The Comeback Game

Jason Woller, fifth place

“We didn’t do it because it is easy but because it is hard.” - John F. Kennedy

My story is about when my 6th-grade basketball team was down 17 points to Mosinee and how we learned to “Never Give Up”! It was a mid-January day in Flambeau, Wisconsin. Our team had won our first game of the threegame tournament. We were now early into our second game with arch-rival Mosinee. It wasn’t going very well. We were losing 24-7 at halftime. I can still remember walking off the court to our bench seeing the Mosinee coaches jumping up and down and screaming to their players how they were destroying us. The whole team gathered by the bench and our coach, my dad, saw us with our heads hanging low. He told us to look over at the other team and their coaches. I didn’t want to, but took another look. Coach asked us if we liked what we saw. I remember all of us saying, “no.” Then, he told us in a calm voice, if not, then it is up to you to change the path that this game is on. How can we do that? I remember us all looking at each other and after a bit, I said, “We’re pressing them!” We all seemed to get pumped up. The third quarter started and we got into our press defense. We made 3 quick steals and scored 6 points. Mosinee 24 Medford 13. Mosinee called a time-out. We pressed again and we made them struggle a lot. We could sense the game-changing in our favor. Mosinee players and coaches seemed very nervous. The third quarter went on and with one minute left in the quarter we called a time out. As we all sat on the bench waiting for instructions, our coach said nothing. We looked at him waiting and then I remember him saying, “Boys, take a look at the scoreboard.” We looked up. Mosinee 31 Medford 31. “What does it say?” I said, “We’re tied!” A boost of excitement ran through the players on our bench. I looked at them and told them. “Boys, play for each other, and let’s go win this thing.” The fourth quarter started and Mosinee was struggling and getting upset. The coaches were no longer yelling that they were beating us, but screaming for their boys to get going. The path of this game had changed. The final buzzer sounded and we had won. Medford 44, Mosinee 34.

I learned from this experience to never give up. As the rest of the season went on, I would remind myself and the team that when the game was not going our way that we needed to do something to change the path of the game. I would use this experience to keep playing as hard as I could because the game was not over. To believe in yourself and your team can be a very powerful force.

A way this will change how I live is when I’m not on the court playing basketball. One way it will change me is when I think that I can’t do something or something is hard, I will use the mindset that I had on the court when we were down by 17. Because when I don’t think I can do something I keep working because if you work hard enough you can do almost anything and you have to believe that you can do it. Like when John F. Kennedy once said “We don’t do it because it’s easy but because it is hard.”

Additional photos are on page 12