Before the End

In September, Xinqiao Senior High School welcomed a group of teenagers who had just entered the high school campus. No. 11 Wang Shangyuan, a gorgeous ball handler, is also a key man who becomes more dangerous at the last moment; No. 8 Yuan Chenxin, spends countless nights in the training hall, just to practice that fadeaway that no one can easily block; No. 23 Dai Liuchen, can score and defend, and can always see passing routes that others cannot see; No. 34 Zhao Zhibo and No. 1 Guo Wendong guard the inside, forming the "twin towers" belonging to Xinqiao. There are also Ding Jixuan, Huan Qi, Li Zhangwei, Xue Siyuan, Zhang Shichao... Ten teenagers with different personalities and playing styles stood together for the first time because of a basketball. But what they faced was not a championship road with a good ending. They will be on the bench, beaten by seniors and unable to fight back; they will miss a shot that should have been made at the last second, they will ruin a victory because of an incorrect pass, and they will also encounter nights when the team misses three-pointers, suffers constant injuries, and is exhausted but still has to keep running. Someone will hit a priceless shot at the last moment. Someone will sprint back from the other end of the court to complete a game-changing chase-down shot. There are also people who will give everything they have and still can only watch the basketball bounce out of the frame. From Nanjing, to Jiangsu, and then to the whole country. From the first time I put on the Xinqiao jersey in my freshman year of high school to the last time I stood in the middle of the court in my senior year of high school. It took them three years to finally understand—— What truly makes a team strong is never the talent of one individual.