Game Face

by Sylvia Gunnery

  “Kinda figured I’d see you around here today,” said Jay. “Mike, this is Kyung. Kyung, this is Mike. He’s team captain for the Centreville Cougars.”

  “Jay has told me about playing for your team last year,” said Kyung. “Now he is the captain of the Rockets.”

  “Way to go, Jay! Guess you and me’ll be in for some good competition this year. How’s your team looking?”

  “The best!” he said enthusiastically, trying to cover how he really felt. Why let his main opponent in on what was going on?

  “The Rockets will win the championship this year,” said Kyung.

  “Gotta play to win,” said Mike. “That’s the name of the game. When do we play you guys, anyway?”

  “Our first game’s against MacLeod this Thursday. Then it’s Centreville next week, I think.”

  “That seems right. I’ll check the schedule. Guess we’ll soon see who’s on top when the game buzzer goes.” Mike grinned. “Well, better catch my ride home. Great to see you guys.”

  “See ya, Mike.”

  “I think Mike has what it takes to be a very good team captain,” said Kyung as they walked back to the car. “He has confidence in his team. Also he is very friendly about competition.”

  “He’s a great guy,” admitted Jay. “Probably the only good thing about playing basketball for the Cougars last year was getting to know Mike Murphy.”

  When Jay and Kyung were dropped off at school, it was still very early. Only one bus had arrived, and there were just a few cars in the teachers’ parking lot.

  They were walking past the main office when Mr. Haley came out into the hall.

  “Jay Hirtle, just the person I need to see. Come into my office, please.” Though the principal’s voice was calm, there was an edge of tension that was hard to miss. Something was definitely wrong.

  “I’ll see you in homeroom,” Jay said to Kyung as he entered the principal’s office.

  “Please sit down.” Mr. Haley closed his office door. “I’m placing a call to Mr. Willis. Better that you hear this from him.” He punched in the numbers, then handed the phone to Jay.

  “Coach? It’s Jay. I’m in Mr. Haley’s office.”

  “Jay, I have some news. You’re team captain and so you need to know. I took a fall. Damn foolish thing — slipped on wet grass taking a short cut to my neighbour’s. Anyway, I’m sitting here with my leg wrapped up and doctors are telling me I’m going nowhere for a while.”

  “Gee, Coach. I’m really sorry. I —”

  “No broken bones but the ligaments are pulled. Worse than a damn break if you ask me. Painful as hell — pardon my French.”

  “What about our first game at MacLeod? Will you be back by then?”

  “Not likely. So I’m asking you to handle things for a day or so until we get a few matters worked out.”

  “Handle things? Like what?”

  “For starters, I’ll get you to run practice after school today. Mr. Haley’ll drop by and make sure things’re going okay, but he’ll be busy trying to find a sub who knows one end of a gym from the other and at least owns a pair of sneakers.”

  “Who’ll be coaching us?”

  “I asked Ms. Himmelman to help out and she’s up for that. She can’t be there for today’s practice, but she’ll be there for the next one. And she’s going to MacLeod with her girls’ team, so that’s covered in case I’m not back by then. Anyway, Thursday’s a long way off. Let’s take it one day at a time.”

  “Sure, Coach. Okay. Bye.”

  “That injury could have been worse,” said Mr. Haley as he put the phone back in place. “He might have required surgery. And then who knows how long he would’ve had to stay home and recuperate. He’s lucky — not that he’d agree if he heard me say that. Anyway, you and Ms. Himmelman will do just fine keeping things going until he gets back. I’m sure of that.”

  Jay glanced out the window. A bus pulled up in front of the school and stopped behind two others. People were getting off the buses like it was just another ordinary day.

  “Is there something you’re particularly concerned about, Jay?”

  “Uh, no, sir. There’s nothing, really.”

  Before the bell rang to begin first class, Jay had just enough time to tell Kyung what was going on.

  “This is a very challenging situation,” said Kyung. Then, after a couple of seconds, he added, “My father explains that there is no learning in your life if there are no conflicts.”

