HI THERE – I’m Patty Mills.
I play basketball in the NBA and I’ve represented Australia at the Olympics three times. That’s these days. Growing up, I was a sport-loving kid just like you. And that’s why I’m excited about my new series of kids’ books, Game Day!
Patty, the main character, loves playing every sport he can – especially basketball. He learns many important skills and values through sport, dancing, and of course at school. He also has a whole lot of fun with his friends, but when it comes to game day, he always makes sure he’s ready to perform.
I think you’re going to love taking this journey with Patty. Have fun reading the series and I hope to see you on the basketball court one day!
THE GAME DAY! SERIES
BOOK 1 Patty Hits the Court
BOOK 2 Patty and the Shadows
BOOK 3 Patty Takes Charge
A portion of the proceeds from sales of this book will be donated to the YARU FOUNDATION.
The YARU FOUNDATION aims to establish vital projects in disadvantaged Indigenous communities throughout Australia
www.yarufoundation.org
First published by Allen & Unwin in 2017
Copyright © Text, Patty Mills and Jared Thomas 2017
Copyright © Illustrations, Nahum Ziersch 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or ten per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.allenandunwin.com
A Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available from the National Library of Australia
www.trove.nla.gov.au
ISBN 978 1 76029 510 3
eISBN 978 1 76063 899 3
For teaching resources, explore
www.allenandunwin.com/resources/for-teachers
Cover design by Ruth Grüner & Nahum Ziersch
Text design & typesetting by Ruth Grüner
Cover illustration by Nahum Ziersch
Set by Ruth Grüner
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
About the Authors
IT WAS THE THIRD TO LAST game of the footy season and my time was running out.
‘It’s almost three-quarter time, let’s really go for it,’ I told Boris, who was playing ruck. ‘Just tap it down to me.’
My school footy team St Mary’s were playing against St Joseph’s and I really wanted to beat my record. I could get four goals in one game, I knew it – but I needed two more.
I could see it in my head: I’d step around a player, take a bounce and then kick to tall, lean Manu at full-forward or Josie at centre half-forward. If someone was about to tackle me, I’d dish it off to Tiago. His mop of shaggy black hair was easy to spot and he was always in the right place at the right time.
Boris flashed me a cheeky smile as I caught my breath, waiting for the bounce. He launched his huge body into the air and tapped the ball straight into my hands. I burst around two of the St Joseph’s players, then handballed to Josie. Josie spun around to pass into full-forward but when I yelled that I was in the clear, she looped the footy over to me with a gentle drop punt. I marked it.
I walked back to take my kick. I was about forty metres out from goal. I took a deep breath, dropped the ball onto my foot and booted through it as hard as I could.
It flew long and high, and split the centre of the goals. I jumped up, punching the air. Boris ran over and lifted me off my feet. My other teammates slapped me on the back. Josie high-fived me. ‘You’re going to smash your record, Patty,’ she said.
‘Three down, one to go,’ I said.
AT THREE-QUARTER TIME I bit into a slice of orange as I sat listening to Coach Clarke give the team instructions. Coach Clarke was the coach of the basketball team, but that day he was filling in for Coach Riley. ‘Patty, I’m going to put you in the back pocket this quarter,’ he said.
I took the slice of orange from my mouth and looked up at him. ‘But I’m not tired. I could run all day!’
‘I bet you could, Patty,’ Coach Clarke said, ‘but I’m going to give Tyson a go in the centre this quarter.’
I couldn’t believe it. Tyson always beat me at athletics, but when it came to football, he couldn’t touch me. When I’m on the ground I’m in my element – moving like the wind, my hands like magnets for the ball.
Tyson’s not even a forward – he’s a backline player. I knew Coach Clarke was only letting Tyson play in the centre because he was the star player on the basketball team.
‘Coach Clarke, I’m one goal away from beating my record,’ I pleaded.
‘We’re leading by five goals, Patty. Let’s share it around a bit, hey mate?’
Tyson grinned at me and said, ‘Don’t worry Patty, I’ll boot a goal just for you.’
I didn’t want Tyson to kick a goal for me. And I didn’t want to share my goals around. Scoring goals is what I love doing – it’s what I’m really good at.
I sulked back onto the oval, knowing my chance to break my record was blown. I stood in the back pocket for what seemed like hours watching Boris tap the ball down to Tyson. Like me, Tyson passed the ball to Manu, Tiago or Josie. Our team was so strong against St Joseph’s that it was like watching kick-to-kick. When Tyson kicked a goal I knew I should have been happy for him, but there was steam coming out of my ears.
It didn’t help when Tiago threw his arm around me after the siren sounded and said, ‘Great game, Patty. Next time we play you should stay on the ball for the whole game.’
Josie understood I was disappointed. She walked over and patted my shoulder just as Tyson jogged past.
‘Pity you were stuck in the back pocket for the last quarter,’ he called.
‘Well, at least you got to touch the ball for once.’
