Down by One

There was 2 seconds left on the clock. We were down by 1 point. I had been fouled, and there I stood at the freethrow line. All I had to do was make both my shots, then we would win the tournament. Be ranked first in New Zealand. I looked over at the guy in the number 10 singlet on the opposing team, the man that had dominated our team from the start. He was the guy that had fouled me, and he had fouled me hard. I rubbed my wrist as I painfully remembered how he had landed on top of it and crushed it with all his weight (which is quite heavy considering that he is 7 foot tall). My wrist felt shattered. There was no way I could make my shots! As the referee handed me the ball looked into the stadium crowd. I could see my dad sitting there cheering me on. That gave me all the hope in the world, and as the ball rolled off my fingertips and soared straight into the hoop I could hear him yelling 'Go Chris! You can do it!' The applause and cheering from our bench and supporters was deafening, and I go ready to take my next shot.

All of a sudden a felt a sharp pain in my wrist. I must have strained it even further by taking my last shot. This next one was going to be tough, and I wasn't sure I could do it. Nevertheless,I told myself 'Come on, Chris. We practice these all the time.' The sweat dripped down my forehead and I looked down at my brand new Adidas shoes that I had bought specially for this tournament. On them they read T-Mac, meaning Tracy McGrady, a great player in the NBA. Just by looking at his name, it gave me courage to overcome my nerves and take my shot. I bent my knees, lined my elbow in front of my face, and rolled the ball off my fingertips , but NO! my wrist gave way and the ball was sent hurling towards the left of the hoop. I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and I would have burst out crying if the referee had not penetrated my thoughts with two short, sharp blows f the whistle. "Line violation," he called. "take another shot." All sadness left me, and was replaced by happiness and relief. What had happened was that the guy in the number 10 singlet had stepped over the line to rebound, before I had even taken my shot. Therefore, I got another shot. But it wasn't over yet, I still had to make my next shot. This was going to be a piece of cake. My wrist wasn't sore anymore as at must have clicked back into place, and as the balled slipped up and over into the hoop, without even touching the rim.

The whole stadium was cheering for me, and my teammates rushed over to me and lifted me up on my shoulders. This was the happiest moment of my life, and it was rudely interrupted by the referees reminding us that we still had 2 seconds on the clock. Our team went to go play defence and straight away my team mate got a steal! 0.5 seconds left. Pass to me. . . Dunk! The buzzer went, and we had won. The crowd erupted in applause and cheering, and I rushed over to my dad and hugged him. That was it! The Hibiscus Coast Hawks were ranked first in New Zealand for the Under 15 level.