your coach you will know. Saying that left. I want to head back and asked the coach about it, however, as George and Stephen said, we can him tomorrow morning as the first thing.

I came home, it was family time, mom and dad were ready to have it from me. I showered and told them everything over dinner. It was the happiest moment of all, apart from playing basketball, my heart wanted to have more of it. My parents were really happy with me as I had found the thing that I love to do the most and the work ethic that I have for the game.

Lesson: If you want it, you have to put your blood, sweat, and tears into it.