A Battle Within

According to PTSD.ne.gov 7.8% Americans suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. Sadly Chris Patton is part of that 7.8% in the book The Rebounder by Thomas Dygard.  He had a tragic accident when he was on the basketball team at his old school. If he can overcome his past, he can achieve great things. This is the main theme of the novel.

He started with everything. The best basketball player, the most popular and the one who all the girls liked. Until all happened on one rebound. The shot went up and Chris leaped for the rebound he got it and came down. But then a sudden “Boom “ the opposing player laying on the ground holding his eye grimacing in pain. Later Chris found out that he permanently blinded the poor kid. After that accident he was traumatized and he said “I never want to play again”

Suddenly though at his new school he goes to Coach Fulton’s office and says “I want to play coach” (40). This was a shock to all his family and Coach. But it was the first step to returning to the normal Chris Patton. Coach Fulton even said “He’s the best player I have seen in five years” (53). Considering that he hasn't played in a year is even more remarkable.

Sadly this wasn't the end of Chris Patton’s problems. 3-4 games after his return to the floor he was playing like a star until one rebound. It was almost the same play both jiving for position in the post and yet another “BOOM” the player hits the floor again. This time no injuries but it brought back to many memories for Chris to handle. “No!”(107) that’s all Chris Patton said. But it pretty much summed up everything.  After the game Chris decided to quit. This was a major setback in returning to his normal self. Everyone believed that that was the end of the Hamilton High Panther’s season losing their best player.

“At halftime the panthers down 22-27” (168) the announcer said in a dull voice. Yes they were only down by 5 to a really good team. But they all knew they couldn’t win the league without their big man Chris Patton. As they walked into the locker room there was a shadow nobody knew what it could be. As they turned the corner they saw Chris Patton in uniform. They were ecstatic. “I got it all figured out” (170)  he told Coach Fulton. This was finally the day that Chris overcame his fears and returned to the guy he used to be. All his teammates ran and hugged him. But they knew they still had business to finish on the court. They came out firing on all cylinders after . They ended up winning by 7 points.

This just shows if you stay hungry and determined you can achieve anything no matter what happened in your past put it behind you and do what you want to do especially if you good at it. Just ask Chris Patton in the book The Rebounder by Thomas Dygard he overcame his past and now he is a great basketball player and he is probably a lot happier having not to worry about his past.