Community High’s annual Forum competition week was filled with fun activities from April 1 to April 5. However, one shined above all others: the basketball tournament. With diverse teams representing different grades and ages, the tournament brought out students alike, surrounding the basketball court and cheering for each and every forum. Although the game was filled with joy, there were inevitable conflicts bound to arise.

For Eamon Peeples, it was a nerve-wracking event. “It was pretty fun, I won the first game but I lost the second to Hunscher-Young,” Peeples said. “I wasn’t ready to play the second game because they were back to back so I got a little cooked.”

Peeples believes that it’s an issue Forum Council needs to address. He adds how it’s as simple as adding a little more time between each round. “I feel like they should give us a break between games because we just played another team,” Peeples said. “We gotta rest. Then we played [Hunscher-Young] and they beat us.”

He adds how the refs “should be fired” and shouldn’t be allowed to officiate anymore. “I went down to paint and I got my hand slapped, not even that one, nothing,” Peeples said. “They didn’t give me anything.”

However, even with things not going his way, Peeples was able to make the most from his experience. “I enjoyed my time because we take the loss, we learn from it, we get better and next year we’re gonna win,” Peeples said. “I’m not going to be here but we have young bloods coming up and they’re all gonna be better than me.”

On the first day, Elliot Mason was one of three players representing the Brent forum, opposing the Kylie forum. Reflecting on his mindset during the game, Mason imagined he would perform poorly but to his avail, he disproved his own expectations. “I’m not that good at basketball,” Mason said. “But clearly I proved myself wrong today.”

Mason also circles back to the idea of qualified referees. “I didn’t hear a single word out of them,” Mason said. “We didn’t really play that dirty, but I think we should get some actual qualified refs instead of people who just wanted to be the ref. But it didn’t matter because we won.”

The final score was an incredible 5-1.

Delving into the Community culture surrounding this week, specifically the basketball tournament, Mason observes some trends that this week exemplifies. “Everyone’s out here,” Mason said. “It brings lots of people together or apart if you beat the other team.”

Ryan Grant sees eye to eye with Mason on this matter. “This is one of the best things we do at Community aside from tug of war,” Grant said. “You already know I’m gonna enjoy this week, it’s going to be nice.”

Coming in first place — winning the tournament — was Chaney Ward, Nicky Singer and Owen Swaney representing the Sylvester forum. “We lost in the second round last year,” Singer said. “It feels really good to win. Me and Chaney, we’re a good team.”

Overall, the trio explains that their exemplary performance was all thanks to their defense, communication and mindset. “I think our communication, especially down the stretch, really helped us,” Ward said. “They got on me when I needed it saying, ‘aye bro slow down, relax, we got this.’”

Halfway through the final round, Singer had sustained a near game ending injury to the ankle. “I fell down, I was going for a ball,” Singer said. “I slammed my knee in the ditch. I was kind of limping for a minute.”

However, even after being injured, he kept the same goal in mind. Singer was a man on a mission. “I was thinking: I gotta keep playing, we wanna win, we care about forum competition week,” Singer said. “I’m in the Silvester forum and I wanted to win for him.”