It was the second game of the year for our basketball team. We had just played the night before and destroyed a team by a wide margin. Tonight we were playing a much larger school but we were very confident that we could beat them.

As a coach, I was looking forward to this game. Beating another school by more than 20 points is nice, but it really doesn’t help you as a team. Facing a team that you know can beat you, if you don’t play at the top of your game is what competition is all about. And taking your small school team into their home gym and fighting it out with them toe to toe, is the type of challenge I relish.

But there was one other person that was really looking forward to this game, and her name was Karen Van Nevel. Karen was ill the first game of the year, and didn’t get to play. But this night she was ready, as there weren’t many things that Karen looked forward to more than the basketball season. After working her tushy off all summer and fall, she had improved herself in every area of her game and had earned a starting spot on a team that was loaded with talent.

The ref threw the ball in the air and the war was on.

It was an intense and physical game from the start and neither team was going to back down. The game itself was a classic battle, and had everything that a good high school game has to offer, but I won’t go into it in depth. Just know that the game was tied at regulation, and we went into overtime.

With 45 seconds left in overtime, we were up by two points and I was feeling confident. Our defence was playing well, and the other team was frustrated. While trying to set their offence up for one last play, one of their guards launched a three pointer from way behind the three point line. As the shot left her hand I could hear the other coach yell, “NOOOOOOOOOO!” It was not the shot they wanted. I caught my breath as the shot arched gracefully through the air. The wind went out of me as it swished through the net. Now they led by one point, and there was twenty seconds left. We got the ball up to half court and called time out.

After the time out, we were working the ball around looking for a good shot, when the ball ended up in the hands of one of our star players. Unfortunately she bobbled the pass when she caught it and it slipped out of her hands and bounced off the floor. She picked it back up.

“Don’t dribble!” I yelled.

Now the clock was counting down. 7-6-5. She got flustered and dribbled the ball to make a move to the basket. The shrill whistle of the ref cut through the air and he called out, “Double Dribble!”

I felt so bad for her. All the other team had to do was inbound the ball and the game was won. They did so, and dribbled up the floor at full speed. I took my eyes off the court, as I knew the game was over, and I glanced up at the scoreboard as the horn sounded to end the game. The horn never really ended as the most blood curdling scream I have ever heard split the air. There was Karen, who had played her heart out all game, writhing in agony on the floor. She went to plant her foot on the sideline to take a charge just before the buzzer sounded and something in her knee tore loose.

Time seemed to freeze for everyone, but her screaming did not. The crowd grew totally silent and the celebration of the other team ended prematurely. Her next scream jolted me into action. I sprang off the bench and ran to Karen. Only to find that Kim Gilbank had beat me there. How she got there before me, I’ll never know, as she was on the bench with me at the time. Karen kept screaming, “COACH!!!! IT HURTS SO BAD!!!!!”

I knelt down and grabbed her hand. A sick feeling started in my stomach and began to flow through the rest of my body as I realized that she had done some major damage to her knee. In all my years of coaching, I have never had an athlete have a serious injury on the court. Kim and I both offered what comfort we could, as someone went to call her parents. Karen was squeezing my hand so tightly that it left marks for minutes afterwards. I looked across from me at Kim, as she held Karen’s other hand. The salty drops were flowing freely from her eyes now as she was there for her “bestest friend.”

Suddenly the loss was a thing of the past. The intense struggle to prove who was the better team seemed so insignificant, as I looked down into the agony in her eyes. I also saw the terrible disappointment as Karen knew in her heart that this was the first and last game she was going to play this year. I glanced up and saw that the rest of the team was now all huddled around us.

Almost everyone had tears in their eyes as they struggled with the helpless feeling that came over them as their team mate rolled on the floor in horrid pain. Tears would be expected after the hard fought loss, but now there were tears of concern as they gathered around to support their team mate. Kim told her buddy that she loved her as her tears dripped down onto Karen’s face. I felt so helpless as all I could do was try and comfort her through the pain. I tried to take her mind off the agony with some humour, but each laugh that she started ended with a moan. Coaches and parents finally carried Karen out to the parking lot, where Kim and her parents took her to the emergency room.

Karen had surgery and was told that it was the worst sports related knee injury that the surgeon had ever seen.

I did a lot of reflecting after that game. We put so much emphasis on things, that, in the whole scheme of life, are really unimportant. Like winning or being better than another team. Who really cares if you can put this orange sphere through a metal ring better than the next person?! And I am not just talking sports here. It could be anything that we put our time and energy into, like the big job promotion, the new car that we just have to have, or any number of things that we so carefully plan. But plans change as life throws things our way.

In the midst of intense competition I found myself learning things that I didn’t expect to learn on a basketball court. Things that were really important: family, loyalty, true friendship, and being there for people when they need help.

At our end-of-the-year banquet, I can assure you that the most important thing that I will talk about is not going to be the 18 or 19 wins we will end up with. No, it is going to be the game that we lost.

The game when we all learned what was really important in life.

Michael T. Powers Thunder27@aol.com

Copyright © 2000 by Michael T. Powers, All rights reserved

The above story is from Michael’s new book: Straight From the Heart: “A Celebration of Life.” To read more of his stories or to get your own autographed copy, visit his web site at: http://www.storiesfrommyheart.com/