#22 The Name of the Game

The Name of The Game

Waking up and knowing it’s game day, life doesn’t get much better than that. ‘Cause everyone knows game days are way better than practice. Putting your jersey on, playing for the name on the front and soon people will start to remember the name on the back. Now I’m a typical girl that has to have her hair braided, so it doesn’t look like a hot mess. But you also can’t forget my bow!

While I was stuffing my face with my chocolate muffin, my dad pulls into the parking lot of the ball diamond. My eyes blew up like two fifty-cent quarters. It was the first day of nationals and I couldn’t be more excited. Everything was a mixture of Disney and sports, it was heaven. My team and I were playing at the ESPN SportsCenter down in Orlando, Florida. I opened the car door feeling the southern heat warming my body my excitement escalated. Once everyone on my team and I were all gathered together we made our way towards the stadium. Walking into the stadium gave me chills. When you first walk in there’s an enormous globe made of steel. This stadium included every sport you could imagine. It included soccer, basketball, lacrosse, softball and so much more. There were also TV’s streaming players from all over the park.

My team and I played soon and the adrenaline was going all over. Not only is being in Florida exciting but we have had an exciting season full of memories and of course winning. We had to win the next one more game to make it into the championship out of 70 teams. Our coach informed us by saying “We all know it’s been a long week so far but it all comes down to how much heart and desire do you have left to push yourself to make it to the championship.”

I was starting center field with Brooke in left field and Emma in right. The crowd was huge, and both teams competing now have been undefeated until the timer goes off in an only an hour and thirty minutes. The game went by fast as some would say but in the 7th inning we were tied 2-2. My team were visitors so we didn't get to bat last. All we needed was one more out. My nerves started to kick in, my hands shaking just waiting to see where the ball would be hit next.

Soon the ball went flying high in the air in between center and right. I could hear my friend Emma screaming, “Liz you go, you go!” I knew it was gonna be close and I may fall short. Right before the ball hit the ground I threw my body into the air extending as far as I could reach to try and catch it but I fell to short. The gilt in my stomach started to cling and I couldn't resist knowing we had lost the game.

You will win some games and you will lose some. You have to learn from them no matter how good or bad the turnout is. Not everything is your fault. You win as a team and lose as a team.

#21 The Monster

The Monster

"What was that?" Tom asked John.

There was loud crashing sounds coming from on top of the hill. They are about 3 miles from the truck according to the map John is reading. They are running low on resources and still thriving to kill this monster they have been chasing for two weeks now.

It is about 20 minutes from dark and they still don't have camp set up or a fire going. Tom still wanted to make it another mile before setting camp up. They were traveling as fast as they could with the resources that they had left. After they made it to where Tom wanted to camp they got the fire started and got the tent set up. They got what was left of their food on the fire and had a very little supper. Tom knew they only had one more day to kill this monster because tomorrow they are heading back to the truck.

As they were laying down, trying to get some rest, there was some loud sounds coming towards them at a fast pace. Tom got his gun and headed toward the sound leaving the flashlight behind. John
grabbed the flashlight and ran after him. Tom ran about 100 yards ahead of john and stopped to
listen for the sounds again. Before he knew it, the big monster brown bear he was hunting charged him and pinned him on the ground. Tom was screaming as the giant beast was biting and clawing him. John quickly ran toward him with his pistol drawn as he got to about 30 yards he shot the bear, which got him off tom but did not kill it. As the bear got up John shot it 3 more times putting it on the ground with a loud thud.

Then John quickly ran to tom and found that he was bleeding badly from his right arm and shoulder where the bear had been ripping him apart. He then took of his shirt and tied it around him trying to keep pressure and stop some of the bleeding at this point tom is unconscious but is still breathing. John picked tom up and what was important from the supplies and headed toward the truck, which according to the map is only a mile away. He ran as fast as he could with tom over his shoulder. As he was running through the timber he could see light the sun had come up beyond the trees. About 100 more yards and john came out of the timber nearly where they went in. He put tom in the truck and raced to the hospital which was 20 miles away.

As John came into town, he noticed tom wasn't breathing very good. He rushed him into the hospital where he went into the emergency room. John sat in the waiting room for 6 hours until he heard anything about tom. The doctor finally came out with blood all over his clothes.

