Overtime had come to a close and the score was 58-64. We were 58. I was upset but more angry. I knew practice the next day was going to be terrible but at that point I didn’t care. I was too disappointed to care. When we walked into our “locker room,” which was essentially a classroom that was never used, my coach sat down and started to tell us a story.  

It went like this: one pig built a house of straw while the second pig built his house with sticks. They built their houses very quickly and then sang and danced all day because they were lazy. The third little pig worked hard all day and built his house with bricks. The big bad wolf went to the first house and huffed and puffed and blew the house down in minutes. The frightened little pig ran to the second pig’s house that was made of sticks. The big bad wolf now came to this house and huffed and puffed and blew the house down in hardly any time. Now, the two little pigs were terrified and ran to the third pig’s house that was made of bricks.The big bad wolf tried to huff and puff and blow the house down, but he could not. He kept trying for hours but the house was very strong and the little pigs were safe inside.

We had all heard the story of the three little pigs but at that point we didn’t understand why he was telling us a children’s fairy tale at that moment. He started to explain saying that the whole regular season of any sport is supposed to be the time that a team figures out what’s right for them and what’s wrong for them and to just get better together as a team. Then he started to say that we weren’t like the pig with the straw or the sticks but the one with the bricks. We were going to take our time to build up our strong brick house so that when March, or the big bad wolf, came nobody could knock over our house. We would survive longer than anyone because we had prepared ourselves and built our house exactly the way we wanted and needed. When March came we won districts and then regionals. Nobody could knock down the foundation that we took a season to build.

That long stupid story has stuck with me. It applied so well and what I’ve learned is that it can apply to most things. My whole life I’ve been putting together my house. I’ve been carefully setting each brick in place. Right now I’m trying to decide the college I’m applying to. The process is strenuous and annoying but this brick is important in the foundation of my house and life. This brick can’t be lopsided it has to be straight or the rest of my house will crooked. My house is yet to be completed but I’m excited to see how it looks.