  Jay rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to say what he felt like saying.

  ***

  “So that’s all I know about Coach Willis’s situation for now,” said Mr. Haley. “I don’t need to tell you guys that he’s anxious to be back here with you. And I’m sure he’ll do everything in his power to make that happen. Meanwhile, Ms. Himmelman has agreed to act as your coach. She’ll help you out in your next practice and, if Coach Willis can’t return to school by Thursday, she’ll continue on as coach for your first game of the season. All you guys have to do is put your best into your practices and then start the season with a win over MacLeod. I know you can do it!”

  Jay watched Mr. Haley leave the gym. For a split second, he imagined turning away from the team and following the principal right out the gym door.

  “This is useless,” said Colin. “How’re we supposed to practise with no coach?”

  “Well . . .” Jay cleared his throat, looking past Colin to find friendly faces. “It’s just for today.”

  “What a waste of time! I’m not staying if there’s no coach. Come on, Tyler. Let’s go.” Colin looked around to see if anyone else was with him.

  Colin and Tyler headed toward the door. Randall stood up, hesitated, then followed them. Then Cory stood up and left.

  Jay just waited. No sense begging guys to stay.

  “Do I mark these guys absent?” asked Brendan. “I mean they were here, but not really for practice.”

  Jay knew what was on Brendan’s mind. Coach Willis had a very strict rule about missing practices: one miss without an excuse got a warning; two misses got an automatic game suspension. “Could we just leave it for now? Maybe they’ll change their minds and come back,” Jay answered.

  “It’s my job to keep attendance,” insisted Brendan.

  “Yeah, you’re right. Better mark them absent. They’ll likely be here for next practice when Ms. Himmelman’s here. Colin’s just blowing off steam.”

  Brendan marked an X beside each of the four players’ names, then went to the storage room and started throwing basketballs out into the gym.

  “Okay!” shouted Jay. “Let’s practise some ball control with the crossover dribble.” He grabbed a basketball. “Remember to always use your fingertips, not your palm. Keep your head up.”

  “But aren’t we supposed to do warm-ups first?” asked Steve.

  “Oh, yeah. Right. Leave the balls! Make a circle!” Jay’s throat was starting to feel dry and his confidence was slipping. “Sit-ups. Let’s go for thirty.” Jay led the guys through a quick warm-up routine, trying to go over in his mind some drills to do. He’d start with the give-and-go. Most of them pretty much knew how to do that.

  But later, when he tried to explain the screen-away, things got really tangled up. “Shooter is at the top of the circle and blocker comes in from the right,” he said.

  “Blocker’s left,” said Finn. “Passer’s right.”

  “Right,” said Jay. “Right. Passer’s right.” His confidence slipped further away. “So when the defender’s blocked, the passer passes to the shooter or the blocker, whoever’s set up for the shot.” Did that make sense? It sounded to Jay as if his words were being tossed around in a pinball machine, just meaningless noise.

  “Also,” said Kyung, coming to the rescue, “the most important pa
rt of screen-away is perfect timing.”

  “Right,” said Jay. “Timing.”

  The next hour crawled like a snail, with drills and scrimmages moving at the same slimy, slow pace. When Mr. Haley dropped by to see how things were going, he stayed only a few minutes. Jay figured he must have recognized that practice had disintegrated beyond the recovery point.

  Hardly a word was spoken in the locker room afterward. Soon Kyung was the only one still there with Jay.

  “That was a complete and total disaster,” said Jay. “How am I supposed to do this? I can’t even remember simple drills. And what about Colin and those guys walking out like that?”

  “They will be back for the next practice.”

  “I’m not so sure. Colin’s a real hothead these days. And if he doesn’t come back, probably Tyler won’t either. And maybe Cory and Randall.”

  “Not everyone is influenced by Colin.”

  “Well, they’re sure not influenced by me.”

  “You are the team captain. That means they will respect you.”

