Personal Narrative: My Day In New Jersey

It was a bright hot summer day in Florida, and my family had just arrived for our week long vacation, but we were in for the biggest shock of our unified life. We had never thought that this dreadful thing could happen at such a beautiful place.

My stomach twisted at the thought of losing when we pulled into the McDougal High School’s parking lot. I ran into the building where our coach taught us the new positions until it was time to play. The ref blew the whistle and threw the ball into the air. I jumped up with my feet dangling off the ground and slapped the ball out of its orbit and ran down the court. I could feel my heart beating, I lurched to a screaming halt at the three point line and pushed the ball towards the basket. I shut my eyes hoping it would make it. I heard the ball drop to the ground and the crowd that was erupting with cheers, I opened my eyes and saw my teammates smiling. “That’s a girl!” my coach hollered as I ran towards the sideline and sat down on the bench. We ended up winning by 2 points after two overtime periods.

We had to get the ball in, and someone had to make a shot. I was so nervous in the timeout huddle. I kept looking up at the red numbers on the scoreboard. Breathe, just breathe. Coach had written out a whole play for us. We were going to get the ball into Jocelyn at half court and she was going to dribble in and find a shot or pass to me or Ellie on the wings. I was hoping Jocelyn wouldn’t pass to me. It was 4th grade and I wasn’t very good. The referee’s blew their whistles once, then twice, commanding us to take the court. Neither team was ready to see who would be on top when the buzzer would finally go off. As both teams were getting ready to take the court, the ref set the ball on the line and began counting to five. We threw the whole

The crowd is cheering, the pressure, the weight of my team on my shoulders I take three dribbles and then I spring up and take a shot and. It was a December night on the day of the Oley Championship Basketball Game, against Oley. After the tip off, the game was in Oley’s hands. They played great defense, made a lot of their shots, but our team just played horribly and they were up by 16 points. At the end of the third the score was around 26-10 Oley, but in my head the game was not over yet because we still had 8 minutes to come back, and I always want to win. Nothing really happened in the first 4 minutes, but in the last 2 minutes I contributed with an assist and 5 points including a layup and a three.

“Wake up……….. It’s game day” my dad says. “ It’s the day we've all been waiting for and it finally came, your sophomore year of high school and you're starting on varsity” my mom adds. I get up and go eat breakfast. My dad takes me up to the school to get ready for the big game today. State Championship basketball game, 13 seconds left in the 4th quarter, my team is down 73-70, we rebound the ball and they pass me the ball, rushing down the court as fast as we can to score before the clock runs out. I have the ball dribbling down the court as fast as I can. Sweat dripping hard like rain drops, my legs and arms are all bruised up, palms are sweaty, and I'm out of breath. I pass it to my teammate, Josh, and set a screen on his man, 9 seconds left. No one is open, so I roll back up to the top of the key and Josh passes the ball back to me. 7 seconds left, the guy that's guarding me is playing up close, so I hit a crossover on him to get past him. 5 seconds I move to the side 3 point line and hit a step-back move, the defender stumbles and the crowd goes ”oooooooooooooooooooo’’ 3 seconds left my heart is racing really fast, 2 seconds, I shoot the ball, 1 second, the ball goes around the rim, HORN BLOWS, it was so quiet and it felt like the world paused for a minute and it finally goes in and the crowd goes wild, the score is now 73-73. My teammates rush to me and pile on me. Everyone is happy and yelling, “ Tyler, Tyler, Tyler” We go to the bench listening to our coach talking

8:00 A.M at a basketball tournament in Chatham, Illinois. Playing with the grade level above me, as an 8 year old, I was scared to death. It was an honor to be asked to play with the older girls, although I didn’t realize this at the time. As I arrived to the tournament, I was nervous. I got into the game for the first time,

My attachment to NJ is as old as the day I landed in the US at Newark Liberty International Airport for my first US visit in 1999. I used to stay in NJ with my uncle whenever I visited the US in summer vacation. After going to college in Boston, I continue to visit my cousins living in NJ who I grew up with. The NJ medical school is in close proximity to my first cousin who is recovering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He is like a little brother to me since he is only 4 years younger and attending medical school in NJ will allow me to be there for him. Since his parents work full time, it would be gratifying for me to be the support him for his scheduled follow-ups in the hospital. Currently, I am only able to visit him on a quarterly basis

The sky was still dark as I got out of my car in front of the school building. The winter morning was silent beyond the crunch of my boots in the snow and the howl of the wind. Immediately after stepping out from the shelter of my car, I was welcomed by the piercing wind, it was relentless. The door was about 30 feet away and had I not been scared of tripping I would’ve run to escape the cold. I shoved my hands in my coat pockets and began my way to the front door. The air stung my eyes each time a gust passed, my nose began to run, and although I couldn’t see for myself, I’m sure most of my face had taken on a red color from the biting wind.

