Chapter 4

“OKAY, LADIES. Thank you all for coming to the tryouts for the Bartley High School Angelines basketball team!” The girls on the bleachers cheered, happy to be able to try out for the team. Ardith was a little disappointed that only fourteen girls signed up. She could, of course, just take them all on the team, but she wasn’t really sure why a couple of them were there. They showed no sign of ability or interest. And there was a cheerleader among them as well. That wouldn’t work. Well, she had to work with what she had.

“First, before you set foot on the court, you need to hand your permission slip to our team manager, Dennis. Those of you who make the team will need the medical form, also given to Dennis.”

“Isn’t he a bit young for a team manager? What is he, ten?” Carol Reston asked with a laugh.

“Let me tell you something ladies,” Ardith said. “Dennis has already earned a place on this team. You are all trying out for one. Figure that out.” There were nods and Dennis blushed when Natalie shot him a thumbs up. “We’re going to start with your basic stats. I will be measuring your height and body mass. Then we’ll do some general warmups. Following that we’ll do a few speed and jumping tests. You’ll get two chances at each test and we’ll take the average of the two for your score. Line up at the scale and give Dennis your name and age before you step on.” The girls lined up and started toward the scale where Ardith measured height and weight and gave the numbers to Dennis.

“This is embarrassing,” Judith Long whispered to Dennis after she gave him her name and age of fourteen. “Don’t you dare tell anyone how much I weigh!”

Dennis made a zipping motion across his mouth. “It’s no one’s business but Coach’s,” he said. “I won’t even remember.” That wasn’t precisely true.

Ardith had put Dennis through the tests earlier in the week so he would know what was needed and how to help the girls trying out to perform their best. The SPARQ test included lane agility, standing vertical jump, kneeling power ball throw, three-quarter court sprint, multi-stage hurdle, and max touch measurement. Dennis was exhausted by the time he was through all six stages, but his results weren’t bad for a guy his size. The girls who were the least athletic, of course, fared the worst, some not managing to throw the 2-kilo power ball more than three feet. The three-quarter court sprint saw times from 2.5 seconds to 5 seconds. Then Ardith turned to some of her own tests.

Dennis had given each girl a practice jersey with a number pinned to the back so he could follow Ardith up and down the sideline taking notes as she spoke to them.

“Now, we’re going to do some ball handling exercises and I’ll be watching you dribble, run, shoot, and pass. These are more subjective exercises and I’ll be evaluating what I see on a general quality scale of one to five. I want to see how you handle the ball. I’m also looking at your endurance. Basketball is a game of running. On average, players run a little over two-and-a-half miles during a game of thirty-two minutes. The running is almost always sprint and stop, sprint and stop. Any questions?” No one raised a hand. Ardith pointed out seven girls. “You seven are first up. Grab a ball from Dennis and line up under the basket at this end of the court. Now, dribble the ball as quickly as you can run down the court to the other end. Then turn and dribble back. Remember, I’m looking for both speed and ball handling.” She blew her whistle and the girls took off. One bounced the ball off her foot and ended up chasing it all the way to the end. She did better on the way back.

When they all reached the end line again, Ardith blew her whistle to stop them. “This time I want you to back up down the court while dribbling the ball. Ready?” She blew the whistle again. There was really only one of the girls who maintained control of the ball while she ran backward down the court. Two actually fell on their butts. When they returned, she blew the whistle again. “Rack the balls and second seven come to the court.”

Dennis followed Ardith taking notes for about two hours before she had the girls sit on the bleachers and listen to her. Dennis handed towels and water bottles to the sweaty girls.

“That does it for today. I’m going to have a little discussion with you about why you want to play. Think of it as a job interview. I’ll call you to my office after school Monday and Tuesday and show you your tabulated test results. It may take us that long to get them figured out. Please give some thought about why you want to be on this team and the schedule that will be posted on the team bulletin board next to my office. Your appointment time will also be on the board. You are responsible for checking the board for your timeslot. If you don’t show up, you won’t be on the team. Yes, this is a test. If you’ve decided after this little practice today that you don’t want to be considered for a place on the team, it would be courteous of you to let Dennis know so he doesn’t schedule you for an appointment. Okay, that’s it. Hit the showers and get dressed. Drop your towels in the bin by the locker room door and be out of here in twenty minutes. We want to go home, too.”

“Well, you aren’t the shortest any longer,” Ardith said to Dennis when they sat to go over the interview notes Wednesday afternoon.

“You’re putting Brenda Grant on the team?” Dennis asked. She was the only girl who tried out who was shorter than Dennis at just five feet even. “I thought she was a cheerleader.”

“Says she’d rather play basketball than cheer for someone else playing. And her numbers were all good. She’s powerful and in good shape.”

“Yeah,” Dennis agreed. Brenda was petite but one of the prettiest seniors in the school. She had a great shape.

“Of course, we have the Armors. They feel in some ways responsible for the team and its success. If Natalie isn’t voted the team captain, it will only be because she’s a sophomore. With only Roberta, Daniella, Brenda, and Carol in the upper grades, they might go with one of the older girls. The other six are all freshmen and sophomores, which speaks well for our team’s future.”

“Only six? Did you cut four?”

“Two were told they had to try out by their parents but weren’t really interested. One came just to see what it was like. And one didn’t bother to show up for her interview. Here’s something, though. There were twelve playing at the noon scrimmage today. I talked to some of the girls and they said they wouldn’t mind playing intramural but couldn’t make the time commitment for the team. You know what that means?”

“Really? Do you think there are enough of them to have intramural teams?”

“We’ll have to test the waters. I don’t want to turn anyone away who wants to play. I’ll talk to Jim and Andy. Maybe we should make intramural mixed teams,” Ardith mused.

“Wow! We’re really becoming a progressive school,” Dennis said. “Why I remember a time when girls could only cook and sew. Now look. They think they can play on boys’ teams.” Ardith was shocked. He said it with such a straight face that until he started laughing, she thought he was serious.

“You are going to either become my best decision at this school or my constant nightmare,” she breathed.

“May I apply for both positions?”

“Go home! Get the roster ready to post tomorrow morning. And don’t forget to tell your parents about the manager training session Saturday. We’ll ride over with Jim, Andy, and the four boys’ managers. I can’t believe the school is giving us a bus for the trip.”

Dennis headed out and started the walk home. On the way, he thumbed Natalie’s phone number and sent her a text. Guess who made the team?

It was only a few seconds before he got a response. Don’t tell me. They let u play, too?

No. Shorter than me.

Really? Brenda gave up cheer squad?

Yeah. I’ll send the rest of the roster as soon as I get home.

Can’t wait. CU.

Dennis was elated. Just a few weeks ago, Natalie Armor was someone he worshipped from afar. Now he was texting with her. Life was pretty damn good.

Until he saw three boys walking ahead of him. He recognized them at once. All three had been suspended or expelled, but as far as he knew, they were still just hanging around town. He knew Lee was working part time at the Phillips 66 station. And Jerry was working at the C-Store. He’d heard rumors that Jerry thought he was the drug kingpin. He never could remember the other boy’s name but they spelled trouble if you ran into them. He looked around quickly, hoping they didn’t realize who he was, and cut through Mrs. Davis’s yard to get to the next street. Her dog put up a fuss and Dennis caught a glimpse of the boys speeding up to chase after him.