Chapter 1: Amy

The high school year started at the beginning of September with basketball practice starting in mid-October. After the first two weeks of basketball practice Don Carlson who taught history and now had been the head boys’ basketball coach for three years was able to make an assessment of what he thought the team’s potential could be. To him it seemed that he could have a very respectable winning record this year and they could have a chance at the conference title. The last two seasons had resulted in a five hundred record in conference play which while respectable was still a disappointment.

Don was content in being a high school history teacher and a basketball coach. This was something he had wanted to do for a long time. Now if he could have a good solid team, which appeared to be a strong possibility this year, that would put the icing on the cake. He never had any aspirations of being a college coach and was content to be coaching at the high school level.

During his lunch period he was sitting in the teacher’s lounge eating a sandwich and reading the morning paper. Sitting at the table with Don was Will Adams who was the boy’s junior varsity basketball coach. Will was in his first year at the school and Don so far was pleased with Will’s performance. Will was told to concentrate on teaching the fundamentals of the game which negated Don having to do that when the players came up to the varsity. Don thought Will could be a head coach in a few years with more experience under his belt.

“Mind if I join you fellows,” was heard by Don and he looked up to see that Amy Chandler had said those words.

“Make yourself right at home,” said Don.

Amy took a seat at the table. Don liked Amy who was in her first year of coaching the girls’ varsity basketball team. She had played college basketball and was a fairly good player. After college she played basketball in Europe for three years before coming to the realization that what she wanted was to be a women’s basketball coach. She had told Don she hoped to be a coach on the college level and knew she had to start somewhere. When the opening occurred at this school she applied for the position. Besides coaching she taught English which was her major in school and she had secured a teaching certificate.

Amy in Don’s opinion was one good looking woman. She wasn’t what you would call beautiful but she had that All-American girl look. Her five foot seven inch height along with a slim figure and her shoulder length auburn colored hair did give Don some carnal thoughts about her. Her personality was also a plus in that to his knowledge Don had never heard her say anything negative about anyone.

“I am hoping you fellows can give me some coaching advice,” said Amy

Putting down the paper Don asked her what was the problem.

“I think I have a good team but I also think the players are lacking self-confidence in how good they are. I know they enjoy playing the game but they are always coming up with excuses rather than being aggressive and having a winning attitude. Compounding the problem is that in two weeks we have our first pre-season game and it is against Our Lady Queen of Peace who took second place in the State tournament last year. If we get blown out in that game, I think it will end any chance we have for a winning season.”

Don was quiet for a while thinking about the problem and then he said, “You need to have a game before that game which hopefully will show your team how good they are or can be.”

“Great idea but who could my team play?”

“How about the boy’s junior varsity?”

“What,” said Will?

“If we could beat the boys I think that would show the girls how good they are and would give them the confidence they need,” said Amy.

“You are not going to beat the boys, “said Will.

“I think we can and would you care to place a wager on that?” Amy extended her hand to Will while giving him a challenging look.

Will and Amy had some additional comments to make but they shook hands agreeing to a twenty dollar wager.

“Can I get into this and place a bet?” said Don.

“How much do you want to bet?” said Amy.

“I was thinking not money but a dinner since I think that the boys will win.”

“It’s a bet,” said Amy quickly.

Don mentally patted himself on the back for making this bet. Win or lose it was one way of getting a date with Amy without having to ask.

“We do need to decide on what size basketball we will use since there is a difference between the ones that girls and boys use,” said Amy.

“Too be fair we should use both. We can have people stationed at all four corners of the court who can exchange the proper basketball quickly to the team who is in possession of the ball,” said Don.

Will and Amy agreed to that and then they both stood and made a few more remarks before heading off to their classrooms. Don watched Amy’s nice backside as she walked away while still congratulating himself on how he wangled a date with her.

The next day at lunch Don was sitting at a table when both Will and Amy came to the table at the same time.

“We may have a problem,” said Amy. “The word is out on this game and both Will and I have been approached by a large number of students wanting to know where and when as they want to watch the game.”

Putting down his paper Don said, “You know if there is that much interest in the students why don’t we advertise the game and make a nominal charge for admission. We can donate the proceeds to a charity like the local food pantry that is always is in need of donations.”

Don waived over to Steve Buckles the Athletic Director who was sitting at a table across the room and motioned he should come here. Steve did and they briefed him on what was happening and what they were proposing.

“On the face of it I think what you are proposing is good and I am all for it. There is one problem and that is the conference rules limits the number of pre-season games a team can have and this game would put you over the limit,” said Steve.

Steve’s comment put an immediate damper on the conversation but then Don said, “How about if we don’t call it a game and call it a scrimmage? We could have the scoreboard on to keep track of the time but not post the score. Of course if the fans in the stands wanted to keep an unofficial score there is nothing we can do about that. Also both teams would be on the honor system as to the number of personal fouls.”

“I think that would work,” said Steve. “I will call the assignment chairman and see if he could have two officials donate their time for this charitable event. I will also have Janet put up notices on this scrimmage. Seven o’clock this coming Friday is what we agreed on correct?”

All four of them left the lounge in agreement as to this upcoming scrimmage.

In teaching his history classes during the week a number of the students asked Don his opinion on who he thought would win this scrimmage. He didn’t say that he had placed a bet that the boys would win. He only said he thought it should be a close hard fought game which because of technicalities was being called a scrimmage.

Walking into the gym Friday night Don was a little surprised by the turnout. There were a considerable amount of people in the stands. This scrimmage wasn’t a sellout but it was close to it. Besides the students there were a number of adults who Don presumed were parents and relatives along with some fellow teachers in the stands. The prep band had been playing for about one half hour while the teams were warming up which was causing a high degree of excitement among the fans. It was a partisan group of fans with each gender supporting their gender’s team.

The game itself was good. The boys thought just by showing up guaranteed a win but that was not the case. At the end of the first quarter the score was 15 to 7 in the girls favor and at half time the score was 28 to 22 in the girls favor.

In watching the second half Don could see the boys were determined not to be embarrassed by a loss to the girls. The boys controlled the backboards but the girls had some good outside shooters who could hit the three point shot.

The unofficial final score at the end of the scrimmage was the boys 58 and the girls 54. Both sides were happy with the results. The boys in that they weren’t embarrassed and won the game and the girls in that while they lost they realized they could hold their own against the boys.