Terrence Clarke
How’s the Basketball World doing?
Welcome back to another week of my Basketball Spotlight diary entry.
Monday I got back home at about 4 in the morning due to the long bus ride back home from Virginia. My body was very sore, and I was more tired than ever. As I went to sleep and woke back up, I got to chill in Boston and rest my body for the day. With no workouts or any school work need to be due, I was good for the day.
Tuesday, I got back to school at about noon to finish the school day. Since my track meet was canceled, I got to relax more and stay in to play PS4 with my boy Aidan. After, I finished the day with dinner and study hall. Once I got back to the dorm, I got to my room to fall asleep and get ready for the next day.
As the day started on Wednesday, my body was sore as ever, and I was more fatigued for the morning workout. I got up at the regular time for the day but a lot later. I left my dorm about 10 minutes late but rushed to breakfast. My body language showed how tired I was and I needed to wake up. As my classes went on and my school day ended, my track practice was canceled due to the rain. I got time to stay in our academic building to finish homework and watch videos. After, I had time to get into the gym. I put up lots of shots and worked on my handle for a while. I felt weird not playing basketball for a while, but I had to fix it up. After, I took my shower and went to dinner and study hall. I had lots of time to finish all the homework I had.
Thursday was the longest day of them all. The day started pretty good as I got up on time and left at a good time for breakfast. After school, our track practice was a terrible punishment for people not listening and paying attention to our track teacher. We ran longer suicides than in a gym for the whole practice in the parking lot. After, I was so tired but still managed to go outside to the court to put shots up. After, I played 21 with my friends, Aidan and Alpha, to work on in game moves. I got back to the dorm to clean up and go to dinner and study hall. I took this time to watch videos on the EYBL, UAA, and Adidas Gauntlet to end my night.
Friday, I got to leave school early at about noon. When I got back home, I went straight to the gym in Boston that everyone from my old school goes to after school. I play some pickup games to stay active for the day. After I had gone to another gym, Huntington YMCA, to play but no one was there. We chilled there for an hour to relax, shoot shots and enjoy our time with each other. Once the time got right, we left to play pick up at teen night at the Roxbury YMCA. We played against older kids, but I couldn’t compete too much because I lost a game and was fatigued as ever. I stayed out and in the gym for a while and got back home late at night. I ended the night right when I got home to sleep and get ready for my games in the morning.
Saturday was an easy day. We had games at 11:00 and 1:50 o’clock. Our games had lots of viewers, and we had a show to put on. We won both of our games by about 20+ points for the day. We got back to the hotel and took naps and laid in our beds. After, we went out to eat at about 7:30-8:00 o’clock. We ate lots and left back to the hotel. To end the night, I went fast to sleep for our hard day at work for the next day.
Sunday might have been the craziest day. Our first game was against our rivals from the New England, BABC. We beat them in an emotional game against our old teammate that left the week before. Our next game was against Stamford Peace. The first half was very slow but sped up the second half. As we were down by four going into the half, we went on a huge run to put us up by a lot. But Peace was not out of it. They hit lots of threes and had layups to keep the game going. But we ended up closing the game out by milking the clock and hitting clutch shots that gave us winning the game. Our last game was our challenge game. Expressions vs. Gauchos. EYBL vs. UAA. Nike vs. Under Armour. We’ve played Gauchos many times before and never won before. This time we knew we had to get them for the first time. As the game went on, we were up by a couple by the half. But Gauchos were not done. They went on a big run off of layups and points of off turnovers. We keyed in on the press and took care of it. We started to get easy baskets, and this put the game very close. As Gauchos went on a run to put them up 7, my teammate, Jamari, and I hit two threes to put us down one. We got a stop and my teammate, Trey, got fouled and hit a free throw to tie the game. Gauchos had a critical jump shot in our zone defense to put them up two with six-eight seconds left in the game. We called timeout and knew the game was depending on this one play. We designed a play to get our point guard the ball and to go straight to the rim and dish it off. As the game went into play, the situation changed. We threw the ball to me over the top of my defender. I tried to throw the ball to Trey, but the ball was tipped backward. Jamari ran and picked it up before the Gauchos defender dove and tried to get the ball. Jamari had a clean, wide open shot down by two and hit it for the win! We started to go crazy and ran on to Jamari. We were happy as ever and won the championship. We went to eat and just couldn’t stop thinking about it. This was the craziest moment of our lives together since 5th grade.
As the weekend ends, I’ll be back at school to get ready for a camp this weekend in DC. Tune in next week as I keep you all updated on how it goes. Until then, everyone stays blessed and humbled.
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