“Tim, get ready for school!” That’s my Uncle Joe. My mom and Dad passed away a few weeks ago. Now it’s only me and my Uncle Joe. I moved over to Kentucky as soon as my parents passed away, and Kentucky is where my uncle lives. I am 14 now and studies in Paragon Elementary School.
        My uncle’s very strict at me because my parents passed away and in addition, he never had a wife, nor a child, and since I am the only niece that my Uncle Joe has, he is going to train me into a good child to make my parents proud. My uncle was driving me to school when something weird happened. On my Uncle’s car was a note, and it said, “ Your niece will be a famous basketball player.   -Anonymous” It was a weird letter, but it motivated me to get interested in basketball and joined the school basketball team. After I joined the basketball team, I learned that there was a basketball tournament. I believed it was the chance for me to make my parents proud of me.
        After I told my Uncle Joe about the Basketball Tournament and my goal to make my parents proud, he said that he doesn’t believe the letter, and he thinks that the letter may be just a prank. At first, I couldn’t take it, then I started to believe my uncle instead of the letter, I mean, how could a letter possibly turn you into a professional basketball player?
        Today was my first day at Paragon basketball team. When I walked into the gym, I realized I was late. Everyone laughed at me for being late. The coach ordered  me to sit on the bleachers and watch everyone do a few exercises. After that, the coach called me up and told me to join the game. I was really energetic at the time and went up to join the game. I shouted, “ PLAY BALL!” Of course, I suck at basketball, I couldn’t take good shots and everytime I shoot, it was not very close to scoring, my teammates passed me the ball, and the other team took it, the ball never lasted under my control for 5 seconds, not even 2 seconds. Then, I believed my Uncle Joe. Basketball isn’t my forte, and the letter isn’t true.
        I got home that day and dashed breathlessly to my room, I locked the door and collapsed on my bed. Then, I fell asleep. That night, I dreamed about a man in a black suit talking to me. He told me that he was the one who gave me the letter. He told me to believe in myself and never give up. Suddenly, my eyes shot open. I got dressed and dashed breathlessly to school, I was very late. After I went home, the dream was still in my mind until I fell asleep again.
        It was another normal day at school and I was the coach’s assistant again. After the coach gave us a fifteen minute break, a tall and muscular guy walked up to me. He asked,”What is your name?” I answered,” Tim”. He said, “Follow me, I will show you this gym.” I said, “ Ok, um… sure?” He lead me through the gym and showed me new features that I didn’t know. He became my friend that say on and we spent a lot of times together. Then, I realized that he was the captain of the team, Andy. I was surprised, because he didn’t act like he was the captain of the team.
        Andy kept teaching me skills everyday after school and I just practice, practice, and practice everyday. I began to get better at basketball and it was all Andy’s work. I hope that I catch up with the whole team on the tournament, so I could at least get them to not bully me. I also wish that they could respect me.
        Today, was the day of the tournament. It was the first day and it was a one on one tournament race. I started to worry about not getting to participate in the game. But, Andy selected me to be a forward in the first game. The whistle blew and the game started. I started to panic as the ball reached my hand. I dribbled it past two defenders and took a shot, I scored. My teammates didn’t cheer for me, but Andy did.
The last two rounds of the game were easy to win and we fought until the finals. It was our school against the amazing Drillonite Elementary Middle School. They were the last year’s champions, and we were vsing against them. The first few minutes were tough, and they scored 10 goals. We were stuck at 22-0 at break. We rested and talked out a plan to beat the enemy, who is nearly invulnerable. We decided to dribble the ball past the defender and make a fake move and pass it secretly and shoot. We ran over on the field and started our plan. I dribbled it past the defender and passed it to Yurang, Yurang passed the ball to Andy and made a fake move. Andy dribbled it past a defender and shot, it was a score.
The next few balls were scored by Uhara and Andy, they were like scoring machines. After about 20 minutes, both teams were tied at 66-66, and there was only 15 seconds left, Andy dribbled the ball to the defense line and he winked at me and passed the ball to me, 5 seconds left, I remembered all of my training and I took a shot after a long aim, 2 seconds. I scored. Our team won 68-66, and I scored the last ball. Now I understood what Andy was doing when he passed the ball to me.
For celebration, my teammates threw me in the air and cheered for me. I felt excited and proud of myself because I succeeded. I won my trust for my uncle and most importantly, I won the respect of my teammates, and it was all Andy’s work.
End