:
Basketball is hard pressed into the DNA of the University of Connecticut. After a year of missed student tickets to watch the Connecticut Huskies play on campus, I finally won a spot for the biggest game of all. Every year, throughout march, college basketball erupts wiht ‘march Madness’, a national basketball competition where the top 68 college basketball teams compete in knockout rounds for the title of best in the nation. In April, I was sat alongside a friend in the Harry A. Gampel basketball pavilion to watch the women’s final.During the final phase of the fourth quarter, the air was congested with screams and shouts. As I stood up, the buzzer went off signaling that Connecticut had won the championship. The orchestra of voices was carried onto the wide central fairway that runs down the middle of campus, as thousands of students dressed in college white and navy streamed outside. It was at this moment, as I embedded myself in the celebrating crowd, that I knew America had become a part of me. I looked up and saw grown men climbing trees and women yelling and stacking themselves on each other’s shoulders. Laughter ripped through the air. This was a journey that required courage, faith, and perseverance. Like many, I had been primed with general knowledge of US customs and culture from film and television. These preconceptions were quickly discarded. Stepping onto a mat glossed with blood and sweat,mixing cement,or resisting prejudicial treatment allows you to realize the complexities of the country’s psyche.The relationships I formed forced me to confront who I was. I appreciated the changing seasons, from the amber leaves of September and October to the snow of December and January, and the cherry blossoms of March and April.
Title: The Fourth Quarter: Reflections on a Year of Firsts, on and Off the American Court
109
