Elleri’s school had entered an inter-school basketball competition, but things were off to a disastrous start. Their team had lost both of their first games—and not just lost, but completely crushed. The reasons were painfully obvious: their players lacked experience, their coach seemed clueless, and their opponents were on an entirely different level.
Defeated and exhausted, the team trudged back to school, their heads hanging low. When Elleri and the other students saw them arrive, the weight of their loss was written all over their faces. But the disappointment wasn’t the worst of it.
The next morning, several players abruptly quit.
“I’m done,” one of them muttered, throwing his jersey onto his desk. “I’m not wasting another week just to get humiliated again.”
Another player scoffed
