Personal Narrative: Our 8th Grade Basketball Team

It all began on November 3, 2015 during my first middle school basketball tournament. The grey brick walls of the gymnasium looking more like a prison than a school. The school’s “Lincoln Park Elementary School” sign had graffiti and missed a couple letters from the name. The court was terribly small, but we began by playing the superb team of Jam on It. We were blown out and I headed back up to my mom and dad in the parent filled stands. The game wasn’t even fun to play and we looked like third graders playing them. I looked up to my parents as sad as could be.

One situation in which I overcame adversity is making b-team basketball for White Knoll High School. Basketball has always been a love of mine. I first fell in love with basketball when I went to an Atlanta Hawks game with my dad when I was 5. Afterwards, my dad purchased a basketball goal to go over the garage and we spent most our weekends playing in the driveway. The next year my dad signed me up for a recreational league in the area, and I played in the same league for 5 years. My dad was my very first coach. The pride he'd have on the sidelines when I made shots or played good defense forever cemented my love for the game of basketball.

I grew up as an older sibiling who really had no one to express myself with. There are kids who live in secluded areas or just don't have the social skills to find other friends. Organized activites changed my perspective as a young child on how to actually have fun with my other peers. I personally liked playing basketball and was quite decent at the sport, I quickly developed friends who enjoyed the sport as much as I did. After awhile I started hanging out with a variety of different kids who were mutual friends between my friends and I.

I do believe that it is very important to be involved with not only your school but also

“Friday night games with huge crowds. That atmosphere is hard to beat.” Senior Hunter Martin is playing through his fourth and final year on the Varsity basketball team. For two years in a row, he has been the starting foward. “Basketball hasn’t always been easy but I’m really glad I stuck through it all four years,” Martin said. Looking back on his accomplishments, Martin said that his favorite memory was was win the team won districts his sophomore year. “Nothing can compare to that moment of celebrating with my team.”

Jack couldn’t wait until recess time, he had been looking forward to it all day. As soon as Jack got dismissed outside where it was cold and the sun was giving him a smile it was so bright. He dashed to the basketball court where he played every day. He was minding his own business until out of a sudden the school bully and his jerk squad starting hollering insults at him. Colby escorted over to jack and shoved him on the ground this was normal for jack he often got bullied by him. After the charge it drew a huge swarm of people, and the pressure shadowed over Jack. The crowd was chanting at the top of their lungs “Fight,” “Fight,” “Fight!”

One day in Gym class there were four boys playing basketball, there names were Jimmy who is very small and never gets to play for the basketball team. Then there's Carl who is a starter for the basketball team and is trying to convince coach to put Jimmy in, and finally there's Jeff and Charlie, they both like to bully Jimmy because he’s too small to play.

On a saturday morning the philomath basketball team had a basketball game very early in the morning. I went in the gym and saw my team warming up and I remember looking up from tying my shoes and just see what I thought was a NBA team. When I was walking over to the lay up line I heard there shoes shaking the ground as they would walk and jump the ball not even touching the rim when they would shoot a three and the two post that were 6,2 I know that doesn’t sound talk but for us in 7 grade that was tall. We go back to are bench as we hudl up and I remember my Dad whispers in my ear just post up strong the first time and i promise you he will get scared and not want to play. I remember looking at are crowd and seeing my brother and all his friends laughing and not even looking at the game in front of them.

Basketball has been the passion of my life since I was 4 years old. I've always had a competitiveness or desire to not lose. That's why my sophomore year of high school was the worst, but best year of my life. As a freshman I was on JV and had tremendous success. The next year I anticipated a starting varsity role. I couldn't wait, expecting a year even better than the last. All the success I had as a freshman didn't translate as smoothly.

Growing up you learn that no one is perfect from famous childhood actors like Hannah Montana, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and many more; but growing up in this society you learn at a young age if people see your failures and imperfections you automatically get teased and judged for it. Countless nights I’ve devoted myself to playing volleyball only to get my dreams crushed consecutively from sixth to eighth grade, finally making the team freshman year. This essay I will explain the effects of always being told by kids and coaches to give up or you’re not good enough.

My basketball team and I were going head to head against Lamar Bruni Middle School for the second time that season. The parents loved to cheer us on and capture so many pictures of us, they were our cheerleaders all season long. We were 5-0 at the time and losing that game was not an option for any of my teammates nor the coaches. Unfortunately, I was not able to give it my all in that game due to me twisting my ankle in the third quarter.

Even with all these insecurities in volleyball I decided to try out for my high school team. I wanted to play as many sports as possible in high school and figured what better way to start off my career than with a sport I became slightly familiar with in middle school. Volleyball camps and tryouts began a couple of weeks before the beginning of my freshman year. I started with the camps thinking it would help me gain skills that would help me in tryouts. The camp definitely helped but I shortly began to realize that this was way more serious than any volleyball I had participated in before. I realized I was going to have to put in a ton of hard work if I was going to succeed in making the team because I was not only going up against other

The cool thing about humans, is no two are exactly the same, every one is different in their own way. We’re all defined in unique ways, some by their jobs, some by their livelihood, or interests such as basketball. This is one of my favorite things to do in life, there's just nothing better than setting foot on that court. When basketball season starts to roll around, memories from past years come flooding in. Being able to smell the freshly popped popcorn all throughout the gym. Looking up at the crowd and seeing everyone in the stands cheering us on, arguing with refs about a call, or not really paying attention to the game at all. The feeling I get when I’m on the court is second to nothing. This is where I go when I need need to just get away and think.

An all time favorite activities of me to do and to watch is basketball. Basketball is something I relish because it's exciting and really affecting, I started playing when I was in fourth grade. When I became attentive in basketball it was because I was trying out sports that year and I determine I admired it and really, enjoying it. Basketball is something my dad, and my brother plays, too. My brother and I try to practice, and learn from each other when we both have the time to practice.

One rainy night in November, I arrived to the church gym for my first basketball practice of the season. As I walked in the doors creaked and you could smell the gym floor. As I already heard the basketballs hitting the ground, bouncing up and down. My friends Brittany and Destiny walked in right behind me through the door. That was when we realized we were the only girls surrounded by all guys. As practice came to a start we began to run, it felt like we were never going to stop. Up and down the court as we ran suicides, you could hear the squeaking of shoes as we went from the next line back and then on to the next. Before we started scrimmaging, the two captains were boys. Brittany, Destiny, and I stood in amazement as we were the last three standing there. You could see by their expressions they didn’t want any of us on either team.