How did Junior make the basketball team? In what ways was this related to his conversation with his dad earlier? (Olivia)

When Junior and Randy were competing against each other to make the team, Randy was over-powering Junior. Junior fell on the floor and the coach walked up to him and remembered Junior, from when he played in the eighth grade at the reservation and knew that Junior was a good shooter. The coach asked, “You want to take him on again?”(Alexie 140). Junior replied with a definitive yes. When Junior doesn’t give up, the coach recognizes perseverance, which is an extremely important quality. This episode demonstrates to the coach that Junior wont give up and that he cares about basketball. Earlier in the chapter, when Junior is trying to decide whether he wants to try out for basketball, his father talks to him about when he and Junior’s mother first met. His father wisely announces, “You have to dream big to get big”(Alexie 136). His father’s story is trying to teach Junior that if you never think your good enough to make varsity then you will never succeed because you will never try hard enough. But if you aim for a high goal such as making the varsity team, even if you don’t think you can succeed, it will help give you the determination to accomplish your goal. You have to shoot high to get high, but if you shoot low you will never get high. Junior’s father’s statement helped Junior realize the value of perseverance, the very characteristic that the coach noticed in Junior, which helped Junior make the varsity team. If Junior had declined the opportunity to try again it would have showed the coach that Junior didn’t care.