Free Road Trip by Eric Walters Page B

because I’m a girl.”
    â€œActually, Kia, you’re both.”
    â€œI know that, but she doesn’t,” she snapped. “She doesn’t even care if I’m any good and — Nick, you’re next.”
    In the other line Jordan started dribbling in, and it was my turn to grab the rebound. He put the ball in, I took the rebound and fed it out tothe next player coming in. I then joined the end of the line taking the shots.
    Coach broke us up into another drill and then another and another. A couple of times people screwed up, and he said something sharper and louder than I expected. I was wondering if we’d see the new and improved coach or the guy who couldn’t control his temper – the guy that none of us had wanted to play for. Just what I needed… something else to think about.
    â€œBring it in!” Coach bellowed, and we went over to the bench.
    Quickly we grabbed our water bottles and then gathered around him.
    â€œHere we are,” he began. “Biggest tournament any of you have ever been in. How many of you have butterflies in the pit of your stomach?”
    Nobody said a word. Reluctantly I raised my hand a little.
    Coach looked confused. “You mean to tell me that Nick and I are the only two people who are nervous?”
    That felt good. Slowly everybody else nodded their heads or raised a hand or said they felt a bit nervous.
    â€œBut that doesn’t mean we’re not going to take them,” Tristan said. “We’re a lot better.”
    â€œAnd what makes you think that?” Coach asked.
    â€œI’ve been watching them during the warm-ups.”
    â€œThat would explain why you weren’t paying much attention to our warm-ups.”
    Tristan looked down at his sneakers.
    â€œAnd what did you see?”
    â€œTheir center is tall, but he has no jump,” Tristan said. “Jordan’s going to eat him alive.”
    â€œI’d rather have a burger,” Jordan joked.
    â€œAnybody else see anything?” Coach asked.
    â€œThey can shoot from the outside,” Jamie said. “Particularly from the three-point line.”
    Coach nodded.
    â€œBut it looked like they were taking a long time to get their shots off,” L.B. added. “I think they can shoot good
if
we give them enough time.”
    â€œSo?” Coach asked.
    â€œSo we can’t give them time for a good look,” L.B. said.
    Coach nodded his head. “Anything else?”
    Nobody answered.
    â€œNick, you’re always watching the other team during the warm-ups. What did you notice?” Coach asked.
    I was startled out of my thoughts. Actually, I’d been so distracted during the warm-ups that I’d hardly noticed there was a team at the other end of the gym. I could have told him all about the stands and the number of people and the reporter.
    â€œWell?”
    â€œI didn’t see anything… except what’s been mentioned. What did you see?” I asked.
    It’s always a good strategy to ask a question when you don’t have an answer for the question you’ve been asked.
    Coach smiled and chuckled. “Nice that somebody wants to know what I saw.” He paused. “They have twelve players on their squad. Five look to be first class. From there the talent drops off sharply.”
    â€œSo we have to get to their bench,” Kia said.
    Coach nodded. “We want to wear their starters out by making them work for every basket. I don’t want any uncontested outside shooting because those points come too easily. I noticed that almost all their warm-up drills were focused on outside shooting. I don’t think this team likes to go inside. I watched both their big men repeatedly fumble the ball. That means they’re not going to be reliable targets for inside passes. They’re going to win or lose from the outside.”
    â€œThey’re going to
lose
from the outside,” Tristan