Sitting on the bench before the important match
A rapidly racing, rambling heart
A stomach filled with sickening strange butterflies
Shaking, sweaty hands
A mind analyzing the most awful alternatives
The thought of failing
The eyes of the whole audience
Focused our your team
And on you

The sickening sense grows and swells
As the time to my entrance onto the court
Is tampered with every tick- tock of the clock
My nervousness is like a monster
Devouring me from inside
My nervousness is like a ticking bomb
Ready to make my courage detonate
Into a hundred maybe a thousand petite pieces

Harbouring my head in my hands
I inhale deeply and exhale noisily
I close my eyes and take a second
To prepare myself for going out there

The buzzer bombinates blatantly
Reminding me that my quarter is about to begin
It mocks my abstract anxiety of the absolute defeat
With my legs trembling I step out to the center
One more bottomless breath
No more time to waste
I face my adversary
I focus on the ball
The game begins