Failure Before Success The gym was packed with five to six hundred people screaming as they prepared to watch the two basketball squads battle it out. Both teams had some to do one thing and one thing only and that was to win. My heart was pounding so hard, I thought I would explode since this was my first high school basketball game. I tried to breath deep and relax but the atmosphere was not a conducive one for calmness. Little did I know that this game would prove as a perfect example of an old quote that goes "In order to succeed, you must first be willing to fail." During my freshman year of high school, my basketball team, the Park Vista Cobras, was on the team bus. As we braced ourselves for the mission that lied ahead, we did what was common for any group of boys that were bored: playing games, joking, and taunting each other. We arrived at our destination after a one hour journey the gym of our rival school, the Palm Beach Gardens Gators, was an immense and stunning structure. Upon entering we realized that the interior was even more respectable. We unloaded our equipment off the team bus and proceeded our way to the visiting team’s locker rooms. Our coach, Mr. Williams, gave us a brief summary of our opponents for that night. Afterwards we started our warm-ups and as tip-off neared, we had a short prayer that helped to lift all our spirits. The game was finally underway. The first half went by speedily. There was plenty of battering and rigid play, but neither team was really able to establish itself. The second half was definitely more of a spectacle. The Cobras seemed to pull away from the Gators with plays reminiscent of a professional team, not a high school team, cushioning the scoreboard with a fifteen point lead in our favor. The Gators started to make a response to the sudden barrage of points that had come from the