The Battle

By Julia Scott

I spent the majority of last summer playing basketball in a league that was made up of twenty-four teams. The goal of this league was to win enough games to qualify for the championship game. My team, the Blue Flames had a solid season and at the end of the summer, needed one more win to get to the championship game. The obstacle in our way was to compete against the dirtiest, most unsportsmanlike team in the league, the Oregon Ogres. We had lost to them once before in the regular season and during that game three of our players went down with season ending injuries. We were at a serious disadvantage before the game even started, but we were determined to win. As we stepped onto the court I felt the ground rumble. There was a foreboding sense of danger in the gym. When the opponents ran onto the court, they started transforming into seven foot tall ogres with devious smiles. They had rotten teeth and long jagged claws. They had large clubs that they dragged across the court, scraping the wooden floor and making an awful noise with every step. The nerves were building amongst my team, and we had thoughts of forfeiting before anyone else got hurt, but it was too late. We were too far into the championship journey to quit at this point. Our coach’s pre-game speech helped calm our nerves.  Her take-home message was that we deserve to be here, and we will not let the moment become bigger than it is.  Those words gave our team confidence and when the ball was tipped, the battle had begun.

                The start of the game did not go as planned. We were down 12-0 and that is when the reality hit that this could be the last game this team ever plays together.  All of a sudden, I started to feel something weird going on in my body, my chest was pounding, and I started to get dizzy.  I looked down at my hands which turned into orange paws. I was frightened and tried to scream but only a massive roar came out. I had transformed into a tiger, the mascot of Clemson University.  I turned to look at my teammates and they also had transformed into their future college mascots.  The next possession, our point guard who was now a jaguar zoomed down the court.  She dropped off a beautiful pass to our shooting guard, an eagle that made the ball soar into the basket. We now had to defend the ball and our small forward who transformed into a cowgirl lassoed the entirety of the Ogre team and prevented them from scoring. They had a shot clock violation, and the ball was turned over to us.  The opponents were getting angry and started to swing their clubs at us. We ducked and swerved the clubs just trying to stay in control. Our power forward, a red dragon slithered through the defense and scored with ease.  She started breathing fire on the Ogres and they shied away from her.  Our dominance continued throughout the remainder of the game. The Ogres couldn’t handle our speed, strength, and wittiness.  When the final buzzer sounded, both teams fell to the floor and returned to our regular bodies.  We were both exhausted and exhilarated as we conquered the odds and made it to the championship game.