Free Athlete vs. Mathlete by W. C. Mack Page A

we took off, I knew I’d done the right thing.
    Russell was
super slow
, and if he’d run with anyone else, he would have been left in the dust in two seconds. I tried to forget that Coach was timing us and kept pace with Russ, so he wouldn’t look bad.
    But of course he looked bad.
    He fell over twice when he bent to touch the lines,
and
he tripped over his shoelaces on the way back. He even stopped to retie them about halfway through, like Coach’s stopwatch didn’t even exist.
    â€œDouble knots,” I hissed, then heard some of the guys laughing.
    I had to keep reminding myself that Coach had already recorded my time, so I wasn’t risking anything by helping my brother.
    When we were finally finished, the stopwatch clicked, and Russell slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor, with his head on his knees.
    Coach Baxter growled, “Nice teamwork, Owen.”
    That felt good.
    â€œMan,” Chris said, shaking his head when I walked back to the guys. “It’s like Russ was in slow motion.”
    â€œYeah,” Paul said, “like a replay on ESPN.”
    â€œAnd he doesn’t mean a highlight,” Nicky Chu added.
    I glared at them and they dropped it.
    Dribbling was next. Coach told us he wanted to checkout our ball-handling skills, but he was looking for control, not speed.
    Lucky for Russ.
    Coach split us into two groups, and we stood in front of the rows of orange cones Mr. Webster had put out.
    â€œI want you to dribble through the cones and go in for a layup at the end,” Coach explained. “Got it?”
    I was near the end of the line, which was fine with me. When each of the guys ahead of me ran the drill, I watched closely to see what mistakes they made so I wouldn’t make them, too.
    Russell’s turn was right before mine, and I heard more snickering.
    Come on, Russ. Do it for us
.
    Coach blew the whistle and my twin took off. He managed to keep control of the ball, but barely. He knocked over three of his cones, but made it to the end.
    When he went in for the layup, he totally missed the hoop.
    â€œAir ball,” Nicky Chu sang quietly, and a couple of guys laughed.
    I didn’t have time to worry about it, though, because I was up next.
    When the whistle blew, I dribbled through the cones and made a perfect shot, off the backboard and through the net.
    Yes!
    We ran the same drill four more times, and I shot 100 percent. Seriously awesome!
    Russell only made one basket, but he
did
leave all the cones standing on his last run. His tryout had started out stinking like old cheese, but it was getting better. Kind of.
    â€œOkay,” Coach said. “We know basketball is about scoring points, but it’s also about defense.”
    I was relieved when he put me and Russ together for one-on-one.
    â€œYou ready?” I asked my brother.
    â€œI missed every basket on that last drill,” he said, and sighed.
    â€œSo what?
This
is what you do best. Remember what I told you the other day, about just standing there?”
    Russ nodded.
    â€œThat’s all you have to do. Just stand there and block my shots.”
    â€œBut then you won’t score, Owen.”
    Whoa! I hadn’t thought of that. “Okay, let me make a couple of them.”
    For the next few minutes, I made Russell look like he had some idea what he was doing, which was good enough. With my help, he blocked about 75 percent of my shots.
    Then it was my turn to defend the net against Russell. He slowly dribbled toward me, biting his lip. He checked the net, then looked back at me and came closer.
    Just stay calm, Russ
.
    I bent my knees, ready.
    He dribbled for a couple more seconds, and just when I thought he was going to go right, he lifted the ball in front of him and jumped straight up in the air.
    He let the ball fly.
    Stunned, I turned to watch it drop right into the net.
    What?
    The guys on the sidelines went nuts.
    â€œBeautiful,” Coach