"THE LAST CHANCE"

George Vaphopoulos

When I was 17 years old, I was in the Memphis college basketball team. We had a very good team, but we always lost in the final. That is what had happened in the previous seasons, but we were ready to make a new start. The provisional members of the NBA team came to the final every year, and they only chose players from the champion team. This was very unfair on us, because we had been twice to the final, and we had lost on both occasions. This was our last year at the college, and so it was our last chance to be the stars of the NBA. Several members of the team weren't too worried about this, because they were all very good students, but some others, including me, loved basketball, and this was our last chance.

The two best players in the team were Ivan and myself. The season consisted of twelve games, not including the final. We won ten of the matches, but in the next game we lost by 3 points. The 12th game was against the college of Central Arkansas. This was the team we had lost to in the final in the previous year. This time we just beat them with difficulty. Our hopes began to shine again like stars.

We had eight training sessions in order to defeat our opponents in the game, so we were all in excellent condition and ready for the final. I was very worked up, because it was "the last chance", and if we lost, I wouldn't like to say what would happen !

In the first half we were 1 point down, and I had only scored 10 points. Our coach told us to stay calm, and when the second half started I didn't feel under much stress, so I played very well. But the Arkansas team didn't give up, and we found ourselves eight points behind. The coach took "five out", and said "the ball goes to George for the final decision." I scored two "three point" shoots without our opponent scoring any points. We were still two points behind them, and they had the ball. Time remaining ? 10 seconds ! I didn't know what to do. I stayed at the back of the court without any thought for the match. The opponent gave his ball to his partner, so I slipped from the back and stole the ball from him. But there were only three seconds left, so I shot a three point shot .... and I scored ! All Memphis stood up and clapped and cheered !

Suddenly I heard a very familiar voice. It was my mother's. She was telling me to wake up because I was late for school. Oh ! It was only a dream ! What a pity !

George Vaphopoulos is a sixteen year old student at the Fourth Lykeio in Katerini. He is an outstanding basketball player, being a member of “Pieria 90”, the league champion team. He has played for the Greek National Junior team. His other interests include art and music, and he passed the Cambridge FCE exam in 1999. He is currently waiting for the results of the Michigan Proficiency Final. He started learning English with John Foss when he was at the Fourth Primary School in Katerini.