The next day, I was out again by the court, however, he was not there today. I thought, why not play the game, maybe he would show up. He did not show to play, so I went on with the game. I did my usual things, the jump shot from 17, the free throws, and the basic running. Time passed by, I went home; to my surprise, mom asked me "did you get the name of the boy?" and my answer was a dejected no. The next day, coming back from school I saw him. I went towards him and asked his name and the answer was "Play the game to it"
Me: What?
Friend: Play the game
Me: Play the game?! ( Exclaimed voice )
Friend: Beat me 1 on 1 and you get my name, lose, you won't ask me again
( I was confused, I didn't understand what to do )
Me: Okay, Deal ( Low Voice )
Friend: First 3 buckets, he's the winner
The game started, he started putting moves on me, I thought I would be able to pull it off, however, he was tough, smart, agile, and everything I lacked. He scored two straight buckets a jumper and a dunk on my face. I thought, I understood his game, he was more than just showing at that time. For the third bucket, he was right-hand dribbling move up made a cross-over, and took the jumper from 20 footers. It hit the rim but didn't go in. I caught the ball. It was my turn, I made the first bucket with a layup and the other with a jumper. For the third I was thinking of a dunk, I left dribbled it, moved into the paint and of a sudden, I had no ball in my hand. I lost the ball, he had the ball, all of a sudden, he shot the ball. I was watching the ball, just watching and hoping it should not go in. And the shot went in, it rolled on the rim, it was a tense moment and the shot came out.
I took the ball and played it in. He was surprised as I, to see his shot pop out. His immediate reaction was
Friend: Marcus!
Me: Russel!
( Most kids here would get angry and frustrated on losing the game, Marcus was different he took the loss as an understanding of where he should concentrate more. I thought to myself, I have to learn from this guy, I have to understand how he does that )
I asked him why he was working out, he told me about the summer league. He told me that the league was 2 months away and every high school was participating in it. 15 teams were allowed to participate in the tournament. I got super excited about it. I asked him so many questions, " when was the tournament and where should go to know more about it", "How to register?"
He said to me," Ask your basketball coach". We left the court with a fist bump and paly again soon chat.
So I ran into the coach's office the next morning at school...
Life Lesson: Always work on yourselves to get better.
Here's a quick recap of Episode 5 under 15 seconds-
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