I Figure Out What’s Important

February 28, 2020.

I stood in the coach's office surrounded by my fellow JV teammates. We were all in our uniforms and we'd already warmed up. We were just waiting for the game to start now. Southridge was out on our court at the moment, having their huddle. Coach Hendrix was giving us some final motivation before we ran out onto the court and the tip-off started.

"Go out and have fun," the coach was saying. "You guys have had a fantastic season so far. Give it your all, remember everything we've practiced, and show the Southridge Spartans what we've got!"

We cheered and Hendrix opened his office door, letting us run out onto the court. I looked out among the cheering croud as we ran out. There were more people there than I had ever seen in those bleachers during a game, and the varsity team wasn't even playing.

We met the coach over at our side of the court, did a quick huddle and chant after Southridge had finished with theirs, and then Jackson, Wesley, Cam, Xavier, and I ran out onto the court for the tip-off. I got into position and followed the ball with my eyes and the referree blew his whistle and threw it up into the air. Xavier missed the tip and Southridge's player managed to hit it off. Fortunately, he didn't hit it straight back, so I was able to pick it up before an opposing player. I tossed it to Jackson and the back and forth action that was basketball began.

Jackson threw it back to me, signalling one of our plays, and I tossed it to Cam as I cut toward the basket. Cam returned it to me in time for me to lay it up for the first two points of the game.

"Got that starting position you were going for, huh?" Luke said to me as I ran toward the other side of the court. I just nodded to him as I passed.

The Southridge player who had done the tipping inbounded the ball to Luke. Luke took the ball up the court and passed it to the man that I was defending. He then quickly swapped places with Luke and handed the ball back off to Luke. Jackson and I adjusted so that I was on Luke and Jackson was on the shooting guard. Luke dribbled the ball twice, took a step back, and released. I had predicted what he was doing before he did it, but I wasn't able to get a hand on the ball before it went over me and into the basket for three points.

"I've been a starter all year long," Luke said to me as he watched his shot go in.

"Touché," I replied with a slight smile as I wondered how long he had planned that. It was on, all right.

And it went on like that for the rest of the first quarter. Our starting team stayed in the whole quarter, but Southridge shuffled some people in and out as the quarter progressed. We were able to hang in there better than we had done last time we'd faced them, but it was still a challenge. Southridge was definetely the best team in the league, and they weren't going to lay down easily. The score at the end of the quarter was 21-22, with Southridge leading by 1. Southridge would have been leading by much, much more if it hadn't been for our spirit. Southridge was going to make it to the playoffs whether they won this game or not, but this was the deciding game for us. We had higher stakes, and that was obvious by the way we were hanging in there.

As the buzzer ending the first quarter sounded, I took a seat on the bench along with the other starters. Next up were Nathan, Chance, Finn, Diego, and Max. Zane, Amir, Colton, Levi, and Tucker would also be subbing in at some point in the upcoming quarter or the one after that. Coach Hendrix usually didn't leave anyone without playing time past the third quarter. If we got in trouble and the starting and backup teams had to stay in for the rest of the game, the coach didn't want to worry about someone not getting any playing time. That hadn't been much of a problem since I had stopped being a menace to the team. Most everyone on the team was at least average at the game, and could hold their own if need be. The exception to this was probably only Tucker, who had only scored a couple of times this season, and never more than once a game.

Nathan's squad did okay, but since Southridge hadn't kept their starting team in the whole first quarter, they were able to sub some of them back in. That's where it got a little harder for us. Coach Hendrix did a lot of subbing in and out, which kept our guys on the floor from getting too tired out. That helped a little, but Southridge's minuscule lead grew and grew throughout the quarter. At halftime the score was 31-42. They had a lead, but not an impossible one.

In the third quarter, Coach Hendrix changed things up a little. He put Nathan, myself, Wesley, Cam, and Max in together. This was odd because the five of us had never run together like this, and the coach rarely tried something out for the first time during a game, especially not a game that was this important. I thought about discouraging the idea that we should go in together, but I saw that Luke wasn't going to be in either, and I figured if there was any time for Nathan, Cam, and Max to go in it was when Luke was on the bench.

"Alright, you guys," the coach told us. "Just play on each other's strengths. Between the five of you, there's lots of them."

We walked out onto the court and I expected Nathan to add something to what the coach said, like the point guard usually does, but I realized that Nathan didn't feel comfortable leading a team with three starters on it. So I decided to put myself forward.

"Alright, we can do this you guys," I said to them. "Us five haven't played together all season, but Cam, Nathan, Max, and I have been playing since middle school. I realize that Wesley isn't Luke, but he's an amazing player. Between us five we know each other's strengths and weaknesses. So let's take this game back."

"Let's do it!" echoed my teammates.

So we got to work. It was no easy task, since Southridge also had several of their starters playing, and we were definetely outmatched. Their team also worked well together, but their team chemistry paled in comparison to ours. Or at least it should have. 2 minutes into the quarter, however, and the score had gone to 35-50. Something needed to change or else we wouldn't be able to come back at all. I caught the coach's eye when it was our posession and gestured to him to call a timeout. He hesitated, but resolved to trust my judgement and signalled to the ref.

When the timeout was called, I didn't bother walking over to the bench and instead motioned for my four teammates to gather around me in the middle of the court.

"What's this about?" Cam asked.

"Look, the game's going downhill," I said. "And so I want to try some of our old plays from middle school, the one's we know best."

"I don't know..." Max said.

"Those plays are the ones that won us the championship," I explained, and then I looked at Wesley. "So do you think you can keep up."

"Yeah, just give me a quick rundown of them."

