Box Out-John Coy

Do you share any of the feelings of the characters in this work?  What makes you feel this way?

Although I am about a quarter of the way through Box Out, I was hooked from the very beginning.  John Coy does a very good job of making his characters realistic and relatable.  One such character that I can especially empathize with is the main character, Liam.  The novel opens up with Liam, a tall high school basketball player who has just been promoted to the varsity team after a star player has broken his leg.  Of course, he is in disbelief at first but has a tremendous first game later that night.  His teammates seem excited to have him on the team and he proves his worth several times a star rebounder.  However, Horizon High School is down by 1 point with just seconds left in the game when Liam is called to throw for two free throw shots due to a penalty.  He misses the first one by a long shot and the second one comes closer but still fall short of the one point needed to take the game into overtime.  Of course, Liam blames himself for missing the free throws and despite his teammates' and his parents' encouraging words that it was the team's loss and not just Liam's, he refuses to believe it.
I have never been a basketball player but I have participated in team activities, such as marching band when I was high school.  We were a large band but my director was a seasoned one with an eagle eye for individual mistakes.  However, he always stressed that we were only as strong as our weakest link; in other words, if one person made a mistake, it was all of our mistakes.  If we came in second place because a trumpet player was out of step, it wasn't just their fault, it was the band's fault.  I can relate to Liam's feelings of putting the blame on himself, though.  Even now, past the days of marching band, I still feel like I put too much pressure on myself to somehow find the hidden meaning in the new SC state standards and the ADEPT standards that new teachers are evaluated on.  Of course, there is no "hidden meaning" and one of my favorite things about the teaching profession is how collaborative it is.  Many times I have to take a step back and realize this, but every time I do, it comes with a great wave of relief.  While my fellow teachers and I aren't playing for the state championship on the varsity basketball team, teaching is still very much a team sport where your colleagues will always have your back, no matter how badly you think you've messed up.