Friendly Competition

Its a Sunday afternoon and since there wasn't anything going on at my normal place of observation I decided to come to a park near my house. The park is decent sized but its not huge and only has a few things for kids to play on. When I arrived, the swings were not my place of interest as I made my way to the basketball goals that were towards the back. I sat down at a bench that was near by and got my stuff ready. As I surveyed the park there were a few other little kids and their parents, and on the basketball courts I saw three boys and a female all around 18 years old. The first boy, Daniel, wore a white shirt with black shorts and black converse. The second boy, Trent, had his shirt off and was only wearing red shorts with white basketball shoes. The third boy, Lloyd, was wearing a black bro tank with khaki shorts and whit shoes. The girl, Lauren, was wearing jeans and a jacket, she obviously didn't come to participate in playing basketball. The four were standing together talking while Daniel aimlessly dribbled the ball around. Lloyd had his arm around Lauren and kissed her so I assumed they were together and she came along because of Lloyd. Trent then said, "Alright, you guys wanna play?" Daniel and Lloyd agreed with smiles on their faces and Lauren went and took a seat at one of the other benches. The three decided to play a quick game of "21." Trent started off with the ball and quickly shot a three pointer but missed. The ball bounced to Daniel where he dribbled by the two others and scored the first basket. Daniel proceeded to shoot free throws making 3 in a row until he missed. Lloyd gets the ball and makes a jump shot around the free throw line. The three proceeded to go back and forth scoring baskets from time to time. I noticed that Trent liked shooting three pointers, and Daniel enjoyed driving to the basket more. Lloyd had a nice balance going, shooting an occasional deep shot but driving to the basket as well. Daniel was in the lead with 18 points followed by Lloyd with 16 and then Trent with 12. Being that the winner of the game had to get to 21 points, Daniel was closest to winning. Lloyd dribbled the ball around dodging defenders until he pulled up and nailed a three point shot bringing his point total to 19, only two points away from 21. Trent and Daniel were sure that he would win being that he only had to make two more free throws, but to their surprise he missed the first one and the ball bounced right into Daniels hands. Daniel had the ball and the other two guarded him closely. He dribbled by Trent and jumped up over Lloyd to shoot a close jump shot. Lloyd jumped simultaneously to block it but came up just shy of the ball. Daniels shot sailed over the tips of Lloyds fingertips and dropped into the basket. He then needed to make just one free throw to bring him to 21 and win the game, and he did just that. Daniel made the free throw and ended the game. Lauren, looking relieved that the game was over, stood up and walked over to the boys. She hugged Lloyd and the four began talking again while the three boys rested up and drank water. Trent, wanting revenge, offered to play another game but Lloyd said no since he and Lauren had to leave. Daniel also said that he had to be getting home as well since he had homework. The four went and gathered their stuff and made their way out of the park. At this point it was starting to get dark and cold so I stood up and left the now empty park to head home.