The sound of the basketball swishing through the net echoed through the gym as our team scored again, bringing our lead to a commanding 20 points in the championship game. Our team kept on scoring, we were relentless. Then everything changed, I saw a professional looking man proceed to talk to our coach. My coach looked visibly upset when hearing the stranger talk. I was subbed out of the game and soon learned that the man was the league commissioner and he was forcing us to forfeit the game. Those three words, forfeit the game, echoed through my mind as I felt the dark sensation of hopelessness submerge over me. My mind couldn't understand the reason for our disqualification and the sadness welled up in my throat. My dream of winning a championship was slipping away from my grasp.

I still had to play the rest of the game, but it felt pointless and hollow. My mother's voice called out from the stands, encouraging me to do my best, but it was hard for me to focus on the game. The final buzzer sounded and I watched as the other team was handed the first-place medals. This weight of the loss hit me like a bullet and I was filled with anger and frustration. My heart was an eagle in the water, who desired to attack but was unable to do anything. As I walked out of the gym, the parents of the opposing team congratulated their children on a great game, but all I could think about was the unfairness of the situation.

Then I found out the reason we had to forfeit, it was because the numbers were wrong on the CPYBL website. It was the coaches fault, they should have checked I thought. I walked to the car with my family and went back to my house feeling sad on the inside. After a while I began to think, What if I…. What could I have done….. We shouldn't have been forced to forfeit….  I knew the league was wrong, it was unfair and unjust. It felt too bad to be real but then I came to accept the loss, knowing that nothing I or anybody else could do would change the outcome of the game.

I was really mad at my coaches at first, but then I realized that this experience taught me something important. It taught me that life isn't always going to be fair. There will be times when things don't go our way, and it's important to learn how to deal with those situations. It's not just about winning or losing, it's about how we handle the challenges we face. I learned that it's important to learn from our mistakes and to keep pushing forward no matter what. Through this experience, I learned that the most important thing is the journey, not the destination. Yes, winning the championship would have been great, but the knowledge and lessons I gained through this are more important.