Finding Your Game

Eight-year-old David is an expert at disappearing.

At home, life is a loud, confusing blur of smashing dishes and shouting matches. To cope, David retreats into the safety of his headphones and the solitude of his room. He carries the weight of his parents' crumbling marriage in his empty stomach and on his unwashed clothes, feeling the sting of judgment every time he walks through the school doors.

To David, school isn't an escape-it's just a different kind of battlefield. Between the "heavy brick" of his teacher's disapproval and the mocking laughter of classmates when he struggles with math, David is trapped in a dark room of his own making. He's convinced that he's better off alone, invisible and unbothered.

Then came Troy.

When a new student sits next to him, David's carefully constructed walls begin to crack. Troy doesn't see a kid who is defiant or slow; he sees a friend. With a bright blue bouncy ball and an unbreakable spirit of encouragement, Troy invites David into a world he never thought he belonged to: the playground.

Through the simple game of kickball, David discovers something much more powerful than sports. He learns that while he can't control the chaos at home, he can choose how he shows up for himself. With a little bit of confidence and a lot of heart, David begins to realize that school doesn't have to be a place of fear-it can be a place of triumph.

"Finding Your Game" is a moving and hopeful story about the power of friendship, the resilience of the human spirit, and the courage it takes to step off the sidelines and finally join the game of life.