The doctor said he was gonna make it but they had to cut off his arm since it was only being held on by skin anyway. Other than that he just has some cuts and bruises and will be okay. John left the hospital after talking to tom telling him that he has some places to go and that he will be back in a little while with some food. John left and went back to get the bear and some food for tom. He got the bear loaded and took it home to hang. John came back with tom's food and they talked for hours about what had happened.

#20 State Championship Game

State Championship Game

“And that is why I will always remember the State Championship game of my senior year,” Ben said with a smile on his face. It was the the Class of 2019’s tenth class reunion. It had been ten years since the State Basketball Championship game. A small high school from Chicago was going against the heavily favored team from Champaign. First, we should start from the beginning of the season.

It was the middle of the summer and the Chicago Falcons were just getting done with an open gym, but while everyone else left to go hang with other friends or their girlfriends, Ben stayed in the gym and kept shooting. It was his senior year and he didn’t want to have any regrets about not working hard enough. Practice ended at 2:30 and he planned to shoot until 3:15. He had watched Tyrone and the Champaign Snakes win the Championship last year. He knew if he would not have got hurt in the last regular season game that he could have led the team to its first championship, at least that’s what his dad kept telling him. Ben had received offers from some Division one schools but hadn’t been recognized by Duke, which is the school he dreams of playing at. Tyrone had been in contact with Kentucky in the offseason and was ranked 5th in ESPN 300 which ranks the top 300 high school prospects in the nation. Ben practiced pulling up from three after running in transition. When he was done shooting he went home and talked to his dad about practice.

“You are gonna shoot the ball every time you are open and lead the conference in scoring,” proclaimed Ben’s dad. Ben knew he had to impress his father this year and it gave him some pressure to deal with. He thought he was giving himself so much pressure to do good. It took him a while to realize that as long as he tried his hardest, that he had nothing to worry about.

The Chicago Falcons were destroying teams during the regular season. Ben was leading the area in scoring and rebounds. He had received some contact information from Duke. They weren’t going to give him a full scholarship at the moment. That just motivated Ben even more. Especially because Tyrone just verbally committed to Kentucky. With three games left in the season it looked like the Chicago Falcons and the Champaign Snakes were gonna meet in the State Championship game. Ben started to get a little too confident and tried to score too much in the last few games. This caused some conflicts with his teammates and coaches. They kept telling him that he wasn’t playing college basketball yet and they had to play as a team to defeat the Snakes.

“Look, I’m the best player on the team and if you guys want a shot at winning the championship, I have to have the ball in my hands,” Ben was telling his teammates in the locker room after winning the Sectional Title Game.

“You aren’t going to single-handedly beat Tyrone and you know that. It’s time to accept that we need to play as a team if we wanna win it all,” a teammate responded.

Ben started thinking and realized that the Championship game was tomorrow and he was going to have to figure it out in order to win it all.

The Championship game started out like any other game. It was back and forth between the Falcons and the Snakes. It started getting late in the third quarter and Tyrone had the ball with Ben guarding him. Tyrone embarrassed Ben by breaking his ankles and hitting the three. Ben was ashamed, but that made him more motivated to win the game. With thirty seconds to go in the game, the Falcons were down by two. They had the ball and were drawing up a play for Ben. Ben got the ball with Tyrone guarding him. Ben started dribbling off of the pick and Tyrone stripped him. Tyrone was going on a fast break and looking to dunk the ball. As he jumped, Ben leaped up and swatted the ball off the backboard. Ben grabbed the ball and started running in transition with five seconds left on the clock. He pulled up and time expired as the ball was in mid-air. The ball bounced off the back of the rim and missed. The Champaign Snakes had won the Championship.

Surprisingly, Ben was fine. It took him one day and he realized he had a future to play basketball and forgot about missing the game-winning shot and focused on getting better.