  “Those guys probably didn’t even vote for me.” Jay stuffed his sneakers into his gym bag and hauled on his coat. “I couldn’t even run a practice. You saw what happened. So how am I supposed to hold the team together? If something doesn’t change fast, the Rockets are toast.”

  7

  Turn It Around

  Before he finished his homework, Jay had made his decision. The whole problem was centred around Colin and that meant the solution had to be centred around him, too. If his negative attitude was because of Jay being team captain, then it could change to positive if Jay wasn’t captain. Simple. The solution was for Colin to be team captain. All Jay had to do was tell Coach Willis he was stepping down and that whoever came second in the vote — probably Colin —should take over.

  Jay picked up his cell phone and punched in the coach’s number. “Mrs. Willis? Uh, this is Jay Hirtle from school. Coach Willis is my basketball coach. And I need to speak to him, please.”

  “Ed is sleeping, finally, and I really shouldn’t disturb him,” she said quietly. “He has been in so much discomfort, it’s been impossible for him to even close his eyes.”

  Jay’s shoulders sagged. If things were this bad, there wasn’t much chance Coach Willis would be back for next practice. Or maybe even for the MacLeod game.

  “I could ask Ed to return your call when he wakes up.”

  “That’s okay, Mrs. Willis. He doesn’t need to call. I just wanted to tell him that . . . that things went okay at practice today, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

  “Thank you, Jay. Please call again. Ed will be happy to hear any news of his basketball team.”

  “Sure, okay.”

  “Goodbye, dear.”

  “Goodbye, Mrs. Willis.”

  Nothing to worry about. As if.

  Coach Willis might think Jay was joking if he told him about players walking out of practice and leaving the rest of the team stranded. He would laugh out loud. Ha ha ha. You’re killin’ me, Jay. What a comedian!

  But it was no joke.

  Jay was on his own. He would have to move on his decision without help from Coach Willis. Talking to Colin wouldn’t be easy, but so what? It’d be a breeze compared to what was going on already. And then the Rockets could get back to normal.

  A bit of weight lifted from Jay’s shoulders. Soon he wouldn’t be team captain. He’d just be the Rockets’ shooting guard. Plain and simple.

  The next morning after he got off the bus, Jay didn’t head directly into school. Instead, he waited for Colin’s bus to arrive. He knew he’d have to talk fast to get his whole idea out before Colin walked away. The bus door opened and people started streaming out. Colin always sat at the back, so Jay knew he’d be one of the last ones out.

  “I need to talk to you,” Jay said as Colin stepped off the bus.

  “I don’t need to talk to you.”

  “You should —”

  “You can’t tell me what I should do,” said Colin. “I’ll do what I want. If I want to be at practice, I will. If I don’t, then I won’t. You think you can boss people around just ‘cause you’re team captain?”

  “That’s not what I —”

  But Colin had already walked away.

  ***

  Brendan was opening the storage room when Jay got to the gym at the end of the day. “Hi, Jay. How’s it going?”

  “Not too good.”

  “You think those guys’ll come to practice?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “If they miss another practice, it’s automatic suspension for the MacLeod game. They know Coach’s rule.”

  “Yeah.” Unless we don’t tell anyone they missed yesterday’s practice, thought Jay. “I called Coach last night but he was asleep. Mrs. Willis said he wasn’t doing so good. Likely he won’t be back for the MacLeod game tomorrow.”

  “You think we can do okay without him?”

  “Maybe. We’ll see how practice goes. Have you seen Ms. Himmelman?”

  “Not yet.” Brendan tossed basketballs out of the storage room and they rolled across the gym floor. “Hey, look.”

  Some of the players were coming out of the locker room. With them were Randall and Cory. Then Tyler walked into the gym. But Colin was nowhere in sight.

  Jay picked up a basketball and walked over to Randall and Cory. “Thanks for coming to practice, guys,” he said.

  “Sorry about —”

  “Forget yesterday, Randall. It’s finished.” Jay tossed the basketball to Cory. “No hard feelings. Let’s just get on with playing the game.”

