Keep Going

Fight between Ice and Greg

   Slam had a lot of problems, after the fight he had in school everyone had a bad view on him, so his attitude problems didn't get better and just worst. Not only he had problems with the people in school but with his grades again, he was having some very bad grades and he needed to find another solution more than just having help of other people, so one day his brother call him to watch the city from the roof and to record what happened. Greg got the camera and went up and started recording he find that the city was beautiful, he recorded everything that happened, people walking through, the sunset and birds flying. After that he saw and felt that he liked to record things and that he would apply for the video group and see if he could have some good grades because of that. One later problem was with his best friend, Ice. Since both are in different schools they started to lose their friendship, one day Greg went to see him at his house and Ice mom told Greg that he was not in home, so he walked around the street and saw Ice with a guy that has a bad primogenitor, he has been in jail because of drug consume and he saw Ice very well dressed with this man. He get near them and start chatting, after minutes one lady had an accident and they needed to call 911 when the ambulance get to the place where the women was laid on the floor Ice tooked out 20$ and give them to every medic that was helping in there. Greg was surprised, he didn't know from where he got that money. After some days Greg started noticing something weird in Ice and at the end he discovered he has been consuming and exchanging drug and that why he had lot of money and was wearing that fine suit; after that their relationship was broke down and they never talked again. With the videotape Greg showed to as many people as he could; librarians, teachers and classmates and one day the video group called him to see his video and they liked it a lot and they asked him if he wanted to get in the group and since he liked to record things Greg accepted. He talked with the principal of the school and asked if he could make up his grades being on the video group and he told him that he needed to be a good group member, and if he does then he might talk with Greg teachers so they be more patient with his classwork grades and in that way Greg could follow his wish to be an NBA player. Latimer basketball team was on the high part of the table, they have won a lot of games and lose the minority of them, so with one more match to go if they win then they would make it to the final against Carver, Ice team and the last champion of the league. Greg was very stressed out before the game, it was against Country Day which was one of the rich teams and Greg did played the majority of the match this time since it was maybe the most important game of the season and that would decide if they go to the final or not. With a great match of Greg, they could win 32-22 and after the match Ducky was upset, he didn't play at all in this game and in all the season so he said he was quitting the team. The final day of the match, the championship match finally came, Greg was waiting to play this match all the season he knew it was going to be very hard but if they play as a team then they would win. Carver team got to the field and Latimer too, bot team shake hands and when it was the turn to shake hands between Ice and Greg they got a nasty look and said let the better win...The match was exciting and all the Latimer players were playing as they never have done, the score was very tight they were 22-22 at the third quarter. In one play, Ice got the ball and Greg tried to take the ball of him, accidentally he put his foot on one side when Ice was trying to run over him and he felt. Ice stand up and went to fight Greg, a big fight was developed there between both ex best friends, and it was a physical fight with punches and verbal words too. Both were separated and taken out to the bench. Their championship was lost but would not play more in his match now all was in both team hands. Without Greg and Ice the match was lower, the intensity was cooler and at the end Latimer was given a foul, there was 1 minute more and it was Nick who might make Latimer win the championship, standing on the foul line Nick take the first shot and the ball went circling in the ring of the hoop and it went out, first shot failed. The pressure was higher with 20 seconds to go Nick had the chance to make Latimer win, it was the second shot... (15 seconds)... Nick closed his eyes took a deep breath...(10 seconds)...open his eyes, bend his knees...(5 seconds)...and take the shot...Greg just heard shouts and went running to the field, Carver team was upset and Latimer celebrating...they have won the championship as final score 35-34. Greg was very happy and he couldn't believe it, he and his team have won the championship one team that at first was the worst and now is the best, Greg was one step closer to his dream and after the celebration one guy came by Greg and give him a card with a phone number and a logo of the NY Nicks, Greg thought, is that real, is he really giving me this card so I can go to the Nicks, Greg couldn't believe it, he closed his eyes and tears began to fall...when he opened them he shouted 
"I MADE IT!!!"