#19 Trevor's Smile

Trevor's Smile

(January 12, 2017)

Heading west, as the sun sets in front of me, driving my white Mazda CX9 up a gravel, country road, with no signs of life anywhere, I start to have flashbacks. The long, winding road I was traveling made me reminisce. Before I knew it, I was veering off the road. I had to stop. I pulled to the side and stared blankly at the wheel, wondering, why? Why him? I remember that night clearly, yet it was such a blur. The cool spring night. The night my life changed forever. The night I lost my best friend.

(March 3rd, 2016)

It was morning, chilly outside, the birds were chirping. And Aspen, my boyfriend at the time, messaged me to see what I was doing that day. I said nothing and he replied with now ya do. So I got ready and he picked me up in his old brown rusty truck. We and met up with all our friends, and we all went to B-dubs in Sterling. Aspen's friend Jarrett ordered one of the hottest wings; he started crying. After B-dubs, we decided to all meet up at Jarrett's, and when we got there we thought of the “greatest” idea… we were gonna play car tag. I went with Aspen and Trevor. Trevor was driving and I was in the back seat. Then everyone else piled into cars and we decided on a few roads.

The game began. We were on a long, windy dirt road with the headlights off, driving slowly, trying to find the other cars. And we thought we found one; Trevor flicked on his lights and raced up the hill toward the other car. He was going too fast, but no one said anything. We started drifting, then the car hit a grass hill so hard. We were airborne, no screams, it was silent. Everything was in slow motion; I remember closing my eyes and putting my head down waiting for the impact. Then, we struck the pole, still no sound, I slowly started making myself pass out, I was ready, I thought, this is the day I die, and I was accepting it.

Then it happened, we hit the ground, but we kept flipping, we landed upside down; my first thought was I have to get out. I climbed over Aspen, I got out, and was trying to get everyone else out, but I was in shock; I couldn't move.

Did that just happen? I say to myself over and over again. Then the ambulance showed up. I guess the guy living in the house on top of the hill was out smoking and saw everything happen. They got everyone out of the car; Aspen was unconscious. He had a really bad gash in the back of his head, and he probably would have some memory loss, the doctors say to me, as he got flown to Rockford. But Trevor, no one would tell me where he was or what happened to him, 'til finally the paramedic came to me and said that he didn't make it. He died as soon as we hit the pole. It was weird; for some reason, I didn't cry, just thought Nah, he's fine, he can't be gone, right? But he was; this was real.

Sunday morning they had a get together at the school where we could write notes on paper and bring pictures and stick it to his locker. I only went for a little bit though; everywhere I turned, someone would ask me what happened and make me feel guilty because the worst thing I had was scratches. Then after that, everyone headed up to the crash sight and laid stuff by the cross his father put there. It was unbearable going to the sight. Seeing how bad it was, knowing I was in it, and that my best friend died. That night, there was a candlelight at the sight where his family and friends went and told stories about him.

Then Monday, everyone had been dreading this day since the crash. It was the funeral. It was at 2. Trevor's mom didn't want anyone to wear black, she knew he hated that color. We were to wear sweatpants and t shirts. So me and my sister arrived at the funeral home and there was a line outside the door. He was loved by so many; it took about an hour before I got up there, then I saw him. When I got up there and looked at him he had a smile. It was kind of a half smile. The one everyone loved; it's what he was known for. Something about that smile on his face made me feel at peace with everything. It made me feel okay again. Just like it used to.

#18 Thoughts of An Insomniac

I look over at the clock, it’s already 3:47 in the morning. Every night is the same. I lay here in my bed, hour after hour, look out the window at that tree, and think of you. It’s been almost a year since you left, but it still hurts like that first day. You weren’t supposed to leave, you had so many goals for your life, and we were going to get married and spend our forevers together.

It’s pretty ironic how things eventually turn out. I used to be the dreamer. I had a spark in my eyes, I had goals and ambitions, and I was going to do so many things. Now that you’re gone, I’m an insomniac, I can’t sleep, and when I do, it’s restless and there’s no dreams. I can’t even act like a normal human being anymore, I have a panic attack every time I walk outside and see the tree. I can’t imagine my future anymore, you were my future, you were my dreams, you were my everything.

Life with you felt like a dream. Why you decided to go, will forever be a mystery to me. You never showed any signs, you never hinted at it, but one day, you were just gone.