Coach Clarke was congratulating my teammates as they walked off the oval. ‘Nice work today, Patty,’ he said. Tiago was holding a bin full of footballs on top of his head, carrying them to the change rooms. I took the ball from beneath my arm and threw it. Somehow the ball landed in the bin, startling Tiago.
Coach Clarke took the ball out of the bin, told Tiago to stay standing where he was, threw it to me and said, ‘Do that again.’
‘Do what?’ I asked him.
‘Throw the ball into the bin.’
I looked at Coach Clarke as if he was crazy, and threw the ball.
A smile spread across his face when the ball landed in the bin for the second time.
‘Nice shooting,’ Tiago said with a laugh.
‘Patty, have you ever thought about playing basketball?’ Coach Clarke asked.
I shrugged my shoulders.
‘I’d like you to try out,’ he said.
‘Would I get to play on the ball for the whole game?’ I asked him.
&n
bsp; Coach Clarke laughed. ‘Everyone plays on the ball in basketball.’
I thought about it as I walked into the change rooms. The basketball team was really strong: Boris, Manu and Tiago were all tall and skillful, and Tyson was a freak. They were expected to win their third grand final in a row.
I WAS ON THE OVAL with Boris, Manu, Tiago and Josie, sitting on my footy. I’d just finished eating my lunch and Josie was looking at my snacks as if to tell me to eat the fruit I hadn’t touched. I took the banana from my lunchbox and began to peel it. Manu asked, ‘Can I have the rest of your snacks?’ as he stuffed my pear into his mouth and took a handful of apricots.
As I bit into the banana and watched Manu pigging out, I saw Tyson walk towards the gym bouncing his basketball.
‘Can you believe Tyson kicked a goal the other day?’ I asked.
Boris, always reeling off statistics, said, ‘This year you’ve kicked a goal in every quarter where we’re leading or only one goal down. That means it was almost certain that you would’ve kicked another goal, if you’d stayed on the ball.’
I think Boris was trying to make me feel better about what had happened, but it wasn’t working.
‘I just want to play a team sport with you guys where I can always be a part of the action, and maybe one where we have a hope of playing in the finals.’
‘And how about a sport that gives us all the best chance of competing at the Olympics,’
Boris said.
‘Yeah, but we’d be competing against each other!’ I said. Boris, Manu and Tiago had all moved to Australia because of their parents’ work and we knew that one day they’d return to their home countries. None of us were sure how long we’d be living in Canberra. Kids from all over the world came to my school when their parents moved to Canberra for work.
My dad’s family is from the Torres Strait Islands and my mum’s family is from the desert country in South Australia. Boris is from Paris, France. Manu is from Argentina. Sometimes when he’s frustrated he rants in Spanish. Tiago is from Brazil; he speaks Portuguese, but always cracks up when Manu curses in Spanish even though, like me, I don’t think he understands what Manu is saying.
We all nodded at Boris’s suggestion and Josie said, ‘That’d be fun though. We definitely need to play a sport that gets us to the Olympics.’
‘Well, it’s not running,’ Tiago said, ‘because you’re too slow, Boris.’
‘And I don’t want it to be swimming. Canberra is too cold and it’s hard enough getting out of bed in the morning as it is. Swimmers start training at first light,’ Manu complained.
‘You’ve got a swimmer’s haircut,’ I said, running my hand across Manu’s dark crew-cut hair.
‘The thing that Boris and Tiago and I are best at is basketball,’ Manu declared.
‘But I’m too short for basketball,’ I said.
‘There are some really good Torres Strait Islander basketballers,’ Josie said. I smiled, because the basketball players Josie was talking about were my uncles, Sam and Danny. I’d seen photos and footage of them playing.
Boris looked at me and said, ‘You should come and try out, Patty. It’s only fair – you’re always getting us to try new things.’
‘Coach Clarke asked me to,’ I told them. ‘But your team is so strong, I’ll just look stupid.’
‘Two of our teammates are going on holidays in a few weeks – we need new players. You should come and have a try too, Josie,’ Tiago said.
‘But what if we can’t even bounce the ball?’ I asked.
‘You can bounce a football, right?’ Boris asked.
‘Yeah, of course I can.’
‘Well, a football is oval and a basketball is round, so the probability of you being able to bounce a basketball is very high,’ Boris told me.
I looked at Josie, who was packing her lunchbox away. ‘Do you want to have a go?’
Josie lifted a shoulder and grinned. ‘I think we should. I’d love to play a team sport where we all get more of a go.’
‘Great!’ said Manu. ‘We’ll help train you up.
We’re counting on you being good, Patty and Josie, or else we’ve got no chance of winning our third grand final in a row.’
‘No pressure though?’ Josie laughed.
I picked myself up off the oval and started following my friends across to the gym.
TYSON SPUN AROUND to look at us as we walked into the gym. He stood in place, bouncing his basketball from hand to hand, and said, ‘Don’t tell me you’re going to play basketball, Patty! You’re too short.’
