Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push CERER by Tian Tian 8-5
Did you know that self-belief is one of the most important things in the world? Self-belief is one of the driving factors in this story – and an important one too. Not only that, but people can change in a matter of days (in both good and bad, of course). In this story, Chris’ dad is a pro basketball player and Chris’ family had gotten into a car accident that got Chris into a wheelchair. Chris’ school started to offer a basketball team for wheelies (people in wheelchair’s/people playing in wheelchairs) and Chris starts going. Chris’ father coached their team sometimes and they played against another team in the end.
In the story Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push, by Walter Dean Myers, the author believes that you shouldn’t give up on your dreams and people can change over time. From beginning to end, Chris was always enthusiastic about continuing doing basketball and here it states, “I knew I wanted to play” (Myers 2). Despite being disabled, Chris still had big dreams of playing basketball. Although his dad didn’t exactly fully support the idea, Chris (with the support of his mother). Because of this, in the end, Chris managed to play basketball to play against one of the best wheelchair teams in the area. Chris didn’t even feel bad about losing in the end because he knew he would improve by next season; another example of not giving up. As the story continues, we also see Chris’ father changing. The father used to be much colder and quieter, but then the story transitions: “’ I thought you were terrible at first,’ [Chris’ father] said, smiling. [Chris] didn’t believe he actually smiled. ‘Now you’re just pretty bad. But I think you can play with that Madison team.’” Chris’ father is the second main character in this story as he played a major role of even just making Chris interested in basketball in the first place. However, since the accident, it stated that he became quieter and didn’t speak out much. When the offer came out for a wheelchair basketball, he didn’t seem amused. As the story moved on, he became more open.