Michael Ruwoldt

Mr. Newman
English 101: Rhetoric

As an only child I never experienced the true meaning of brotherhood. As a freshman

and sophomore playing for Coach Yaklich the word family was drilled into my head. Going
through the first two years in the Joliet West basketball program, I realized that families can be
dysfunctional, not only in the locker rooms but even off the court at home families can be very
malfunctional. I was in my hotel room for my final AAU tournament in Las Vegas, when I got a
text from the assistant coach saying that Coach Yak was leaving. I immediately felt resent and
confusion with his decision, he promised us so much and had our hopes up high. With Coach
Yak taking his coaching talents to Illinois State University going into my junior, our basketball
program was given Coach Nick Diforti who on the first day of practice gave us a sheet that
established brotherhood into our minds. As he sat us down at the end of practice he went over the
sheet with the big black italic word brotherhood on it.
Brotherhood never crossed my mind with Coach Yak being here, it was family, family,
and more family. Yak pumped my head up so much telling me Im going to be a great player and
great point guard for this team, not going to lie, I was feeling myself for junior year. Diforti
quickly changed that though. He explained to us that brothers always have a bond, no matter
what, close or far they always have each other backs. Diforti told us that the key to victory is
teamwork and to have each others backs in the game. Everyone bought into the brotherhood
system pretty well at first. We knocked off four straight victories to start off the year. As
christmas started coming closer and closer, the team started getting worse. After losing two big
conference games, we were on our way down to Pontiac to play the powerhouse West Aurora.

To keep it short, the game was ugly. A blowout, and after the game the brotherhood came a little
stronger. Our team went in on each other as my friend Jeff and I sat back watching, and it was
ugly. A year before this incident I think my ego would have let me sit there and laugh at them
with Jeff, but the word brotherhood just kept on ringing in my head. I decided to get everyone
together and to calm down. After Pontiac everyone was closer, especially Jeff and I. We became
so close that we are inseparable now and its crazy to think weve always been friends.
Brotherhood made me closer with the teammates that I had and going into that year I was more
of a selfish and get mine type of person.
Carrying the brotherhood aspect from my junior year, I went into my senior summer as a
great captain. The seniors were all on one achord and everyone had great chemistry for the
whole month of June. I still keep in contact with my brothers from last year and I dont think
there will ever be a team as funny as the one I had with those guys. With brotherhood as the
main focus going into my senior season, I feel like our team will gel together and we will have a
successful season.