A perfect example of this is St. Johns Country Day. The first time we played them was ugly; We lost the game by around thirty points. The second time we played though, we were ready for them. It was a big game with district’s playoff seeding on the line. We had learned what defense, a 2-3 zone, they switched to during the first game, which we could not score against. We also learned effective plays against a 2-3 zone in practice, so we could get open shots this time we faced them. The second game was at St. John’s school and the atmosphere was hostile. They had students in the bleachers who were jeering us as we went through our pre-game warmup comprised of various shooting drills. By the time the game started at 7:30, the stands were full of people wearing St. Johns shirts and sweatshirts.
We came out strong in the first quarter just like the first time, and once again we took an early lead. But just like last time, their team switched to a 2-3 zone and we were startled. St. Johns came back and took a big lead by halftime. We all knew we had to start playing better if we wanted to come back. So we came out in the second half fired up and ready to play, but St. Johns was not going to give up the lead easily so after a hard fought third quarter we were still down twelve points.
If there is one thing our team has been good at this year in our losses though it is not giving up. I started the fourth quarter and there was not a doubt in my mind that we were still in this game. We got the ball and we started to execute our new plays and they started working. We got a couple layups, three pointers, and some big stops on defense and then halfway through the fourth quarter we were only down five points. Our success on offense fueled the defense along with the support of the players on the bench. Everybody on our team was getting pumped up thinking this could be a great comeback for a win. Then with less than two minutes I got the ball at the top of the key and knocked down a three pointer making it a two point game. This got their fans into the game and the gym was alive again with their fans cheering them on and booing us. With less than a minute their player got fouled and had a chance to make a free throw. It was dead silent as he walked up to the line, but his shot hit the front of the rim for a miss so we had one final chance. We ran our play which had been working all game for us and one of our players sinks a three pointer to give us the lead with two seconds left. Our team went crazy for a minute but knew it was not over yet.
After a timeout their team throws the ball down the court to their big center who catches the ball and heaves up a shot, and it would just happen to be our luck that his shot hits the backboard and falls right through the net to give them the win. It was heartbreaking for us after such a good comeback and their whole team dove on the player who made the winning shot. The gym was deafening as their fans ran onto the court, and we hung our heads. In hindsight we played a great game and lost due to a last-second lucky shot. Once again we drastically improved in a rematch against a team because we learned from our mistakes and had a much improved performance the second time we played.
I thought that this piece was written very well. Your play-by-play description of a few of the events, especially in the fourth quarter, really involves the reader in the story and gets them into the game to feel how the players are feeling. Something that I would consider revising, however, would be describing more in depth how you felt after the other team won the game at the last second. You allow the reader to guess at how you felt, but actually getting them into your mind by telling the reader how you felt might make it easier for them to relate with the story. Other than that, I didn’t really see much that I would change in this piece. It was written well and it was relatable to all athletes who have experienced a tough loss. It must have been a really hard loss, considering all that your team had been through previous to this game and after this game.
ReplyDeleteYou do very good at describing the game a play at a time. This really helps to see how you felt throughout your game. It gives good details throughout the story that make you understand what it was like playing and watching the game. You also make it sound very professional with the voice that you used throughout the writing of your story. One thing that I would add would be a few more details that help to keep the readers interested. Overall though, this is a very well written story.
ReplyDelete