Why did you decide to leave us? You were, and still are, so loved. You were everything a girl could want in a man. The only time I ever felt at home was when I was with you, I felt safe and secure, like nothing could ever happen to me and that I would always be that happy. You made me realize that home didn’t have to be a house, that anywhere could be home, as long as we were together. When you left, you took all of that away. You left me here, alone and broken. We were supposed to graduate medical school together, but I couldn’t do it on my own anymore, we were a team, so I dropped out. My teachers encouraged me not to, but I couldn’t keep going there without you.

Somehow, I’ve gone numb. I ache to feel something, anything at all. I want to feel your fingers intertwined with mine, I want to feel your hair as I run my hands through it, I want to feel your hand on my back and for you to give me a backrub like you always would when I got sad. I just want you here again so I could tell you how in love I am with you, that you’re incredibly handsome, so charming and sweet, how your smile could light up any room and that it lit up my world, how funny you are, how it amazed me and so many others how intelligent you are.

As I lay here, I remember every moment spent with you and how I took that time for granted. I never realized how little time I had with you. I never would have argued with you over anything, because every moment that I spent mad at you was just wasted time that I will never get back. I would have listened to you more, and talked less, because it’s pretty obvious now that you needed someone to listen, and it breaks my heart knowing I didn’t do that.

I don’t think I’ll ever get that picture out of my mind. Walking out into our backyard, and seeing something hanging from the tree, and swaying from side to side. I didn’t register it at first, and when I realized what it was, I didn’t even think it could possibly be you. It makes me shake, just thinking of your lifeless body and your dead, cold eyes staring down at me. That’s not something you can easily forget. I see those eyes everywhere, when I lay here at night, sometimes I’ll see you, but not how you normally were, but cold and lifeless.

I lay here, think of you, and I cry out. I cry out to whoever will listen. I cry out to a God that I hope is listening. I cry out and hope that you can hear me, wherever you are. I cry out in hope that God will answer, and provide some relief, and that you will hear me and realize that I loved you more than I’ve ever loved myself or anyone else. I cry and cry and I scream, wishing someone, anyone at all would hear me and answer.

#17 The Struggles of a Cyber Athlete

February 10th, 2017, 5:00 A.M, Rockford, Illinois. A lot of people call me crazy by doing this, but those people don't understand. My name is Ross Robert. I’'m 18 years old and I'’m a competitive Super Smash Bros player for Unrivaled Tournaments. I go by the tag “L” in the Smash community.

Right now I’'m driving to Chicago for my first event of 2017. So after a suprizingly short two hour drive to the venue, I walk into the college gym where the tournament was being held, with my jacket, and a backpack with my phone, charger, cables, GameCube controller, 3DS, and wallet. “

"Round 1 Pools will be starting in 1 hour, please register now.”"

I went to the registration desk told them my name and what pool I was in, I was able to skip round 1 due to my ranking. Well, while you're here, I might be able to tell you what this game is first. Super Smash Bros is a fighting game with characters from games like Mario, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, etc. The goal--unlike most fighting games--isn'’t to deplete a life bar, it is to knock your opponent off the stage twice before your opponent. Each hit you put in your percent gets higher, the higher your percent, the faster you get launched. There are a lot more intricacies in the mechanics and strategies that can have your opponent not get back on stage.

"“Round 1 pools have begun please report to your pool”," says the TO (tournament organizer). I went, even though I skipped round 1. I was analyzing the play of my first opponent; it was mostly kinda obvious who was going to win due to the character matchup. The first guy I faced in pools was a bit difficult, but other than him, pools were easy. Now comes the hard part: actual bracket matches.

I start up the bracket against Zinoto, a Michigan Diddy Kong player, who is currently ranked number 2 in the midwest. I play Bayonet, due to the nature of Diddy Kong's defensive playstyle. I always have a difficult time with this character; as you can guess, I got 3-0d in a best of 5 set. I had to make the losers run of the century. If I win this tournament, right after that, I had to face JJRockets--another Diddy Kong player, this time from Chicago.

We start out game one on Battlefield, a stage with three platforms two parallel from each other and one above and between the other two. I start applying offensive pressure on him and manage to take the first stock, and then punish him for using risky attacks and secure the second stock. Game 2 was the same; games three and four I got bodied, like so horrifically bodied I can hardly recall what happened.

