My Response to a Current Event
By Isaac Currier
Grade 9
Easton High School
Over the past few months something really exciting happened to me. I was a part of the Easton Bears basketball team. We started the season like we always would then something different happened.
We lost the first game of the season to Southern Aroostook. After the game we went into the locker room and coach came in and said, “Good job. This is your first game and it isn’t going to be the last. Let’s get ready and leave as a team.” Right then I knew the season was going to be different.
This season we had a new coach. His name was Manny Martinez. Since I’m a freshman this was all new to me: a new way of basketball and a new coach. After that first game we got to practice and we worked hard! We weren’t ready for that game and we had a lot of work to do. We weren’t done yet. Over the course of the season we got better and better and then before we knew it; it was tournament time.
The first game was against Wisdom and we came out flat that game, and the first half it was a very close game. We went into the locker room and coach came in to talk to us. He came in and sat down and said, “Are we scared? Do we want to lose this game?” We all said, “No” and he said, “Then let’s go out and play like we want to win!” That second half we came out and put the game away.
The second game was against Washburn. Washburn was a very good team and had a lot of good players. This game we came out strong and worked very hard to get to where we wanted to be. We wanted to get a gold ball. During the Washburn game we were ahead of them by a few points then they came back and tied the game. We went into overtime and won the game. We headed home and had practice the next day to get ready for Southern Aroostook. We fought back and forth trying to get the lead and went into overtime again. We played hard and wanted the gold ball so bad that we were able to beat Southern Aroostook.
That was the moment that I knew I was really special to be able to be on a team that won the Northern Aroostook basketball plaque and ball! We were going to States! Over the course of the week people talked about how the other team was big but we could beat them. Coach just told us to block them out and as he says, “Put the blinders on.” During the week we practiced what we needed to do to beat Valley. We played over and over every situation.
Friday morning we left and started to head down to Augusta Civic Center. We had a hotel right beside the Civic Center and we slept there and got ready to go to the game. We went into the locker room and got ready and coach came in and talked to us — how we needed to stay calm and just play our best basketball. We went out on the floor and warmed up.
Valley was a big and good team but we didn’t think about that. We just thought about what we needed to to to win the game. The game started and both teams played really well. Both teams wanted to win the gold ball. We came out and got a lead in the first half. During the second half they came out and got a lead on us and we couldn’t come back. Our season was over. Even though it was over, we were still proud that we made it to States. The team was sad but we did all that we could have done to win. Overall the season was very fun!
