Independent Writing Project: Sports Fiction

Author’s Note

Dear Reader,

I hope you will enjoy reading my piece, but before that, here are a few things that I feel will help you understand and appreciate my piece better.

My piece is about two high schoolers, Darius and Jacob, and their journey to get along through the game of basketball. They are both very talented basketball players, arguably the two best players in the grade, but they just can’t get along. Their relationship has gotten off to the wrong start as Jacob has developed an erroneous impression of Darius and Darius isn’t interested in becoming friends with Jacob. This tension between them transfers to the basketball court during the regular season and playoffs. And the only way to win the championship is to work together.

Being a basketball player myself, I enjoy reading sports books. After reading numerous Mike Lupica stories, I’ve began to gain an interest in the genre of sports. I saw this unit, the Independent Writing Project, as an opportunity to write in the genre I loved to read.

One thing to note is that I wrote this piece in third person and payed special attention to the way I used dialogue. I wanted used dialogue to display the different characters and personalities and used the narrator’s voice to explain and connects the different perspectives. Finally, I set a goal for myself at the start of this unit: to use irony in my piece. I studied about irony in the Graphic Novel unit and wanted to include this element in my writing.

Finally, what is attached below is still a work in progress. This isn’t the final, completed product and I plan to add more chapters to this book.

Overall, I am pretty proud of my piece and I hope you enjoy!

Johan Chua

May 24 & 25, 2017

Flashback: School Hallways, August 20, 2017

“I loathe Darius. Period. There is no way I will ever like him.” Jacob grumbled to Ray as they were walking down the hallway.

“Why- and speaking of Darius, here he is,” Ray said, pointing to Darius who was the center of attention in his friend group. As Jacob and Ray passed by the Darius and his friends, they all suddenly started looking at Jacob while trying their best to stifle their laughter. Embarrassed and puzzled, Jacob, with his head down, walked as quickly as he could, evading the uproar. After turning the corner of the hallway and getting out of sight from Darius, Jacob expeditiously kicked the nearest locker.

“Woah there. Relax. Why are you so mad?” commented Ray.

“Him! Darius. He keeps on talking about me, making me look bad in front of all the popular kids.” Jacob replied.

“It’s fine. See, my mom told me this: What someone says about you says more about them than about yo-”

“I don’t care what your mom told you! I'm going to class.”

Darius isn’t as bad as Jacob thinks he is. What Jacob didn’t know was that Darius was actually laughing at his good friend, Charlie, behind Jacob. Charlie was trying to do the Moonwalk but was failing miserably, so bad even he himself was laughing. Darius pointed this out to all his friends and soon enough, everyone was dying of laughter. It had nothing to do with Jacob.

And it was because of instances like these, Jacob has gotten a negative impression of Darius, and Darius has developed a sense that Jacob doesn’t want to become friends and get along with him.

What?!: Coach’s office, February 15, 2017

“Congrats on making the playoffs Coach! With two players as talented as Jacob and Darius on the same team, Los Angeles High should easily win the championship,” the school’s principal told Coach Scott, the coach of the school’s varsity team, the one with Jacob and Darius.

“Well...We’ll see,” Coach replied.

Confused, the principal questioned, “Why do you seem unsure about that?”

“There’s a slight issue: they don’t work well together. And honestly...this lack of chemistry will be revealed when we play good teams later in the semis and finals. I mean, they carried the team to the playoffs, but it's very likely that they will fall apart when they play good teams.”

Coach was right. With the semifinals and finals coming up soon, Jacob and Darius better learn how to work together, because hogging the ball and doing everything one on one style will not work.

Darius...: School Hallways, February 15, 2017

“So how was your game yesterday?” Ray asked Jacob.

“Same as usual: Darius doesn’t pass whatsoever. Like, just before the first half ended, our team got the rebound and I sprinted down the floor, Darius had the ball and he saw that I was wide open, but instead of passing it, with the clock running down, he chucked it from halfcourt and it didn’t even come close. During the plays, whenever I cut and am wide open, he doesn’t pass. He chooses to shoot contested fadeaway shots instead of passing it to a wide open teammate for three.”

“Maybe he didn’t see you. Did you call for it?” Ray asked.

“Yep, so loud that people outside the gym could hear me. Plus, he has decent court vision”

“Well, that’s not good,” Ray commented.

“Obviously!”

First Round of Playoffs: Gym, February 20, 2017

“Let's go boys!!!” Darius yelled. It’s the semi-finals. Los Angeles High vs Lynbrook High.

In the huddle, Coach Scott told the team, “Lynbrook is a pretty easy team, but that doesn’t mean we don’t play our hardest. Let's go out there and get this W. LA High on 3. 1, 2, 3, LA High.” Bzzzzzz. The game began.