Latimer Championship

  

     When Ducky wanted to quit the team, Greg needed to do something. He tried to make him feel good, saying him that he is a good player that the fact that the coach don't make him play does not mean he is a bad player. Greg saw him cry so he was sad of him too, since he is one of his friends then he felt sorry for ducky. And what he said was; "I'm quitting the team," Ducky said "Why?" Greg replied "Because I suck, I’m just messing up the team. “Cried Ducky. (187) In my experience I have felt this, that sensation of just wanting to quit because you think you are making a damage to the team and not only me as Ducky but also I have experience trying to incentivize one teammate that feels bad as if he is worth anything. Just like Greg I told him many things that would probably make him feel better and the only way of being better is practicing and not quitting if you don't practice then you would never be better. So Greg have make his attitude much better and he is a real teammate he is always seeking for the greatest for the team and his team mates too.

       After a day of winning the championship the team reunited and the coach chat with all of them. His relationship with Greg was better and as I predicted he was just trying to help and now that they won the championship the coach was much better in his way of treating his players and much happier. They got the chat and he said "We can't live in the past, you all showed a lot of heart last night, but that win won't help us tomorrow. All that showed us is what we can do if we put our hearts and minds to it. The first practice will be Monday afternoon. And guys, be ready to do some serious work."(229) This phrase is a very good example of life, it is all the theme and lesson of the book in just one phrase, you always need to try the best, try to be better each day and never stay on what happened before. Throughout all the book Greg has been facing a lot of problems and at the end he didn't stay in any of them, he always get them through and keep going. This quote is just telling on how even if you win the world championship you always need to be better, always practice and always keep going and never give up. If you success one time and if you want to success another you need to keep practicing and trying to be the best in that.  

     All the book has focused in this moment, when Greg could win the championship and follow his   dream. He has break many walls (Problems) that might have prohibit him to follow his dream and in that is what the theme of the book centered; keep going. In life you will always have barriers that might stop you to accomplish your goals, and life is that, full of problems, but you can't stay in the past and need to break those barriers. This book is very similar to my life, since I’m an athlete I always keep going, I have been placed many barriers to do what I like and I always have pass them through, so I can connect a lot this book and this theme to my own life. This book have taught me many things and I would apply the lesson that it teaches you in my own life, so in general this is a great book that would get into your heart and I would recommend to any person that have many problems and a goal that he might want to accomplish, this book will teach them one simple lesson; KEEP GOING.  

   

Theme of the book

Adapting to the New School

Fight between both team

    For Greg his match against Regis could be the best, he made so great match that his school life could be better.  Everybody in school when he passed through the halls said hi or tried to talk to him. Even a teacher greets him for that spectacular game that he did. Greg was very happy and excited to have another match with Latimer since he noticed they were not that bad, but he had still many problems. The first problem he had was with Mtisha, she ignored him every time she could, she was obviously mad. The second problem was still with the coach, he does not like Greg at all and that would be a very big problem. The next match against St. Peters was the same story, the coach leave Greg in the bench until the last 10 minutes, but this time Greg was furious. He couldn't believe that the coach didn't put him in the starting team. Once he got in the game he immediately made one point for the team, Greg was on fire and then speak to his teammates in a very rude tone since they were losing he need his team to play better and as they never have done before. When the match finished, Latimer won by 1 point but there were internal conflicts in the team. Many of the teammates of Greg were mad at him because of his attitude in the match, when Ducky tried to defend him; he got in a fist fight with Jimmy, one of his own teammates. Greg was not going to stand there watching how they punched Ducky so he got in the fight, in the parking lot were Greg and Ducky fighting against Nick and Jimmy until some teachers were getting to their cars and they needed to stop before they notice them and report them. Both went on separate ways and Greg told Ducky that they kick them the ass, so in the next training he would bet that there would be another fight in between them. 


     When Greg get in the game he was mad and explosive. He fought against everyone, his own teammates and the other team players. He tooked the role as the coach and told everyone the things they needed to do and there was when the problem began. Greg said “Move that guy out of the center, move him or I'll break your jaw after the game!"(113) This quote as a reader make you imagine the exact thing that is happening in the book, Greg is very rude with everyone so there is an obvious explanation for why the fight started after the match. Greg just couldn't control himself and that could be a perfect example to tell the personality of Greg, he has a very winning mentality and if he is so rude because they are losing then is obvious that he would do anything to win.  

