Our school unfortunately has the tradition of loosing the championship girls basketball game every year. We've lost the final game for three years in a row now, and it was very sad to see the girls so let down. This season they were completely undefeated until the championship game, so it was a big disappointment to loose the most important game. This game wasn't all bad though, we had a "Spirit Bus" that brought a bunch of the students from our school to the game (Which was a Northridge High School) to give our team some extra support. They tried their hardest, and gave it their all, but in the end it just wasn't enough.
Last year I went to the championship game (as a cheerleader) hoping with all my heart that we would win. My reason for wanting to win last year was a lot different than my reason this year. Last year the cheerleaders and officers spent most of the year with fundraisers and assemblies for a team member who had cancer. Her name was Madey Slaughter, and she was an inspiration to all of the students at the school. She made the team before she knew about her cancer and couldn't play for the team at all. Even though she couldn't play, or even go to school, we still felt like she was part of our team and we were always thinking about her. Our girls basketball team fought hard to win for Madey, and we made it all the way to the finals. The games leading up to that were some of the best games I've ever gone to. We would paint our faces with her number (55) and cheer like we'd never cheered before. At a couple of the games we were surprised to see cameras with news reporters coming to film for stories they were doing on the news.
We worked hard to get to that last game, and we could feel the pressure rising as we walked into the doors of Davis High School. Right as the game was about to start we could see Madey being pushed in her wheelchair with her mask, ready to support her team. This made everyone want to win even more, and made the team even more nervous. They gave that game 110% and honestly did everything they could, but when that buzzer went off, we hadn't won. It was really devastating for everyone, but mostly the team because they felt like they had let Madey down. It was at this game that I learned a really important life-lesson. "The journey is more important than the destination" what really matters is your journey getting there. It doesn't matter if you win or loose, all that matters is your journey! We had sold hundreds of sweatbands, raised thousands of dollars, and become more united than ever before. I noticed that the students had become less selfish, and more selfless in their actions. Even though most of us didn't know her, we all came to love Madey for her courage and faith, knowing that everything would work out for the best.
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