LA High started strong, going on a 10-0 run in the first half. This was their game to win. Buckets after buckets from Darius and Jacob. Jacob would get the ball, jab step, fake left, drive right, reverse layup finish, and one. Darius two dribble pull up from three. Jacob scores, then Darius scores, Jacob scores, and so on. Both of them would not pass to anyone. At the end of the third quarter, the score was 50-33, LA with a 17 point lead. This was their opportunity to advance to the finals, this was Jacob and Darius’ opportunity to compete for the championship. All they had to do was not blow this lead. Then came the fourth quarter.

Lynbrook High’s ball. They quickly inbounded the ball, pushed the ball down the court and drained a quick three. Down to a 14 point lead. Darius brings the ball down double behind the back crossover and is one step ahead of his defender. Jacob cuts backdoor and is wide open, wide open. Darius sees that and instead of passing it for a wide open layup, he shoots a contested mid-range shot that is very short. Lynbrook gets the rebound and gets a layup off of the fast break. Down to a 12 point lead. With five minutes left, Darius brings the ball down again. He calls for a screen from Jacob and the defenders double Darius, leaving Jacob open. Jacob rolls to the midrange corner and calls for the ball. However, as usual, Darius shoots the shot contested by two defenders instead of passing it to Jacob. Lynbrook pushes the ball again and gets a midrange catch and shoot. 10 point lead. Coach Scott calls timeout.

“Guys. Think! Use your brain! Darius! You out here chucking up absolutely terrible shots. Pass the stupid ball,” Coach yelled, “Let's go win this ball game. Pick it up. Let's go.” LA High’s ball. They inbound it to Jacob. He finds his teammate open for a layup, but it gets blocked. Lynbrook brings the ball down and runs Horns, which gets them an open weak side three. Splash. Lynbrook starts pressing and LA High turns the ball over. Off the sideline inbound, Lynbrook gets a layup from their play. Five point lead with one minute to play. Embarrassed by his team’s inability to maintain a 20 point lead, Coach Scott calls another timeout.

Jacob brings up the ball and calls for a double screen. After the big rolls, Jacob hit him with a sweet bounce pass, through the legs of a defender and landed perfectly right in his hands. This layup could seal the deal. He goes up strong and lays it up with good touch. But it goes in and out! He bricked the layup.

“Really?! You’re kidding me,” said Jacob.

“Wow, just wow,” said Darius. Coach, with his hands covering his face, couldn’t believe it either. Being the magical team they are, Lynbrook sprints down the floor, creating a three on two fast break. Their point guard passes it to the wing on the left side who then passes it to the third man who makes the layup. BLEEEP.

“WHAT?! NO,” Jacob shouted. It was an and-one. He nails the free throw. Two point game with 30 seconds to go. All LA High has to do is make a basket to make this game a two possession game. Darius has the ball. 20 seconds left in the game. He dribbles the ball to the left wing and fakes a handoff to Jacob. The defenders miscommunicated and were both guarding Darius. Jacob, once again wide open, immediately rolled to the basket. But Darius pulls up for a long two pointer. Oh no. Jacob thought to himself. He gets into position to grab the rebound. But Darius made the shot. The whole gym was in an uproar. Darius was celebrating like crazy. 52-48.18 seconds left. Lynbrook quickly inbounds the ball but it gets stolen. Jacob deflected the inbounds pass and it misdirected it to his teammate, who passed it back to a cutting Jacob for the layup. 56-48. Los Angeles High are advancing to the finals after barely winning their semifinal game.

After Semi Final Game: Coach Scott’s Office, February 21, 2017

“Hello gentlemen,” said Coach as he welcomed Darius and Jacob, “Take a seat. I called you here today because I wanted to talk with you about something. That something is chemistry. There were many occasions where you two displayed how you did not want to work togeth-”

“Well actually Coach, I pass the ball many times yesterday,” Darius interrupted.

Coach immediately disagreed, “You did not. Okay. So where was I?... Yes, we still won yesterday, and you can ignore this chemistry issue, but it will show up in the finals when we play Saratoga High. Let me show you something.” Coach Scott opened to his computer and navigated to a Youtube video tittled “The power of ball movement”. He played the video and explained to Darius and Jacob about how off the court many of these players hate each other, but on the court they set aside their differences and get business done. He preached that at any given time, passing and good ball movement is better than one on one style basketball.

“What separates the good teams from the bad is one thing: if that team is a team or not. What does that mean? Real teams are families, they work together. Those teams are way more successful. What I’m trying to say is that you two can make this team so much better just by simply passing the ball more, and making our group of boys that make up this team a team.”

With the finals just a week away, Darius and Jacob would have to change in order to be able to compete and even keep up with the very talented Saratogo team.