Hard To Love (Professor / Student)

We Are a Team

"Look Coach. I'm sorry for putting you through hell but you have to realize this entire season has bene hell for me. And by benching me when I am perfectly healthy is not helping in the slightest. I get that it's an important game, an di get that you don't want to take any choices but telling me not to suit up and to sit on the bench, what do you think that does to me?"

"I'm not a psychiatrist, I'm a coach. I'm sorry for benching you but my decision is final. If we win tonight, we have a week until the next game. Show me you're ready during practice and I will add you to the lineup. Do I make myself clear?" He asks folding his arms across his chest.

"Crystal." I mutter and storm out of the locker room and back onto the court. I take the last seat on the bench as the game is just about ready to start.

The game kicks off and the girls are playing horribly. Coach is yelling from the bench like a mad man and the crowd is screaming. Halftime rolls around and Coach hasn't touched his bench. The starting five are the only ones who have stepped foot on the court and they are exhausted. What is his deal today? I lean against the lockers as the others sit and we hear the door slam into the wall and Coach storm in.

"Do any of you actually want to be here?! You're playing as if you've never stepped on a fxcking court!"

Nobody answers his insane question and instead they all just look down at the tiled floor.

"If this is the way you continue to play tonight and we lose, you all will still come to practice for the next week and run for three hours. I don't know what kind of game you're playing but go back out there and play the game you've been playing all season. We didn't work this hard to throw it away tonight. Do I make myself clear?!"
"Yes Coach." We all mutter in unison.

"What?!"
"YES COACH!"

"Good. Now get your asses back onto the court." He says and the girls run back out onto the court and Coach Belton and Sarah both stop me.

"I got this Walt." Coach Sarah says and he continues out of the locker room. "Ness, you may be new to this team, but those girls look to you more than you think. When you come in here with a shitty attitude what do you think goes through their heads?"
I look down at my hands and shrug "I don't know."

"What goes through their heads is if you have a shitty attitude than so do they."

I look up at her, confused. "Shannon is the captain of this team not me. I didn't ask them to look up to me."
"You know why they look up to you? Because even though you've been dealt a terrible hand this year, you have still worked so hard to get back on the court. You showed them to never give up and to keep persevering. You might be young, but you've made an impact on this team like no other. OK?"
I smile and nod "Yes, thank-you."
"You're welcome. Let's get back out there before Belton blows his top off." We walk out of the locker room laughing. The girls are shooting around for the last 5 minutes of halftime

I walk out onto the court and Shannon and I gather the girls. "Montgomery, what are you doing?" Belton asks and I hold up my finger

"Give me a minute." I say and I look at the girls. "Look, I'm sorry guys. I shouldn't have put you all in a position like that before the game. You all deserve to be cheered on and instead I sat there and felt sorry for myself. We are a team. Everyone here deserves to be on this team, you all work your asses off to be here. And you deserve to win this game. So forget the first half and go out there and play like you have been playing all season." The buzzer sounds and I sit back down on the bench next to the other girls.

The second half is underway and the girls are on fire. They are working as a team and the crowd can tell. Within minutes we have caught up to the opposing team and are up by 4 when they call a timeout. The mood of the gym has changed entirely and even better, my teammates are smiling.