Page 59 - 2024-2025 Creative Writing

The Prize

I was walking down the street to play on the street court. When I approached the gates of the court, I saw

several kids playing basketball near the entry. One hooper, who the others called “Suld,” struggled a bit as “it

was not his day,” which means most of his shots are off the rim. It seemed like nothing special, but when I
started to put on my sneakers and tie them up, I heard many bullying words coming from the others.

A tall, bulky kid was shouting furiously at him because Suld was his teammate and missing 3-pointers. He

blamed him and told everyone on the court, saying, “I’m carrying him by myself!” The situation worsened as
the crowd started booing Suld and telling him to quit basketball. At this moment, I knew from my gut that I

should stand against them to protect Suld.

I stood up and went to the middle of the court to meet Suld and challenged others to compete against us. The

rule was that there had to be three of us to play 3v3. Thus, I started to search for a third teammate. In the

corner of my eye, I saw an extraordinary “little person.” I immediately invited him to play alongside the two

of us, hoping that he was fast since the very large dudes were notably slower at running.

Then, the miracle began. The shorter player started “cooking” as he easily scored with his advantage of speed.

Our opponents didn't care about the score at first, but as my teammate banged out five points in a row, they

rushed to catch up to our points. In points, we were vulnerable, but I started to support my teammates with
the help of twelve total points from the three-point line. We tried our best, and at the final moment, the score

was 19:20. We were two points away from winning this match, but the enemy was only one as the taller kid

showed us some great post moves in the mid-range. Suld lost the ball, so it was out of bounds for us.

The enemy team passed the ball to the taller kid, and he began to push me down the rim to score. Suddenly,

Suld ran from the three-point line to me to double-team toward the kid, risking and leaving the other enemy
teammate. He stole the ball and rushed “downtown” to shoot the ball--he banked the shot! We won the game!

The crowd became silent and started to leave, as it was shameful to stay there. The bully finally begged for

our forgiveness, and we agreed gently. He even gave us free drinks as a prize and made friends with us. Now,

he’s still one of our best friends who always tries to talk nicely to everyone.

Be positive and be the one who always gets the prize!

U. Temuulen 11B