BuzzerBeater: A Hooper's Journey of Struggle and Perseverance

By Ali Tarhini

Amir Ayad is a high-school basketball player with a big dream: to win the State Championship. He won't stop working despite the grueling obstacles that come his way. Follow Amir as he embarks on a journey of struggle and perseverance, and tries to make his dream come true.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781257088003

Book preview

Prologue

Countdown

Ten seconds left.

We’re down 97-99.

I raced down the court.

Nine seconds left.

I dished the ball out to Bill.

Eight seconds left.

He passed the ball to Zayn, who gave it back to me.

Seven seconds left.

I delivered a NASTY spin move and handed it off to Vince.

He gave it to Zayn and set him a screen.

Six seconds left.

Five seconds left.

He zoomed past one defender, and another.

And another.

Four seconds left.

Three seconds left.

Two seconds left.

And then he passed it to none other than ME.

Me, Amir Ayad, had the ball with only one and a half seconds left in the game.

I didn’t know what to do.

I didn’t even think.

I just chucked the ball up at the hoop.

And you’ll never believe what happened next: I missed it.

Obscurity

That’s it. From that moment, I went from hero to zero. All the fans started booing. My teammates glared at me. When we made it to the locker room, no one said a single word to me. I felt horrible. Yes, it was a tough shot, but everyone expected me to make it. I was the star of the team-until then. I wanted to hide, but I couldn’t.

It’s okay, Amir. No one can always win, my parents assured me. This was different, though. We were playing in the State Championship. I knew that I should have been easier on myself, but that title meant so much to me. However, it was time to move on. There’s always next year, I thought.

A Fresh Start

1 Year Later…

Eventually, I got my dignity back. People remembered how good I was at basketball. Everything was going as planned. And to add to that, we were back at the State Championship game. I couldn’t wait. We were nearing the end of our junior year in high school, so we really had only two more chances at the title. I was so excited. I couldn’t wait. During warmup, I was knocking down every shot I took. Everything pointed in the direction of me having a great game. Except…….

Tipoff

We won the tipoff,

Everything seemed right-on,

My teammates gave me the ball,

And watched as I put a show on,

A spin move here, a crossover there,

Makin’ people fall everywhere,

I found myself on a fast break all alone,

And when I got to the paint,

I took off,

But I didn’t realize,

That one of the defenders caught up to me,

He shoved me in mid-air,

And I came crashing down.

At first, I refused to get carted off the court. I was battling through so much pain, but I really wanted to keep playing. I tried to get up, but I physically couldn’t, and I eventually surrendered to my injury and headed to the locker room in a stretcher, with everyone’s eyes on me. When I finished my examination, the team trainer gave me news that I never thought I’d hear.

Unfortunately, you have broken your leg. You’ll need to take a break from basketball for at least six months. The trainer said.

SIX MONTHS?!??!?! I cried. I couldn’t believe it.

Yes, he replied,