I briefly described them in the 30 seconds I had in the timeout and then the game was back in session. We started back playing and I immediately noticed a difference. We worked our plays around the position of small forward that Wesley was filling, and we scored some easy points that way. Southridge knew our normal plays from the last time we'd faced them, but they didn't know these old ones. The only person who did was Luke. After setting Max up for an easy lay up, I looked over and saw Luke talking to his coach and pointing to us. As we ran back to play defense I got Nathan's attention and nodded to Luke. He seemed to understand. Luke was going to come back in the game soon, and then we'd have to go back to normal plays.

Cam got a rebound and we went back on the offense. As we ran back, I put up a discrete index finger and let my teammates see. Nathan squinted his eyebrows and pointed to himself questioningly, but I shook my head and pointed to myself. He seemed even more confused then, but I made a fist and pounded my chest with it once. A simple message—trust me.

Nathan tossed me the ball as he and I switched places, with me assuming the position of point guard. I threw the ball to Cam in the paint, who threw it back out to Max as I ran forward. Max then ran into the paint as I backed up slowly, losing my defender as he moved to guard Max. Mac then threw the ball out to the top of the three point line, where I was waiting. I then jumped without thinking and let the ball roll of my fingers. I smiled as it did and stepped back confidently as it swished into the net. My first three pointer of the season. The score was 52-54.

Luke was sent back into the game along with another starter, and I made a line across my throat to signal to the coach that we couldn't keep up what we were doing anymore. The coach got the message and brought Finn, Amir, and Zane to sub for me, Wesley, and Max

I sat down at the end of the bench and grabbed a towel to wipe my sweat.

"Your old plays?" Hendrix came over and asked while keeping an eye on the court.

Coach Myers took over the position of shouting at our players and Hendrix sat down beside me.

"I'm sorry coach, but it was all I could think of."

"No, don't be," Hendrix said. "You made a decision out there that risked you getting in a lot of trouble with me. A fifteen point lead for them was turned into a two point lead because of your leadership on the court, even though you weren't officially the point guard. That's the Blake Manson I saw while watching your middle school videos, and it's what we needed here."

With that, Hendrix stood up and started yelling for everyone to hurry up and get to the other end of the court. I watched the rest of the quarter as we continued to trail close behind them, never actually gaining the lead and never getting too far behind. There were about 20 seconds left in the corner when something happened. I didn't see exactly how it happened, but I heard a whistle blow in the middle of a play and I looked to see Cam laying flat on his back on the court floor. Everyone on the court stood up and Coach Hendrix went to see what was wrong, with me right on his tail.

"What happened?" I asked a ref when we got over to him.

"He slipped," the ref explained to me. "It knocked the wind out of him. He'll probably be mine, but he should probably be checked by the school nurse if possible. Someone needs to take him."

"Aagh," Cam groaned as he lay on the floor. "Hey, can someone call my mom?"

"Does anyone have the number for his mom?" Coach Hendrix asked. "I have it somewhere, but I'll have to look for the papers."

"I do," I said. "I can take him to the nurse too."

"Are you sure?" Coach Hendrix asked. "No one else has his parents' phone number? Because if you go, you'll miss the—"

"No, let me do it," I said. I knew that neither Nathan or Max had his home number, which meant I was the only one who had it. I could give it to someone, but I had to do this. "My friends are more important to me than winning anyway."

Coach Hendrix gave a small smile as he recalled what he had told me at the Sweet Shack. "Okay, go for it."

I helped haul Cam to the nurse's office, which was always open until after all sports had finished. Once the nurse had laid Cam down and started to dianose the problem, I called Cam's home phone and told his mom what had happened. When his mom said that she'd come to the school right away, I let Cam know that I had called her.

"Thanks Blake," he said weakly, still in pain. "Thanks for coming with me. Go get back to the game, before it ends."

I nodded and told him that I hoped he felt better, and then ran back to the gym as fast as I could. When I got there, though, there were mere seconds left in the fourth quarter, with Southridge leading by 8.

I walked back to the bench and answered some questions about how Cam was doing as the clock went down. The buzzer sounded and Southridge had won the game. The team on the court came back and we tried to keep ourselves together as we went in a line to congratulate the opposing team.

"Told ya," said Luke as I passed him.

"Just you wait," I promised.

When we got back to our bench and huddled up, I could tell that some of our players were on the verge of tears. It was an emotional game, and it meant that the season was over for us.

"This is one loss," Coach Hendrix said in our huddle. "An end to a great season, though. I know some of you are upset, but you all put yourselves out there today and you did great. You did give it your all, and that's all I can ask you to do."

"Can I say something?" I asked the coach, who nodded. I took a deep breath before starting to speak. "This isn't the end," I assured everyone. "We're all freshmen, with a few sophomores. We'll all be back next year, and that's when we'll show Southridge and everyone else in the league who's boss. I met most of you at the beginning of this season, and since then I've gotten to know most of you really well. I know that I for one changed a lot this season, and I know everyone else did to. At the beginning of the year I couldn't shoot a shot to save my life, because I thought my broken arm had affected me permanently. It was really my confidence though, that had been affected. You all helped me get that back, just like you're going to help us get back at Southridge next year. I learned this season that I care more about the people I meet along the way than winning some championship. Southridge won the battle today, but this is a war. And we're not giving up, which means that this isn't really a loss at all. So if you're ready to put in the work to overcome the Spartans next year, say it with me. COBRAS ON THREE!"

"ONE, TWO, THREE, COBRAS!!!" everyone yelled, so loud that I could have sworn that anyone in Miami could hear us.

The crowd cheered for us one last time as the team that lost got back up again.