Ball Is Life By: Elijah Stephen-Taylor

Ball Is Life

By:  Elijah Stephen-Taylor

Sweat dripped down my face as I gripped the orange Spalding ball in my hand. My feet were aligned at the free-throw line, the hoop stood only a few feet in front of me, and the gym was quiet. It was second quarter with eight minutes on the clock. I pounded the ball three times, bent my legs to push my upper body up to score, the ball hit back iron and made it’s way into the hoop. “You got this” ,my best friend  Jordan said “ Just take your time.”

The referee passed the ball back to me for my second free throw shot, I repeated my routine and form and the ball cuffed into the net. I ran back to the opposite side of the court and my team and I got back on defense. The point guard slowly ran it down when he reached half court he had pitched it to his teammate that was on the left wing. Behind the 3-point line he banked the shot in his defenders face tying the game up 70 to 70.

My heart raced while the ball was in bounded to me, my ego was hard to knock from my determination to win this game but I was still nervous. I know that I had to win this last game for the season not only for my team but for myself, rumors went around that their were sponsors watching and I wanted to put on a show. I ran the ball down and my defender came up to guard me, I bounced the ball to my teammate inside, and had a screen to get my defender off  of me. Once I was free I ran to the right wing and had the ball passed back to me and took the mid range jumper. “Swish” the hoop exclaimed as my teammates clapped and cheered. As I ran down to go back on defense I caught eye contact with the most beautiful girl in the school, Amira.  Her smile lit up and I shot back with my own. I turned back to the grasp of her looks and to the focus of the game, “3-2!” I yelled. The point guard dashed his way into the paint but before he could score I had ran behind him and slammed the basketball on the backboard, The crowd cheered and I took my time reverting back to offense as the shot clock hit 2 minutes. The score was 72 to 70, My best friend was wide open, I passed the ball to him and posted up on the tall small forward. He bounced passed it to me and then ran to get open, I faked up then passed it to him when he was behind three point line. He jumped to score and his defender darted  towards him and as the ball was about to leave his hand the opponent slapped his forearm, the basketball managed to still fly and sunk into the hoop. The ref had blew his whistle and Jordan made his way to convert the and-1. He pounded the ball on the shiny wooden floor and splashed the shot. The other team's coach called timeout and he looked furious his face was bright red and it was hard not to laugh. I made my way to the bench and high fived everyone, we all smiled and laughed. I saw we only had 1 minute left. “Keep up the intensity.” coach said “ we could extend this lead more and improve our defense, never settle for less.” we huddled together and piled our fist in the middle, “Hard work on three” my deep voice boomed with motivation. “1,2,3 hard work!!” we all chanted. The other team in-bounded the ball. The point guard ran it down once more this time they spread out so that each man would be on the wing. I held my tenacity and guarded him closely, “pick right” someone shouted and the defender went past me and my body collided with number 12 from the other team. My man went up to the jump shot but the center from our team rejected it and the gym lit up with the sound of the block then the noise from the crowd. I darted for the basketball, I glimpsed at the shot clock and it was 20 seconds left. I patiently waited  and pulled a double team, I passed the ball to Jordan who already knew my plan. He faked the shot…”5,4!…”

the crowd chanted. I lunged up in the air and he tossed it to me...3,2..” and on the final second I slammed it down and my teammates exclaimed excitement.