     After the fight Ducky and Greg were still "hot" but we could see a different type of Greg when Ducky said they needed to finish that fight. When he shouted to everyone we could have a very bad point of view on Greg, but when he tells Ducky; "We got to get this straightened up," Ducky said. "It won't help the team. I'll call Nick tonight. “Said Greg(117) At first we might thought that he would do anything to win but now I could see that he would do anything for the team. It was a very good way of acting telling Ducky that they can't keep the fight, he did think and do a good act for the team. If he would have told to keep the fight then the team would like Greg even less and he would spend more time in the bench instead of playing.   

     In conclusion, I think that Greg has everything that he need to become a NBA player, he has that spark of never giving up and always trying to do the best. Even though, he was rude with his team when he said that we could see he is a leader, he just want his team to win and to be the best and that's what an NBA player need to have to be a NBA player. Greg could control himself after the fight and that stressing match, he could have lost his mind but he controlled himself and help to control Ducky too. In my opinion Greg is adapting to the school and after the match against Regis he become very popular in the school but now with this fight he might lose a lot of popularity, so he is still adapting to the new school, new friends and new grades. For the next chapters I think that Greg would have a lot of new problems and a lot of basketball matches and what I think is that when Latimer lose we could finally see the real personality of Greg. Also I think that his grades will go up but with many people helping him like the tutor, school teachers and family. Overall, Greg is still adapting to the school so he is having some attitude problems when he get confidence with his teammates and all his new school classmates he might have a better attitude and one that is not that rude.

Not that Bad as we Thought

Victory of  Latimer over  Regis

    Greg "Slam" Harris finally got his first training with his new school basketball team, Latimer. For Greg this first training was the worst he had in his life, the team was completely unorganized and the players were not good at all. There were only two more kids that actually could play basketball fine. "Slam" was quite disappointed with that training and after the training the only thing he thought was how can he develop his basketball game with a team like that: how could he accomplish his dream if he plays for Latimer? He talked with his friend Ice again and told him how bad his new team was and that his first game is tomorrow, and that he hopes to see him on the game. That night Greg couldn't sleep very good, he stayed up just thinking on how can he make that team work...The next day, was the game, Greg was ready for it and was anxiously waiting for it. Once he got to the basketball court, his team was waiting for it and the coach too. The coach of Latimer set up the line-up for the game and the whistle of the first quarter sounded. Unfortunately, Greg was on the bench, his coach even though he knew Greg was his best player he didn't place him on the starting team. Latimer was losing 28-20 until finally the coach said "Slam,get up! You're in." They were in the last ten minutes of the match and were losing by 10 points. Greg needed to do something and he had all his focus in the game, he made perfect plays with Nick and he made many hoops on just 5 minutes. The score was 28-26, Latimer was down by two, the pressure was very high for Greg he needed to do something, he dribbled through the defence and !Slam¡ The game was tied. 30 seconds of the game were left and Greg was on fire, when only ten seconds were left Greg score the last hoop and Latimer won the first game of the season. Greg couldn't believe that he scored ten hoops, the ones that made his team win. After the game he went out with Ice and two friends of him on the car to celebrate the victory. Ice was with his girlfriend on the front seats and Greg was with one friend of Bianca, Ice girlfriend, on the back seats. They were talking until Ice decided to get flirtatious with Bianca and they started kissing in front of Greg. Since Greg was quite a lady-killer he just looked into Bianca's friend eyes and kissed her, being just friends. After the incident with Bianca the next day Greg went to train and Nick challenged him to a one on one. Greg was surprised because he thought that after that match against Regis everybody would believe that he was the best. Greg accepted the challenge and both played a very rigid short match but as every one expected Greg won 5-3. After the game Nick told to Greg that the only reason he made him that challenge was because the coach told him to do it. Once Nick said that to Greg, he stayed thinking of why would the coach have something to do with him.    

Coach talking to players in the game

   In the match there were many important moments and many included Greg talking to his team. But there was one special and important quote that the coach said that made the match turn around. 

