The Basketball Tryouts

Thump. Thump. Thump. The noise of the basketballs bouncing on the floor became louder as I walked toward my school gym. Lost in my thoughts I did not even realize when I passed through the wide wooden doors of the gym which were held ajar by a door stopper. Students were slowly trickling in and the chaos and cacophony inside brought me to my senses. It was a day I had been preparing and practicing for the last 10 months. It was the day of the final cut of the school basketball trials.

The gym, where I had been a million times before, had blue walls, a high ceiling, and a blue banner hung on it, with the words, Welcome Knights! on it in yellow. The wooden floor shined as if it was just polished a few days ago. I saw about twenty people, all warming up for the basketball tryout. It was the final cut, and I couldn’t stop worrying: what if I don’t make it? What if the coach hates me? What if I don’t do good? I took a deep breath to calm myself and made my way to the center of the gym. As they say, “Both faith and fear require us to believe in the unknown – it is for us to choose.”

Before I could think much about any of these fears, the coach– a tall and well-built man with a fully bald head– came out of the locker room. His name was John Park. Mr. Park was a great coach, as well as my gym teacher He taught the students the value of staying fit and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It was evident that he believed in his teachings himself. Today he was wearing a black sports shirt and gray track pants that fell on top of his colorful basketball shoes. A whistle hung loosely around his neck, and he was carrying a basketball in his hands.

“Hello, everyone. Welcome to basketball tryouts,” the coach said loudly. We are going to play games with teams of three, while I walk around and decide whom I want to pick for the team. Then we’re going to finish up with a bit of running.” We quickly split into teams of three. I quickly chose two of my friends that were also in the final cut of the tryouts.

My first game was with a team that I thought would be tough to beat. The team had a tall player, whom I thought could probably dunk. I knew if we had to win the game, we had to keep the ball away from him. I looked at my team members and I realized they were thinking the exact same thing. They nodded at me, and our plan was set.

Mr. Park blew the whistle and threw the ball up in the air. The next 10 minutes were a blur. As we started playing, I found that my nervousness started to go away. My training for the last 10 months kicked in and my focus changed to winning the game. I dribbled, spun, shot, passed, stole the ball, and defended as things were moving at lightning speed. Before I knew it, I was having fun, and I wasn’t worrying about if I was going to get picked or not. And then– tweeeeet! The coach blew his whistle, and we won the game, 6-4!! We played almost 10 games each and won 7 of them, which I thought was quite good.

“Good job everyone.” Mr. Park said at last. “We’re going to start running now. Everyone line up in a single file and start running clockwise along the walls of the gym!” We all stood in a single line and started running in a circle around the gym. After about a minute, my body had set into the steady pace that I was going at. My feet and breath were both locked in a smooth rhythm. Suddenly, I felt a tug at my right foot and realized I was falling. I instinctively swung my arms out, hoping to catch myself before I fell, but it was too late. I landed on my stomach and lay there for a second. I could smell the disinfectant they used on the gym floor; I could feel an uncomfortable bump on my tongue– I had bit it when I fell. I could also taste something metallic in my mouth– blood. It was coming from where I had bit my tongue. I picked myself up and realized that I fell because my shoelace was untied. Of all the times I could fall, it had to be during a tryout, I thought to myself grumpily. I quickly tied my shoelace and started running again, hoping the coach didn’t see me fall. I wouldn’t want the coach to think I was clumsy or that I didn’t know how to run just because I tripped on my shoelaces.

After what seemed like hours, we finally were allowed to stop running. I was panting, and sweating a lot– the gym was really hot. Tweeeeet! The coach blew his whistle. “That’s all everyone! Thank you for trying out. Tomorrow I’ll put a list of the final team members on the gym door.” The event I had been preparing for months was finally over.

As I walked out the gym doors, I thought about how the tryout went. Even though I don’t know if I’ll get on the team or not, at least I tried my best, I thought. I was tired but happy that I had given it my best shot (no pun intended)!