Flames Flicker
We will never know how strong and brave someone is, until he or she is faced with something he or she fears, yet, still stands against it and fights for his or her stance.
A few months ago, some of my boys are in deep sorrow.
In the school where I teach, I knew a lot of young men who like, rather love, to play basketball. They say “Ball is their life", which only implies how much they give importance to the sports. Though tired in spending almost a third of their day at school, they still find time to spend more of their free hours to practice and play basketball.
Starting May this year, they have already begun their practices for the league among our sister schools by the start of the school year. Everyday they went to school and spent a lot of hours at the gymnasium to play. They did that because they wanted to prepare themselves for the tournament, which are often belayed on the shoulders of the eldest. It just so happened that my boys are.
So when the school year began, they were very optimistic and determined to vie for the championship in their beloved game. With months of physical training and mental preparation, they have set their goals upon the title that our school has long set its hands upon.
But they could not play.
One night, I was startled to see a very detailed and emotional post from one of my students, expressing his grief over the decision not to let them play for the school. You see, our school, though the eldest, do not offer senior high school whilst our sister schools who joined the tournament have. It was an advantage to them, given that they have elder and skilled basketball players coming from the seniors' level. Almost everybody thought that if our team joins the game, they will not gain anything. It was a lose-lose situation.
Luckily, the students have very supportive parents and guardians. A parent initiated a talk to settle the issue together with the other parents, cosigning a contract/waver that they themselves allow their child to play for the school in spite of the obvious great advantage of the opponents. After a short conference among the school representatives and parents, they were finally allowed to join the sports fest.
Since that day, I have seen how determined they were to push through the league. Every afternoon after class, they spend hours for practicing and strategizing for their upcoming games. They prayed and asked for support from everybody. They worked hard to show that the members don’t count but the quality of gameplay does.
Until the day of their first game. Do you know how it feels to see the opponents pass by or block your kids? It’s like every time there is an encounter, you pray that one of the opponents stumble down and miss a step or a shoot…or commit a mistaken dribble or foul. Then you shout at the top of your lungs to cheer for them though they could not hear or see you.
They did everything they could. At the end of the game, the opponent had a 1-point edge against my boys.
It devastates me to see their frustration and regret, saying they didn’t do enough…
But their battle did not end there.
The following week, with more grit than ever, they defeated the opponent on their second game.
Never had I seen them so blissful. They were so happy and motivated and that they are very ready to fight again in the next game.
On the other hand, the next few games were bumpy roads. 1-2 points edge… it was always almost there. But it seems like when everything was already in place, things start to fall apart again. They lost for the second…then for the third. It was a shame that I could not do anything to lift their burdens up.
However, as their next game approach, I noticed that nothing has changed. They are still the same boys they were before — my young men…very determined and passionate in representing the school. They are still the same boys who are never-too-tired-and-never-too-weary. They are still those same children who did not give up even they lack the encouragement they actually hunger for.
One of their classmates told me that their “last game" was today. If they lose one more time, they are already eliminated in the tournament. The thing is, they will be playing against the only team in the tournamet without loss. Four consecutive wins, they said. The strongest, they said.
But they did not care.
As long as the flame flickers, there is still a spark to start the fire. And as long as there are people who keep the flames burning, there will always be light.
They are the light to us. They always will be.
In an unexpected turn of the events, out of the blue and all the mis-expectations, my young men flick a spark to the opposing team, giving them their first painstaking defeat in the course tournament.
The flames are now burning and we are rejoicing. If they just knew how proud I am for them.
As they keep their flames afire, we, the friends and family they lean on, will always go along the way with them and carry the torch of their light as they venture their way to the championship.
It is not the end yet. More surprises are to come.

©Wendell Jane Completado