”They’re probably going to try to slow down the game and draw fouls. We've got nine minutes to play, that plenty of time. What we need is board control. We can't let them get second and third shots. Let's go get them!"(62) The coach by saying these would make all his team player gain lot of confidence to themselves, I can connect to my one experience this quote when the coach in the middle time tell us this little phrases that make the team players have the goal of winning in their minds. After this talk all the players would play quite better for a time and in my believe this phrase was the one that made them won the match.  

Greg vs Nick in his one on one challenge

    As we know, not only the game is important but all the trainings too. In Latimer training for the match Greg had many talks with the coach and from there a type of rivalry and hatred started between them. But the one that made Greg now that was Nick, what he told was "The reason I played a one to one with you was because the coach, he told me that you had an attitude problem."(88) This quote make us clear why the coach didn't made Greg play the full match, for the coach Greg could be a great player and play very good basketball but he have a bad relationship with the coach. Maybe many people have talked badly about Greg with him and that why he said that Greg have a bad attitude. But in my opinion the coach is just trying to help him, if he gives Greg a lesson then he could change his way of acting and be a better person and a better basketball player.

      In conclusion, the theme of the book is very clear and I can understand the book theme now that in the beginning was confusing. For the next chapters I think that Greg would have many more problems with Mtisha because on how he cheated on her, also he would have problems with the coach and the team, but in school Greg is going to be more popular since he did a great match and made the team won. These chapters I could connect to many own life experiences since I am a soccer player I could connect to the coach talks and the popularity and greetings if you do a good match. These chapters have been very interesting and we can know the main character much better and I hope for the next chapters even more action in Greg games and these thrilling endings in his games. 

New school, New Life

      Greg Harris a 17 year old boy that has a special gift on playing basketball. He has been recently changed of school and in his new school, Latimer, the expected grades are higher than in his last school and he has lot of troubles with math. His grades are quite low for the expectations and he need to have better grades for playing basketball. They have prohibited him playing basketball until he has better grades, when they told this to Greg his world clashed down on him. He couldn't live without playing basketball, his future dream was playing basket as an NBA professional player and with this restriction and his dream have been destroyed. Greg reunited with one of his friends and Mtisha that was one of his close friends and they chat about his new school and of the problems he had, but as he go on, his grades are not his only problems but Latimer school does not have a very high rate on sports teams. So Greg wish has come down with all the problems this new school have caused to him, he started thinking that he will never be an NBA player. Now Greg need to promise that he would do the best he can so his grades will go up, with this promise he could partially play and train in the school but he need to show an improvement in math grades. One day he was called to the office of the director of the school and Greg got afraid. We thought that something wrong happened and once he enters the office he saw her mom and a man. They told him that this would be his new tutor for math and that he needed this help so he could play his favorite sport; Basketball.

      One phrase that the book had and that clears you the idea of the book, tells you about the new school Greg is in. Latimers school isn’t quite what Greg was looking his sports activity is in a very long way. In the newspaper it says "Latimers Arts Magnet School is facing its fifth losing season in as many years."(45) When Greg read this he was very disappointed, he´s idea of Latimer went down. He already knew that his new school sports activity is not that high but with this notice, his dream to become an NBA player. After that he talked very bad about his knew school and he started missing his old school.

     As far the book has gone we dont know uch about Greg personalitiy. We just know he is a fan of sports and that he have a "never gives up" personality, but other than that we have not see in the book. one quote that tells us how Greg is, is when he was talking with her friend Mtisha and he tell her; "I can teven get a light kiss?"(27) This little phrase tell us a lot about Greg personality, eventhough it does not tell us directly how he is we can infer how Greg personality is. No shy person could be able to say this "can you give me a kiss?" so we can see that Greg is not a shy guy and that he is a flirtatious. He flirted with her friend wich tell us he is a very social person that liked to flirt and hang out with friends 

     In conclusion the first part of the book has been quite simple just an introduction of what is going to be about the entire book and the personality of the main character. It presents the problems and in that focuses most of these chapters. For the next chapters I predict that Greg is going to have hard times with his new tutor and with the team. Basically with all that includes his new school. Since he is in a revelry age he would be mad with everything that he is asked and then he would be prohibited to play basketball until he show improvement in grades and attitude.