  He turned to find Tyler doing layups by himself at the end of the court. When he got close to the key, Jay switched into basketball play and cut in front of Tyler, blocking his shot. They both went up for the rebound. Jay tipped the ball and Tyler scrambled to get it. He dribbled, faced the basket, and made his shot count.

  “Glad you’re back,” said Jay, and offered Tyler a high-five.

  Tyler hesitated, then slapped Jay’s palm. It didn’t have much power behind it, but it was a start.

  The mood wasn’t great, but at least everyone was doing warm-ups: dribbling or shooting or getting rebounds. It looked like a basketball practice. It sounded like a basketball practice. For Jay, that was good enough.

  Ms. Himmelman entered the gym and walked over to Jay and Brendan. “How’s things going, boys?” She glanced around. “Everyone here?”

  “Uh . . .” Brendan looked at Jay, then down at his clipboard. “Colin’s not here yet.”

  She looked at her watch. “And he didn’t speak to you about needing to be late or missing this practice?”

  “No.” Brendan was obviously not comfortable holding back what he knew.

  Why try to cover things? thought Jay. She’s the coach for now. She has to know. “Colin walked out of practice yesterday.” He glanced at Brendan, who caught the hint to leave the other players out of it. They were back, so why complicate things?

  “Walked out? What’s up with that?” asked Ms. Himmelman.

  “He just got mad and left,” said Brendan.

  “He’s been uptight about some stuff lately,” Jay said.

  “I assume he’s aware of the two-misses rule and the game suspension.” Ms. Himmelman thought for a moment, then said, “Okay, I’m your interim coach and Ed’s counting on me to do the same job I do with my girls’ team. I’m not about to let him down. At the end of this practice, I’ll be making a call home to Colin to inform him that he won’t be playing tomorrow’s game.”

  “Maybe he’ll show up in a couple minutes,” said Brendan.

  Not a chance, thought Jay.

  “If he does, we’ll deal with it then. Now, how about I call your team together. Jay,
you can give them an update on Coach Willis and maybe a bit of a pep talk for tomorrow’s game.” She clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Over here, boys! Find a spot on the floor and get comfortable.”

  Brendan sat down with the other guys, but Jay remained standing.

  “As you know,” Ms. Himmelman said, “I’m acting as your coach for this week while Coach Willis takes care of his leg injury. Despite the circumstances, I am very excited to have this chance to work with you. Now your team captain has a few things to say.”

  Everyone’s eyes turned toward Jay.

  The gym got very quiet.

  Jay looked at each player in front of him. Brendan had his clipboard ready, as if Jay was about to say something worth writing down.

  “Thanks for stepping in to be our coach, Ms. Himmelman. We really appreciate it. So does Coach Willis.” Jay turned to face the team. “I called Coach’s place last night. Didn’t talk to him, but Mrs. Willis said he was doing okay. Guess his leg hurts a lot and he can’t sleep. So anyway, we know he’s counting on us for a win over MacLeod tomorrow.”

  Jay cleared his throat and tried to focus on making this pep talk work. “MacLeod gave us some good competition last year, especially in offence. We have to stop them under the basket. But no camping in the key and getting called for a violation. Our defence’ll be how we win this game. And make sure when you’re out there on the floor, you watch Tyler for plays. He’s your point guard. Let’s force a turnover whenever we can. Let’s play a cautious game. No mistakes that cost us. I don’t mean we’re afraid to show what we can do. Just make every play work.”

  The pep talk didn’t spark much enthusiasm.

  Ms. Himmelman stepped forward. “Thanks, Jay. All good advice. Now, what drills will we start with today, guys? Dribbling? Pick-and-go? Layups?”

  Jay glanced over at Brendan and remembered the defence video they had talked about. “How about defence? Brendan told me about this drill in a video he saw.”

  “Okay, Brendan, fill us in,” she said.

  Brendan put down his clipboard and quickly stood, rubbing his injured knee absent-mindedly as he always seemed to do.