Even though she'd never even picked up a basketball before October, Kat Wells was an instant fan of the sport.
"I wanted to go to a Celtics game so bad this year," she said.
Though she didn't get the chance, what she got instead was slightly better. The Celtics came to her.
Kat, a budding writer, entered an essay contest that the Celtics held through Re/Max explaining why she deserved the new court but didn't actually dare to think she would win. Her words, all carefully chosen as she wrote her essay over the course of a month with help from her teacher, explained that she practiced every day on the only available piece of open pavement she had, one of the ports in the family garage.
"It was about how I deserve the court and how I was the biggest Celtics fan," said Kat, 10. "I play in the garage and every time I shot, it always hit the rafters."
"And it broke my windows!" added Kat's mother, Kim.
Kat laughed, but she would have laughed at just about anything. She was in a sublime mood all day, and a smile never left her face.
Kat submitted her essay in March but didn't hear that she had won until July. As it happened, the day she stayed home sick from Lancers basketball camp was the day the call came.
"I was so happy," said Kat, emphasizing "so" the way only a delighted 10-year-old can. "I said, 'I'm going to meet a Celtics player!' Unbelievable. I couldn't imagine it."
But dream became reality around 12:30 on Friday, when the Celtics' Eddie House and Celtics great Cedric Maxwell walked into the Wells backyard carrying the Celtics' 2008 championship trophy. Then there was a round of pictures with the family and the Celtics, and Kat even got to hold the World Championship trophy. When she kissed it at House's urging, Kat began to cry.
"Tears of joy," she explained later.
With a crowd of 50 or so onlookers, including the Wells family's cows, Maxwell and House broke in the court by autographing the Celtics shamrock in the middle of the key.
"We always talk about having places to play and having a safe environment and I don't think there's any safer environment than being here," Maxwell said. "This is a setting that reminds me of being home. I'm from North Carolina and my grandparents had a farm, and pretty much what we had was just dirt out there, and we ran up and down. To have a court and a world champion to come to your particular area, that's something you can tell your friends over and over again. You had Eddie House in your backyard, and you have some cows in your backyard. They'll never believe it. It's a great story."
For House, it was the first trip to New Hampshire. Being from Union City, Calif., he didn't have too much experience with the type of livestock the Wells have on the property.
"Oh, it's different," said House, who had Kat attached to his hip the entire length of his visit. "We've got cows, chickens running around somewhere, there was a bee chasing me earlier, so I'm in the wilderness. It's still a court, though, and it's always great to come back and help out like this. She wrote a great essay. You saw how she was when we came up here. That's what it's all about. Those special moments that touch somebody for the rest of your life just by giving a few moments of your time. Any time you can do that, I'm always in."
House, who had been doing similar promotions in Rhode Island and Massachusetts the previous two days, broke in the court with a modified game of HORSE: K-A-T. He also helped Kat work on her shot. Being one of the best shooters in the NBA, House beat Kat, but the girl simply wouldn't stop smiling. House did say, though, that he was impressed with her technique for only having played the sport for the previous nine months.
"I had to break the court in. I beat her today," House said with a laugh. "That's OK; she's a fighter and she works hard."
After a round of interviews and autographs, the party moved to Londonderry Middle School, where House and Maxwell hosted a free skills clinic.
"It's nice to have a world champion like Eddie House come to your backyard and shoot," Maxwell said. "That just doesn't happen. Nobody gets to see that. It's a great opportunity for the community, the kids and the parents. Everyone gets involved and has fun."
