Hello, My name is Art Hailey, III.  I’m a rising 7th Grader at Southeast Middle.  Last fall, I had the greatest experience ever while playing on the Nexus Athletics basketball team at the Central YMCA.  My coaches were Coach Britt and Coach King.  The first time I saw the team, I thought we would go undefeated.  But that was not the case; we lost every game we played except the very last game.  We were 1-4-1 on the season.  But our hard work, determination and prayers finally paid off.  We began to “Play to Play” as Coach would say.  I guess you could say we had a long warm-up before the playoffs.

Our first playoff game was against the Pirates.  We had no idea what we were going up against because we had not faced them during regular season.  We won the game to advance to the Championship game against the Blue Devils, a team we had tied with during the regular season.  It was a close game from beginning to end.  With five seconds left the score was tied 32 – 32 and we had the ball.  Imagine all the pressure of taking the last shot of a championship game.  Well that’s the situation I was in.  The inbound pass was thrown to our center, Braxton.   I noticed he was covered so I worked to get myself open.   The next thing I remember was getting the ball and looking to see who was defending me.  Of course, it was the tallest player on the other team.  I looked to the goal for the open shot and let go my “Famous Amos” hook shot, the one Coach had been working with me on to change.  Swish, nothing but nets with zero seconds on the clock.

From this experience, I learned that things don’t always end the way they begin.  So, if you are faced with a situation like this, NEVER LOSE FAITH.  If you ever get the chance,  I recommend you try the YMCA Basketball League or the Campbell University Basketball Camp.  They are both awesome!

Please Pray for me as I represent my Church in the Rowan Baptist Association State Oratorical Contest.

Artansy Hailey III