Wazzup Pilipinas Original Short Stories Series: Rookie

Wazzup Pilipinas!

It is a great sunny day at Francville. I can hear these basketball fans cheering their teams. I feel excited but nervous at the same time. Who wouldn't? It's my first time here in the finals. I can't wait to play for Francville! But who am I in the first place? I am Jae Jordan, a student of Francville University commonly called F.U. But, it doesn't matter.

So, back to business. I can hear the crowd cheering for our team. Why not? It's our home town. 2 minutes left and the game will finally start! Coach Joseph calls for a huddle; we must not lose this game!

There we go! The time is up! The sport's commentator is calling the names of each player! Yeah, as usual, I'm not part of the first five, or the so-called starters. So yeah, I'm here, sitting on the bench, watching and cheering for my team. But that's fine.

"Jump ball!" Shouted the commentator. Both centers jumped high! Unfortunately, our opponent, the Blue Fields team got the possession of the ball. They immediately looked for their star player, first shot, and it’s good! The three point shot sinks in for the Blue Fields team. "Three!!!" shouted the commentator. The ball was inbounded by our captain. On the way to our side of the court, the ball was stolen! They passed it again to their star player, again, he took the shot and again, it's in! Great start for the Blue fields’ team!


After a couple of minutes, because of their hot start, the opposing team was leading by 10 points! 24-14. The Blue Fields' consistency gave them this 10 point lead. They are really determined to win this championship! Yeah, our team sometimes fishes good runs but our opposing team always answers back. After the first quarter, the Blue Fields lead by 13 points, 37-24. Our coach, Coach Joseph was very apoplectic because the team's performance.


The bell rang, signifying the start of the second quarter. The first possession will be ours. We promptly passed it to our main man, the pass was a flashy pass, so flashy that it was tapped and stolen by our opponents. Another fast break point for them! I can't do anything! I really want to help my team but coach won't let me in or even let me help him conduct a play! He won't believe me and would shut me up every time I say a word. Maybe because he's just frustrated because of our game.

The second quarter is nearly through, our team is still trailing behind by 16, 56-40. The bell finally rang, signaling the end of the second quarter.

Both teams are heading to their respective locker rooms. As expected, Coach Joseph scolded us. He is very angry regarding the team's performance. He said theta we must step up, we were not crowned the defending champs for nothing! I'd really love to say something but as usual, coach won't listen.

Halftime is up. Both teams were called to go back to the playing court. The bell rang, signifying the start of the second half, specifically the third quarter. The energy of the opposing team remained the same but our team won't give up. We can't let the people of Francville down. This motivated our team. We started the third quarter with hot shooting. After a while, our team finally fished a pretty good run! A 20-7 run by our team cuts their lead to just three points! Our playing coach, Coach Joseph was fouled extremely hard. He was really hurt making him unable to play anymore. He was kneed at his thigh while he was in the air on his way to the basket, making him to fall badly and hitting a portion of his head to the ground. While he was being assisted by the medics to the locker room, I looked at him as he called my name. By the looks of his face, I can tell that he's really hurt. He pats me at the back while saying these words, "Prove... you’re worthy…" After that, he made his way to the locker room. After a while, the ball game resumed but the bell rang. Third quarter is over. All players went to their respective benches.

"It's my time to shine!" I told myself as I set the play to be executed. The bell rang once again. The fourth and possibly the last quarter have started.

I know that this won't be easy for us especially because we lost one of our best players in the person of coach Joseph, but the game is far from over, we can still win this game, we can still win this championship! The loss of Coach Joseph brought momentum to our team. They started the fourth quarter with a booming onslaught. They fished their own version of their run, 10 points to 2 as we reached the halfway mark of the fourth quarter. Because of their tight defense, we were forced to call a timeout and talk things over.

I welcomed them with an encouraging smile. "Come on guys, we can't let our guard down, we can't lose this game. We can't let the people of Francville down especially coach Joseph. I know how hard these things might be for us because we lost one of our greatest player, we lost our coach, our captain, but he's not the only great player in this team, am I right?I know that with great effort, teamwork, energy and intensity, we can still win this game! AM I RIGHT?" I exclaimed heavily. "We can do this!"

After that heart to heart talk with the team, I finally set the play to be executed. Time is up, time to return to the playing court and resume ball game. Our team, with fire in our eyes and our hearts, played as good as we can. We fished a 21-10 run, making the first deadlock situation of the ball game. The crowd was roaring extremely loud like thunderclaps, we almost couldn't hear anything because of the ball game's intensity and because of the crowd's loud roars.

15.27 seconds left in the game! But the opposing team refuses to lose! Their coach called a timeout. After a while, we headed back to the ball game. They executed their play. Good ball rotation! Their star player was free to take the perimeter shot, and he takes it. And he nailed it! I was devastated by that shot, seems like my world stared to crumble.

I called a timeout.

I was about to give up that time. I was hoping against hope that time, wishing we could still make it. "What would coach Joseph do?" I asked myself. I remembered the words he used to tell me while we were still training. "Never lose hope." I set the play to be executed. This time I will enter the court and play. Even though I am not that good when it comes to shooting, I am a great passer.

"No need for a three point shot! Even a quick two will do!" I reminded my players as we head to the court. 9.03 seconds remaining in the ball game.

We called the play, the ball was passed to me, I was beyond the three point line. I immediately passed the ball to our one of the best shooters. Our opponents anticipated him to take the shot that's why he was double teamed. Time is running out, he can't take the shot so he passed the ball to me. Time is about to expire, I had no choice but to take the shot so I took it. The ball hit the back iron of the rim. The ball bounced upward, away from the ring.

I failed.

"Sorry Francville, sorry team, sorry coach. I let all of you down." I cried to myself.

I noticed the ball as it travels down, everyone including myself was shocked! The ball somehow miraculously went inside the hoop! Everyone stood on to their feet and shouted!

We won!

Coach was right! All you have to do in times of severe distress was to never lose hope.

It was a nice game, we shook hands with the opposing team. Great effort was also on their side.

As we went back to our locker room, I saw Coach Joseph clapping his hands. I walked towards him, he pat me at the back saying, "Congratulations kid, you hath proven you’re worthy…" With a smile, I embraced him and he continued, "Welcome to the Francville family!"

After a while, the awarding ceremony started. Coach Joseph was awarded as most valuable player. And me, I was awarded rookie of the year.



Contributed by Zamuel Francisco

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