The Little Things That Matter in the Big Game: Specific Things Any Young Person Can Do

What did a high school varsity basketball team and a nine-year-old boy with cancer have to do with each other during the 2010-2011 season? The basketball team encouraged and lifted up the nine-year-old. The nine-year-old encouraged and lifted up the basketball team. This is the story of how a local high school basketball team helped my son, Patrick, through the difficult chemotherapy he was receiving to treat stage three acute lymphoblastic lymphoma. They didn't know anything about Patrick other than that he was a big fan when the season started. As the season went on, all thirteen players began to reach out to Patrick; eventually he became part of the team. Their interactions and support gave Patrick windows of time when he was not a cancer patient. He was a fan and a teammate. Patrick served as an example to the team that there is more to life than basketball. He showed them that life is "The Big Game" and that the little things really do matter. "I think this is a great story, and all young athletes should read this. It reminds us all that there is always somebody watching you and you are making a difference in their life, one way or another." -Dan Harwood, teacher and basketball coach at Magruder High School