Advanced Sublunary: Inception

Chapter 5

Soon the head coach emerged from the back. He gave almost the same exact speech as he did yesterday. He ended it by pumping his fist and screaming out we're almost there! The First challenge of the day was running a mile, but it had to be finished in a certain period.  I did not enjoy running, nor did I enjoy being out of breath. We went outside to the track to get ready for the challenge. At the start of the track there were about fifty people stretching and preparing. I was a fast guy but running a mile was totally different from sprinting. It is now all about endurance, and how bad do you want it.

One of the coaches gave a short speech on running and breathing. He put his whistle in his mouth. "Line up men." He ordered looking at everyone to make sure we were ready. He put his hand up then blew his whistle.

I was in the top bunch for the first couple of minutes but it did not last. As time went by I got slower. Soon Ronnie passed me calling me a rookie as he purposely bumped me with his shoulder. He was kind of right; it was a rookie mistake to not conserve my energy. By the time I was on my third lap I had slowed down tremendously. I didn't want to be looked at as weak so I continued to push myself. At the start of my last lap, people were starting to finish. I could hear them celebrating behind me. I was gasping for air but the only thing on my mind was finish. I finished in the bottom fifteen but at least I was not the last guy to finish.

The next event was a one on one tournament. The event that I have been waiting for. The perfect time to display my skills. The four return players from last year had their own groups with people competing with in the group to earn the right to play one of them in the finals of the tournament. Then one of those four winners will get the bragging rights of being king after playing each other. No new comer has ever won this tournament before, but I was going to make it my business to try to change that.

My first match was against a kid I saw around campus before but I did not know him. He was a little taller than I was, but I saw him play yesterday and knew some of his weaknesses. The game was first to five so there was little room for error. He got possession first. He started dribbling real fancy in and out and behind his legs. He tried to get pass me but he lost the ball out of bounds resulting in a turnover. Now it was my turn. I got the ball and quickly shot scoring the first basket of the game. My secret was to take mostly jump shots to conserve energy, then once we were deeper into game I would drive to the basket. I had the ball and shot again, another score. I was up two to nothing and I was starting to get confident. Now my opponent decided to play tighter defense on me. I swung my elbows to create some space, and as I did so, he flopped to the floor acting as if I hit him with my elbows. I charged with a foul, so I had to give the ball and it was now his possession.

He held the ball over his head shortly to decide what he was going to do then faked the shot causing me to jump. Once I was in the air, he ran right through me clipping my leg knocking me down to the ground. I looked into the crowd and noticed Ronnie rile everyone up to laugh at me. I ignored them, trying to keep my head in the game. He got the ball back and I was ready for it this time. He drove the ball into me and I was ready to take a charge, but he did a spin, shot it and scored. Tie game now, and my heart was beating faster. Everyone's eyes were on us. Other students started cheering loud and stomping their feet, but the coaches walked around telling everyone to simmer down. He started dribbling the ball between his legs fancy again showing his confidence was back. I did not mind, because last time he tried to showboat he turned the ball over. This time he took a shot but he missed and I grabbed the rebound. I dribbled to the three-point line to clear the ball then drove straight to the basket. The cheater stuck his foot out and tripped me.

"What the hell man!" I stormed.

"Just play ball." He replied getting into a defensive stance.

The coach called foul then handed me the ball. I tried to dribble the ball between my legs but he stole it and scored easily. I was up just a few minutes ago, now I'm losing. I started to panic a little. He held the ball over his head then started to jab step repeatedly. I give him room to shoot since he been missing his jumpers but this time when he shot, he nailed it.