Then Game 5... This game was a repeated sloberknocker of blows and plays of who managed to win and then I looked at the timer. (A timer is used in game so tournaments are not held back by overly defensive players.) I was playing so well, both of us were unable to secure a stock. JJ had the damage lead, so I lost the set.

Salt sucks, not like table salt, post-loss salt. I was just watching the tournament pass by and see JJ destroy his bracket. Then he went against Zinoto in Top 16 in the ditto, which is a match where both players play the same character. They’re close games, but Zinoto made it out on top. By then, the salt had cleared out and he sat down next to me and said, “Hey, good games.”

“Thanks," I said.

“Do you want to play some games?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said.

So we practiced until the tournament ended, and then we became friends after that.

#16 The Big Game

“In the backseat of your Rover, that I know you can’t afford...” Played in the background on Sam’s way home from a long and exhausting two-hour practice. The roads were icy, and the wind was horrendous, but all she wanted to do was go home, take a nice hot shower, and stuff her face full of food. She’s been trying to get to bed early since the big championship game between her school, the Landfield High Jaguars, and their rival, the Titon High Falcons, is coming up in two and a half weeks for the first chance ever to go to State for basketball.

Buzz Buzz . . . Sam’s boyfriend, Nathan, was texting to see how practice went.

6:50, she thought, Must be just getting out of practice.

“Hey babe, how are you doing?” asked Sam.

“Same ol’ same ol’. Practice was super hard. We had to run through plays the whole time,” answered Nathan.

“Are you kidding? We had to do fifteen down and backs, and that’s a pretty low amount compared to what we usually do,” snapped Sam.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well, since you're still driving, I'll let you go so you can be sure to get home safe. Text me when you get home please. Love you,” said Nathan.

“Lov-,” is all she could text before she looked up and saw headlights coming straight at her.

BAM!

Sam couldn’t feel anything. She felt numb. She tried to get up but she couldn’t even move her hand. She even tried to reach for her phone but couldn’t even move a finger.

“Are you okay? I can’t move, I have part of the car stuck on me,” a voice yelled out.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I can't move either. My body is like numb,” Sam yelled back.

“A car is pulling up hopefully they’ll help us. I'm really sorry,” the voice said.

“I’m going to call 9-1-1 are you both conscious?” another voice yelled; Sam assumed it was from the car that pulled up.

“Yes!” they both yelled. Sam could see her phone lighting up and buzzing, but just couldn’t reach it. The ambulance soon arrived after, getting Sam and the other person into ambulances. Sam started to feel tired and drifted off into sleep.

When Sam woke up in the John’s Children’s Hospital, Nathan and her parents were standing over her.

“What happened? How do you feel? I'll tell the doctors you're awake,” her mom rambled off.

“Mom, I'm fine. I just want to go home,” she said, as she started to get up. The thing was, she couldn't really move. She felt like she was moving, but her body wouldn't. Her mom saw her struggling and helped her lay back down.

“No, you need to stay right there. I’ll get a doctor,” her mom said, running out of the room. The doctors looked her over for what felt like hours to Sam. All she wanted to do still was get home and shower and sleep. She still was sweaty and gross from practice. The doctors came back in after looking at x-ray results, and different things.

“I don’t want to scare you guys, but I think Sam will need to go into surgery. There seems to be a blood clot in her leg and we just need to remove the clot. Your leg should be back to 100% in a few weeks,” the doctor said.

“How long would I be out for? I have the championship game in two and a half weeks. I absolutely cannot miss that. Please is there anything else you can do?” pleaded Sam.

“Should be around two weeks at the most. Could be shorter, we really don’t know. We would find out in surgery and it just depends how quick you recover. If you don’t get the surgery now, you could potentially lose your leg,” answered the doctor.

So they got Sam all ready for surgery after Sam and her parents talked over and decided that surgery would be best. Sam started drifting off into sleep after they gave her anesthetic.

When Sam awoke, she had a long scar along the outside of her calf.

