“There's is something inside they can`t get to. That they can't touch. It`s yours. Hope.” This is a quote said by the prisoners in the film Shawshank Redemption. This reminds us that hope isn't something that can be taken away from a person so easily. As long as we don`t give up there is no person who can take hope away from us.

I started gaining an interest in basketball when I was 13 years old. I think it came from watching my older cousin, who was 17 around the time, playing with his friends. I would always ask to tag along and whenever he did let me come with him I would get lost watching them play. It was about time for basketball season and I really wanted to go and try out, but I was afraid of getting cut and not making the team, so because of this fear I didn’t go to the first try out. My older cousin confronted me about this and asked me why I didn’t go, after explaining my reasoning behind my decision to miss the first try out he took me to the court near where I lived at the time and he played basketball with me for a few hours. It started to get dark, so we started heading back home and as we were walking back to my house he told me if I really like basketball I should try out because if I didn't I would end up on sidelines, watching my friends play. The talk he gave me wasn’t much, but it was enough to make me want to go and tryout. My cousin gave me hope that I could possibly make the team. In this situation I was the only one discouraging myself. I didn't have any trust myself, but my cousin gave me the hope and the courage to tryout for the team.

-By Mawien Arop