The Outsider

It was my first day. I did not know anyone. The coach came up to great me and told me to go ahead and put my shoes on. Everyone stared are me, Judging, gossiping, and making me feel unwanted, but I was determined to not give up. The coach called us to a circle, to do introductions. We went around, the coach introduced me first to everyone. I looked to my mom and she gave me a encouraging smile. The first drill started and the girls were coming at me, trying to prove that they were better, but I did not let them get to me. I continued to work hard to show the coach I was worth his time. He called a water break. The girls all ran to a group and started talking and looking at me. I just walked over to my mom and she gave me some encouraging words. "Stop holding back, show them who is the real player here. Just steal the ball from her once and they will back off". I decided to listen to my moms advice and the next the time the top player had the ball I took it from her and she then did not want to mess with me. She backed off and decided to stop working against me and to work with me. The sudden change in personality flipped like a light switch and I could see right through her. That is when I new that I was going to have a target on my back. Not only did the girls not like me because I was talented, but because I was drawing the attention of the guys at their school. I would show up to practice and the guys would show up an hour early before their practice just to come watch me play. The girls would stare me down when they would walk in and cheer for me. Then they started to talk to me and the girls became more jealous. One girl on the team finally came up to me and told me that the reason they would not talk to me is because Allison was the queen bee at school and she was not happy about me getting the attention of the guys because they usually were all over her instead. She also informed me that all of the guys could only talk about me during the school day which bothered Allison even more. After she told me that she ran so the other girls would not see her talking to me and I was still the outsider.

Two weeks later

It was time for our first game. The girls still would not talk to me, but the guys showed up to cheer me on, I did not even know they would be their or knew my name. The game was starting. My coach put me in to start the game. I had the first points. The guys were cheering for me every time I scored. It made me feel a little bit more welcomed, but it did not help that I did not get a sub at all and everyone else did. Did I care? No, I was just there to play the sport that I love.

As the season continued the girls still did not fully accept me because of Allison, but I was not going to let that stop me from playing the sport that I love. I had the support of my family, and the coaches, and also the guys at the school that I did not even attend. To this very day I still keep in touch with the guys because we became very close. We all still share the love of basketball. All of this started when I was in 7th grade, but now I am a junior in high school and lucky for me, I now am attending school with all of the guys who were the only ones to accept me for who I was, even though I did not attend their school.