The doctor walked in, “The surgery seemed to go great. We want you to stay overnight just to make sure you adjust well. Should be a little less than two weeks until your leg will be 100%. Now we just have to wait and see how you recover. I’ll come check on you in a bit and then you can go to bed, and we will talk in the morning about releasing you,” the doctor said. So Sam rested for a bit while her exhausted parents and boyfriend talked.

“Hey, there’s an article out on WQAD about the accident. I wonder what happened to the guy who hit Sam,” whispered Nathan. It stated that there was an accident by Henry Road between the two cars, and that the man, named Jim Wells, had crossed the centerline and hit Sam’s car head on. They think he may have been intoxicated, but had been taken to Sand’s hospital, and has minor injuries. It also says that Sam could have been on her phone too, but had minor injuries that could result in surgery also. They would put an update out when they find out more.

“Oh my gosh. She was texting me while driving home. It’s all my fault. I should've known she was driving home. How could I let this happen?” Nathan cried.

“Don’t beat yourself up over this. It wasn’t completely all her fault. The guy was intoxicated, too, and was the one who crossed the centerline. Sam should know not to text and drive. Don’t blame yourself, Nate,” Sam’s dad said reassuringly.

“A lot of people have shared this article on Facebook,” Nathan said. “Her teammates all have posted their praying for her and can’t wait to have her back for the big game.”

“I just hope she can play in the championship game. It’d break her heart if she couldn’t,” said her dad worriedly.

Sam got released the next morning after the doctor gave them instructions on how to clean the incision and tips on how to recover fast. They told her she needs lots of rest, to stay off of it, and use her crutches as much as possible.

All Sam could do is wait. It was basically her body that has control on whether she gets to play or not. She is hoping she can. Her team needs her, and she will do whatever possible to make sure that happens.

Sam had a doctor appointment almost two weeks after her surgery. She was really hoping she’d get released today. She had been doing therapy for the last two weeks to make herself stronger, and had done all the tips the doctor gave to make the recovery faster. She feels great and is ready to get back on the court.

“Well Sam, you seem to be doing a lot better and your leg is looking amazing also,” the doctor said.

“Does this mean I’m allowed to go back to basketball now?” Sam said excitedly.

“You can go back, BUT you need to make sure you take it easy. No full-speed running, only jogging, and just shoot around for the first day or two. Don’t get right back into it or you won’t be able to play in the big game,” warned the doctor.

“I won’t, I won’t. I’ll take it easy I promise. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!” Sam said, hugging the doctors.

Sam’s first couple days of practice were difficult. She had to get used to exercising again and using her leg, but it felt great to be back out there. Two days before the big game, Sam was able to practice almost 100%. She didn’t do the greatest, but she was getting back up to where she was. She even stayed after each night to work on her skills and make sure she was ready for the game.

Finally. The day of the championship game. Sam was ready. She couldn’t wait. Her coach had told her she wouldn’t be starting tonight, just because of everything that happened and missing those practices, but he’d definitely get her in.

After the first quarter they were up 25-23. She had been in a minute or two, and then was taken out after a turnover. She hasn’t made any points yet, but she knows she will.

At halftime, it was 41-38 and they were up still. She has five points, and only had turned it over once more. She hasn’t gotten many minutes just because she isn’t in the best shape anymore, but she’s doing her best.

There was three minutes left in the fourth quarter, and it was 50-45, they were still ahead. They even started picking up a bit more and went on a 8-0 run, making the score 58-45.

With thirty seconds left, it was 62-59, they were still up. The crowd was going crazy. The bench was going crazy. Sam knew they had to play tough defense, especially because both teams were in double bonus. They couldn’t afford giving them a chance at two points. The other team had the ball, they were passing it around the perimeter, until dribble, dribble, shot went up, SWISH.

With ten seconds left, it was tied 62-62. They had to get a basket here. So they set up a play called Tap the Head. They passed to Sam on the wing, she passed to the post in the corner, she cut to the block, the post gave the ball back to their point guard, Sam cut right back out to the corner with two seconds on the clock.

Pass back to Sam, one second remaining, SWISH, ERRRRR.

“We won, we won!” Everyone piled on top of Sam. The first State Championship title for the Landfield High Jaguars, all thanks to Sam.