Heart Of A Champion

Daniel Cabrera

I went to the gym just in time for the appointment. "Hey Coach, what's up?" I asked, hoping to get a positive response. "You're 1 minute late, Mr. Brown!" He said, surprising me. "You ain't gonna go the easy way." He added, making me nervous. "Start with making five consecutive threes, in the first try." He said. I followed and missed the first shot. "In what position do you play?" He asked. "Point Guard." I said. "You are not going to pass my standards until you make everything. But yes, there is another way, that will be defeating the team A while being grouped with nobodies in the campus in an official game of basketball." He said, and I nodded. "By the way, my name is Daniel, Daniel Cabrera. Just call me coach." He added, and the conversation comes to an end.

I enter the classroom. "Hey guys, look, a newbie!" A guy that looks popular said, and my classmates started to laugh. "Looks like, who I'm seeing right now, is going to be that piece of trash when we play on Wednesday." He said. I didn't say anything. I wanted my play to tell everything about myself. He continued on irritating me the whole day but I ain't losing my cool. I just laughed at everything that he said about me irritating him instead of me.

Wednesday comes and I'm ready to play. I went outside for the last two days to gather my teammates. They are not actually that bad. We went to the gym and I was amazed and stunned by how many people are there. We're not talking about tens, we are not talking about hundreds but thousands! I look at the sidelines and I saw something that really bothered me. It really looks just like the woman I loved, I love, and will always love. Emma. Yes, is that really her? Because if it is really her, I will probably run to the sideline and hug her tighter than EDSA traffic. But she quickly disappeared. I don't really know if that was real, or it was just an illusion. "Hey! You're up, Franco!" Alex said, I wasn't paying attention to the announcer. This place is CRAZY. I didn't know that it will be this crazy. I didn't know that almost all students in this school love the game. Everyone was cheering and it sounded like fans from professional basketball which has about more than 10,000 fans in the crowd. But this is different, fewer people, but louder ones.

There he is. That bully from Monday. I heard that he was Paul Shugart. Let us see what he can do. Tip-off. Team A wins it. I quickly guarded Paul, who was handling the ball. He was fast, just blowing by me. And he makes the lay-up. 

Third quarter, 2 minutes left, they are leading by 43, 2 to 45. Those two points were mine, but this kind of lead is that one to be forgotten. When I run inside for the lay-up, I always got blocked. When I took the shot, I always bricked it. This is leading to a game that should be that one to turn the TV off. When the game was finished, they led by 64 points, 12 to 76. I was physically exhausted, and mentally too. My brain took a beating from all the trash talk I received from Shugart.