Chapter 8

Katie had problems of her own. It was now time for her to earn her scholarship. She attended her first mandatory meeting for all potential players for the upcoming season that evening. The practice schedule was handed out, as well as the upcoming season's schedule.

"For you first years, please note that practices are scheduled for all day Saturday and, before the season, on Tuesdays and Fridays from 2:00 to 5:00. It's up to you to attend these practices and maintain your academics as well. The varsity squad will be cut down to fifteen by February 15, the day before our first game. Any questions?"

As she walked back to her dorm, Katie thought, 'Welcome to the world of the student athlete. This sure is nothing like high school. I guess there's no such thing as a free ride. I'm going to have to work my ass off to pull this off and I'm going to need John's help more than ever.'

As they had previously planned, John and Katie met in the SU. Over coffee, they compared her class schedule to her practice schedule and the season schedule. Thanks to the luck of the draw, she would only miss one class on Friday and no classes on Tuesday. Since most of the games were scheduled on Saturdays, it appeared that, for the most part if she made the team, she would have minimal disruptions to her school work.

"Katie, I can take notes for you in Western Civ and we can review them on Sunday, don't worry about that. If you find that our working out together takes up too much time, I'll just stop."

"Not a chance buddy. You're not going to get off that easy. You wanted to work out to improve that body of yours and I'm not going to be your excuse to stop even before you start. We have a standing date, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:00; and don't make me come looking for you."

Friday evening they met for dinner at 5:30, ate, hung around until 7:45 and walked over to the gym.

After changing they started out on the treadmill to loosen up, John walking for a mile, and Katie running for two. Then it was over to the circuit machines. On first machine, the lat pull, they alternated, John starting out at 40 lbs. for ten reps. He got up and let Katie have her turn. He stood there stunned as she did twelve reps at one hundred forty pounds -- the entire stack of weights. Before she got up she reached down and reset the load to his forty and moved off the seat.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Sorry."

He sat down and did his next set. As he reached his tenth rep he had to press out that final rep.

"Good"

He got up and watched as she repeated her twelve reps, her back and shoulders expanding to their maximum.

'Good Lord! Look at her; she looks like she could keep it up all night. I am such a wimp. I can barely do forty pounds. She could probably break me in two if she wanted. I'd better not ever get her mad at me.'

"Alright, one more set, John; push it as far as you can."

John got as far as eight reps, and then he got half way on the ninth. His arms failed and he was forced to stand to ease the weights back down.

"Good job, John."

Katie took her turn and completed her twelve reps with no problem.

They went around the complete circuit the same way. By the time they reached the end, John was exhausted and felt totally humiliated by his performance.

"John, why the long face? You did great tonight."

"Katie, I feel so inadequate compared to you."

"I told you before, you can't judge yourself by me; I've been doing this for over four years, you've been doing it for one day. Besides, I think you'd better get used to the fact that I will always be bigger and stronger than you. Don't you see we are built differently; no matter how much you try, your body is not going to build enough muscle to be as strong as me. It's not your fault, it's in your genes. I guess you got the brains from your parents and I got the brawn from mine. Now get yourself into the shower; I have about a half an hour more work to do on the free weights. See you tomorrow."

Somewhat appeased, John headed for the shower. Afterwards, as he was leaving the locker room, he glanced over at the free weights, looking for Katie. He spotted her on the bench press. There was a guy there standing behind the bench, his hands under the bar as Katie pushed the bar up until she could re-rack the weight. The guy's shirt was so tight around his arms and his chest that John was sure that it would ripe to shreds if he even took a deep breath. His arms looked to be bigger than John's thighs.

"Great job Katie, he heard him say to her; 235 is a new personal best."

John turned and walked out of the gym. 'How can I ever hope to compete with him for her love?'

He never heard the rest of the conversation.

"I saw you working out with that guy before. You were working him pretty hard. Who is he?"

"That's John. He doesn't know it yet but he's going to be my boyfriend. I really like him a lot; I'm trying to help him get over his insecurity about being smaller than me. Are you going to be at practice tomorrow?"

"No, they don't use the strength coach for women's softball; but they should. I'll bet they reconsider that decision once they see you on the field and at bat."

"Thanks, Larry, and thanks for spotting for me. I don't get to try for personal bests very often. I won't do it unless I have a spotter."

"No problem. Good night."

John awoke the next morning with a splitting headache, in addition to every muscle in his body complaining about being overworked. Three Advil took care of the physical pain, but did nothing for his broken heart. He knew he shouldn't feel that way, after all he and Katie weren't really involved romantically with one another. She had said that he was her best friend. What hurt was that he wanted it to be so much more and now she was involved with that muscle-bound guy from the gym. What happened to "Brains and Brawn?"

He looked over at the clock; eight fifteen. 'Shit, I promised Katie I would meet her downstairs at eight thirty and go watch her practice.'

He got up, and as fast as he could, got dressed, splashed some water on his face, combed his hair and ran downstairs. Outside, Katie was sitting on the stone wall, dressed in sweats and sneakers, her gym bag by her side. She was sipping on her morning coffee; a second container sat next to her. As she handed him the coffee, he tried his best to be upbeat, but failed. Katie noticed his mood, but chalked it up to the early hour and his sore body.

They walked in silence across the campus to the smallest of three athletic stadiums that had been constructed on or near the campus. Women's softball is big at the University of Arizona. Not as popular as football or men's basketball, but it plays an important in student life. Every year the University fields an excellent team. They have finished first in their conference many times, and only UCLA has won more World Series Championships than UA.

This practice was very important to Katie. If she did well today she would be noticed by the coaches and that would be an important first step in making the team. If she did exceptionally well, maybe she could win a position on the starting team. It all depended on what she did today.

That was the reason John was there. She was his best friend as well and he just couldn't let her down.

When they entered the field area, John looked into her eyes and gave her a kiss on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "Good luck, Brawn. Go get 'em," and took a seat ten rows up behind the third base dugout. Katie went into the dugout, switched from sneakers to cleats and, carrying her glove, walked over to the group of other women standing around waiting for the coaches to arrive. They didn't have long to wait.

Promptly at nine o'clock, the coaches came out onto the field, instructed the veteran players to take their positions from the prior year. That left about fifteen women; these were the freshmen or walk-ons, looking to make the team.