I had played since I was in fourth grade and I liked to consider myself mediocre at the least. After about thirty minutes of playing we all decided to start a tournament; two on two. Alex and I decided to be on a team, and there were about six other teams of two that joined in the tournament. With my basketball background and compared to the other teams, I knew Alex and I definitely had a substantial advantage in the endeavor. As I suspected, we won the tournament without much of a hassle, although when we finished, we had been breathing hard, so the sense of accomplish was still prevalent. Little did I know; that cold October night would be the last time I was able to play basketball for seven elongated

It is about that day of the week again, Sunday. I woke up to the wooden planks used for the floor creaking as daddy went to wake Jonnie and Suzie up for church since Billy, Andrew, Holly and I have passed the age of twelve the expectation is to wake each other up or wake ourselves. That is the bad part about living in the New England colony, there is no sleeping in on a Sunday not just once. Also, we have to get up even earlier because we living in the middle of town and city. The year is sixteen-twenty, and at the moment we are living in Massachusetts, but daddy wants to move to Rhode Island because he says there tolerant- or something like that. Even though I really just want to sleep I know I have to get up and wake Holly, Billy,And Andrew.Daddy briefly told us about one of his

My team, Clackamas Select, down against a top ranked AAU team, Salem Swish. In basketball terms, it was crunchtime. We needed a 3 pointer, specifically from someone who specialized in shooting. Who would’ve thought that I, once the shy little kid who never tried, would step up to take the final shot? I got the ball, and time slowed down. I took one quick glance into the crowd, and I saw my dad. He was smiling. He knew what was coming next. The intensity of the game was reaching it's climax, with the crowd on their feet and the noise in the gym seemingly getting louder by the second.With 5 seconds left, I storm down the court, eyeing the 3 point line. I ran this simulation in the driveway all the time, yearning for the chance to be in that situation. After that it was just like practice. Garnering the remaining energy left in my body, I shot from the same distance I practiced for the past 4 years, and waited for that sweet, harmonious noise. Swish. I was surrounded by the people and sport I loved as the buzzer went off. I couldn’t be

On December 4, 2012, fourth game of the season I go down in pain holding my knee. Sprawled out on the court, listening to all of the fans look at me in shock and concern, wondering if I’ll be okay. As I lay on the court, all I can think to myself was, my grandparents came to watch me; I can’t get hurt. Coach Square came over, he said to me, “Marnie calm down, just breathe.” Sitting there for a moment to catch my breath, I started to cry. I then stood up cautiously to walk back to the bench, but I could not put any weight on my leg. The coach then assisted me by carrying me off to the bench.

As I run down the court with the ball the remaining of 24 seconds left on the scoreboard I hear my teammates shouting and running towards the ball. We were down by 3 and my team always depend the shot on me because I usually score at least 15 - 20 points a game. My coach called a time-out so we could run a better play and hopefully come back. We were going into our 2 lose into the season so this game really meant something to us as much as all the other ones also. With that said it was 7 seconds left on the clock and the other team had the ball so we had to play a very tight defense on them so that we can have a chance to come back and win. So we had got the steal and Nyeisha was on for a fast break, as she runs down the court she misses the

I was completely scared. I did not immediately realize that the name my coach just said was mine. I got up from the bench and went towards the court. Yes, I am there. I was trying to focus myself, trying to calm myself down, but the people on the bleachers disturbed me. Finally, I got the ball. It was the moment when I could hardly understand what happened. The tall strong girl ran at me. I tried to avoid getting hit, but I did not have time. She knocked me down, and I fell heavily to the floor. As I realized then I injured my knee. However, I still kept the ball. The big tall girl, who looked more like a boy, tried to take the ball away from me. I don’t know where I got this power but I could resist her. When the referee ran over to us, I still held the ball. It was amazing. I was raised on the legs, and then pain, ice, and more

I was born and educated in the urban slums of Trenton, NJ. I occasionally reminisce about my participation in academic enrichment programs targeted for inner city youth, playing a variety of sports and attending church. As a young gay African American male living in an eventful neighborhood which majority would correlate to a nightmare, it was complicated to be “myself”; I was expected to conform to social norms. I was expected to mirror the common male counterpart in the neighborhood, in which I didn’t, and unfortunately it wasn’t accepted well. The tension I experienced on a daily basis was disheartening. I was exposed to violence ranging from the front to the rear of the neighborhood projects where I laid my head. I witnessed drug exchanges, the infamous yellow tape, continuous street fights and innumerable amounts of police visits, which