I shrugged. Coach Clarke walked over. ‘Tyson, keep practising your layups,’ he boomed. Then he looked at me with a smile. ‘Glad you’ve taken up my offer, Patty. Good to see you too, Josie.’
Coach Clarke looked like a giant standing on the court in his tracksuit.
‘I thought it would be good to have a try,’ I said.
‘Go and grab yourself a basketball each and run a few laps dribbling around the court.’
‘Dribbling?’ Josie asked.
‘Bouncing the ball,’ Coach Clarke explained.
I thought it sounded easy enough.
While Josie pulled her long curly hair into a ponytail, I took off. I found dribbling a whole lot easier than bouncing a football, but when I looked back to see how Josie was doing, I saw the ball hit the toe of her shoe and roll across the court.
She chased it and Tyson stamped his foot down on the ball. Josie reached and pried the ball from beneath his weight. ‘Come on, Josie, have another go,’ I told her. Boris gave her an encouraging thumbs-up.
‘Whoa, don’t slip up now, Josie,’ Tyson laughed, but by the time she had run a lap around the court, she had got the hang of it, just as I knew she would.
When we finished running our laps Coach Clarke said ‘good work guys’, and waved us up to the free end of the court.
‘Basketball is all about scoring points and stopping the other team from scoring,’ Coach Clarke explained. Josie launched the ball at the basket. It hit the hoop and bounced back, almost taking Coach Clarke’s head off. ‘Easy, tiger,’ he said with a chuckle as he caught the ball in his huge hand. ‘No shooting yet, I just need you to listen. ‘What I’d like you to work at is what’s called a layup.’ Coach Clarke bounced the ball towards the basket and then threw it. It hit the board and dropped through the hoop.
‘Can you see what I did there?’ he asked.
‘You scored a basket. Woo!’ Josie answered, throwing her arms in the air.
‘Thanks, Josie,’ he said with a smile, but then he turned serious. ‘But how did I score it?’
‘By bouncing it off the board thing,’ I said.
‘That’s right. It’s called the backboard. When you’re doing a layup, if you run in on an angle and get the ball to hit the top corner of the square on the backboard, the ball has the best chance of going in.’
‘It’s at least twenty per cent more likely to go in,’ Boris said.
Josie and I looked at each other and she rolled her eyes. Boris pulled these stats from nowhere sometimes. But still, it sounded easy enough.
‘I want you to stand right here,’ Coach Clarke said, ‘and have a go at making the ball hit the corner of the square. The trick is making your upper arm parallel to the ground, and your forearm vertical, sitting the ball comfortably on your hand and balancing it with the other, then pushing the ball up.’
Again Coach Clarke launched the ball towards the top of the square, hit the target and scored.
‘Your turn now,’ he said.
Josie lined up first. She had a shot and it went through the hoop. ‘Good, Josie,’ Coach Clarke said, ‘but that was more like a netball goal. I want you to try and get the ball in off the backboard.’
She tried again, and did a little dance when the ball rebounded off the board and dropped through.
Then it was my turn. I looked up at the basket and it seemed so far away. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make the distance.
I took a shot and it bounced off the hoop.
Coach Clarke passed the ball back to me. I tried again and it sailed high, hitting the top of the board and falling away. I felt blood rushing to my face. The rest of the team was watching me and I noticed a smirk forming at the side of Tyson’s mouth. I started to think that throwing the football into the ball bin after the game had been a fluke.
On my next turn I really tried to make my shooting arm like Coach Clarke had shown us, steadying the ball with my free hand. This time I was closer, but it still didn’t go in. I heard Tyson snicker and mutter something about my ‘goalscoring record’. I tried one more time, putting all of my feelings of embarrassment into my shot, and the ball hit the centre of the square then rebounded straight back at me, hitting me in the chest. This time Tyson laughed loudly.
I slammed the ball onto the court and walked away. Josie caught it as it bounced.
‘Come on, Patty,’ Coach Clarke said, ‘it’s just a matter of practice. You stay here and practise with Josie – you’ll get there.’ And he took the rest of the team to the other end of the court to practise their defensive moves.
I was humiliated – I was never the one who struggled, playing any sport. But Josie didn’t give me time to feel down. We took it in turns and by the end of ten minutes Josie had scored about twenty baskets. Although I had only scored two, she told me I was doing well.
Having Josie at the first tryout with me made me feel more confident. Josie is one of the best sportspeople I know. She’s a whiz at netball and a really good footballer. She’s tall, fast, strong and bumps and tackles just as hard as the boys. I’m also lucky that Josie is my best friend. Her parents moved to Canberra from the Torres Strait Islands at the same time as my family. She has always called me ‘bala’ – brother – and cheers me up whenever I’m down. She never gives up and never lets me give up either.
Coach Clarke blew his whistle. ‘Okay, how about a scratch match.’
‘All right!’ Tyson said, and the other players moved into the middle of the court.
Patty Hits the Court Page 1
