My favorite scene in the novel: “Dragon Hoops” occurs in chapter eight, where Jeevin Sandhu, an important starter on the Bishop O’Dowd men’s basketball team uses support and courage to deal with obstacles such as new environments and discrimination. Jeevin grew up in a suburb near the San Fransisco Bay Area, called Union City - where he quickly fell in love with the game of basketball. However, although the city had lots of cultural diversity, once on the court where he shines, Jeevin is often the only Punjabi kid. Unfortunately, due to his Sikh religion and Indian background, he is often the target of hateful discrimination. One quote that stood out to me is where Jeevin explains how racism against certain minorities has not gone away: “... …show more content…
Because I’m the only one.” (p. 257). When the prejudice first started, Jeevin was understandably upset. However, he often talks to his mother “about everything” and his mother tells him that “that’s the only way [the other kids have got] to take [Jeevin] out of [his] game” (p. 258). He realizes during these conversations that the discrimination is being used to distract him from his skill, and uses his courage and love of basketball to continue persevering through these obstacles to improve his skills every day. As an aspiring Asian-American basketball player, I connect with this scene greatly - I have also experienced moments of prejudice and have leaned on trusted friends such as my parents and friends when in moments of distress. I have realized, through both personal experiences and the knowledge I have gained from reading this novel, that sometimes the best thing to do is to just suck up the hate and use it as an incentive to get better and better. As Coach Lou Richie said: how we play will be [a] statement” (p.89). “Basketball is [also] why Jeevin Sandhu, a Punjabi kid who practices the Sikh faith, who’d gone to public schools all his life - ended up at a Catholic school like Bishop O’Dowd” (p.