Joshua Paul
Period 3
Creative writing
Word count: 691
Creating Space
It was a beautiful day in New York and the streets were full of commuters. The sun was shining, reflecting off every mirror, blinding me every block I turned. I had 7 blocks to go and my legs were already starting to buckle. Coming from queens was quiet the commute, especially when you have to stand on the train for 2 hours. My phone started to buzz in my pocket. It was my friend Shamus. Immediately after I swiped to answer I heard him screaming, “bro where are you!, the games about to start and we only have 4 players”. Today was the first day of the Rucker Park basketball tournament. One of the biggest pickup basketball tournaments in the U.S.
I finally made it to the park and Shamus’s face was bright red, but that wasn’t unusual he was always red. I quickly put my shoes on and joined my team. We looked at the first opponents, they were scrawny, white orthodox jews that looked like they were lost. My friends and I laughed out loud and they were not amused. One of them stepped up and said, “check up!”. The game began with a unathletic defensive stance that was just weird to play against. Time flew by and we beat them 10-0. It was misty out, but on the verge of raining. We still had 2 more games but the rain kept on picking up and the wind was bending the trees. Cars began to beep more but that was normal for downtown New York. I started to become skeptical when the beeping turned into one long never ending honk. The honking finally stopped, but my anxiety was building up. Our next game was against a good team from the Bronx and I was having a panic attack. They walked up to the court. I could feel my breath on my upper lip. They were all 6 feet, African and very athletic looking. I didn’t even realize that this was the championship game because two teams dropped out. Maybe the siruns had something to do with it, or maybe I was just paranoid something was gonna happen. Shamus shot for ball and missed the hoop completely. It was the black vipers ball to start. The name,” Black Vipers” was way more intimidating than our name,”The Queens shooters”. They checked the ball up with a strong grip, there facial expressions were showing no emotions. They just really wanted to win this 200 dollars. The game began and they scored off the bat. I didn’t know what I could do to stop this dominant team, Everything was so overwhelming. I took a step back to really evaluate the situation. One of the players was looking more fatigued than the rest and I was willing to expose him for it. Shamus rebounded the ball and passed it directly to me. The tilting tower stepped forward to guard me and the crowd started to be more interested in the matchup. I did a quick move and it immediately shook him to the ground and opened a clear lane for me to score our first point. Time flew by and I kept on targeting the vulnerable player. The score was 10-9 and it was our ball, we could either shoot a three and win or go for a two and tie. The wind was blowing hard and taking that into account was impactful on my decision if I wanted to go for the deep ball. I thought to myself, “I only live once”, lined up at the three point line. The sirens rang through my head as I thought of this generic saying. I looked at the front of the rim and shot the ball, it flew through the air blowing left and right, then finally towards the basket. With a quick drop of the ball it swished through the hoop and an excitement rang through my body.
I trusted my gut and won the game. Don’t let anxiety take over your life. Being anxious is a waste of time and you do only live once.