The really tall and thin fella with skin almost as black as Dad’s said, ‘I’m Abdi from Somalia. I’ve just moved to Canberra because Dad’s got a new job here with the government.’
‘And I’m Benny from Brewarrina,’ said the kid next to Abdi. He had fair skin, was solidly built and had the strongest Australian accent I’d ever heard. ‘My mob are Ngemba. I haven’t played basketball before but I play league and I’m great at tackling.’
We all laughed and Uncle Noel said, ‘There’s no tackling in basketball, Benny. But we can put your other skills to good use.’
The kid next to Benny had short black hair, light brown skin and a big, friendly smile. He patted Benny on the back and said, ‘My name’s Bashir and I’m from Afghanistan. My parents came to Australia as refugees, and I go to school with Benny.’
I knew Josie was busting to find out more about the next person in the circle.
‘I’m Riley,’ the girl said, and Josie flashed her a big smile. ‘My family are Ngadjuri from South Australia, and we’ve been living in Canberra for a couple of years. Mum and Dad are teachers.’
Josie and Luke introduced themselves, and when they’d finished Uncle Noel clapped his hands together. ‘Let’s start with a simple drill.’
We broke into two groups and took turns dribbling from the halfway line to the basket to shoot.
Benny reminded me of myself when I first started playing. He was trying to run as fast as he could, and slamming the ball into the court when he dribbled. Later, Uncle Noel took him aside and gave him some one-on-one coaching as the rest of us practised our layups.
WHEN PRACTICE WAS OVER, all the kids and parents got together for a barbecue. The parents couldn’t stop talking and laughing, and Benny was telling us stories about where he came from.
‘We catch yellowbellies with our hands in Brewarrina,’ he said.
‘What? Yellow-bellied snakes?’ Luke asked.
‘Nah, what do you think I am, crazy? Yellowbelly fish, in the fish traps – all these rocks put there by our ancestors thousands of years ago,’ he said.
Before we went home, Uncle Noel called the team together. ‘It was a good session tonight,’ he said, ‘but remember that practice doesn’t start and end here. If you take some time practising at home and school, it’s amazing how quickly you can improve.’
AS WE WALKED to the gym at lunchtime, Josie asked, ‘Do you think they’ll be mad?’
‘About what?’ I said, but I knew exactly what she was talking about. We were both so excited about playing for the Shadows that we hadn’t yet told Coach Clarke, Tyson, Boris, Manu and Tiago that we wouldn’t be playing for the the same club team as them – the Titans. In fact, we’d be competing against them. Josie gave me a look.
‘I just hope they don’t feel let down,’ I said. ‘Let’s tell them after training. But first let’s show Coach Clarke that we’re determined to do our best for our school team.’
We practised our drills harder and faster than ever, and when training was over, we waited until everyone but Coach, Boris, Manu and Tiago had left the gym.
‘Coach Clarke, we want to speak with you,’ Josie said.
‘What’s happening, Josie?’ he asked.
‘Patty and I want to play club basketball.’
‘That’s great! We’d love to have you join the Titans.’
I looked at Josie nervously and she said, ‘We want to play for a new team that Patty’s parents are founding, called the Shadows.’
I watched the expression on Coach Clarke’s face. But his smile didn’t fade at all. ‘Terrific, the more basketball you play the better!’
Josie and I finally started to breathe again.
AS WE WALKED AWAY, I looked apologetically at my friends. ‘It’s not that we didn’t want to join the Titans, guys, but the Shadows is a club for kids from different backgrounds, like us. We really loved the idea of a welcoming space where everyone feels at home.’
‘It sounds awesome!’ Tiago said. ‘I’d join too if I wasn’t already in the Titans!’
Boris punched him playfully on the arm, and we all laughed.
‘Thanks for understanding, guys,’ Josie said, and she shot me a smile.
BEFORE THE FIRST GAME with the Shadows, our families met in the park near the basketball stadium.
Uncle Noel was speaking to some older Aboriginal people, Uncle Jim and Aunty Shirley. They weren’t really related to me, but in our culture we address older people as ‘Uncle’ and ‘Aunty’ out of respect for their age and experience.
Uncle Jim and Aunty Shirley were Ngunnawal people; they belong to the Canberra area. I’d seen them at local events, performing the Welcome to Country ceremony, which lets people know whose country they’re on, and informs them about the culture and history of the place.
When everyone was gathered, Uncle Noel spoke. ‘It’s with great pleasure that I introduce Uncle Jim and Aunty Shirley to start our jersey presentation.’
Uncle Jim stepped forward. ‘It’s great to see you kids here today,’ he said. ‘It reminds me of when I was a young fella and all the friends that I made playing sport.’
And then Aunty Shirley said, ‘It’s good to see the new families here with us on Ngunnawal country. We know you’ve come a long way from your homes in other states and even countries, and we welcome you here to our community.’
Uncle Noel handed a jersey to Uncle Jim.
The first person Uncle Noel called up to receive their jersey was Josie. Everyone cheered as she held it up: it was blue with a yellow and white trim, and white numbers. Josie’s mum and dad took photos that I knew would be sent straight to her family in the Torres Strait.
When I was handed my jersey I was over the moon to see that I’d be wearing the number eight, the same number my Uncle Danny wore when he played for Australia.
IT WAS AMAZING stepping out onto the court for the first time with the Shadows, wearing our brand-new uniforms. Our opposition, the Jets, wore a blue jersey that didn’t look half as flash as ours.
Abdi was positioned for the tip-off. Aside from being tall, he could also jump, and he easily got his hand to the ball and tapped it to Josie. We were off.
Josie was the first to score. I tried to make a couple of layups but my shots were blocked. It was harder and faster than any of the games I’d played for the school.
The big Jets players slapped the ball out of our hands when we were attacking and burst through the key when we were defending. The frustration on Benny’s face was clear.
‘It’s okay, Benny, you’re doing well,’ I told him. But then Benny started pushing the Jets players and bumping them as they drove towards the basket. The referee didn’t notice at first, but after the Jets players yelled in protest, Benny got two fouls in under a minute. Uncle Noel had to call a timeout to sub Benny off and settle the team.
For the whole game I only shot one basket, a simple layup. The final score was forty-five to the Jets and twenty-five to the Shadows.
I walked off the court feeling low. I’d never lost at anything by so much. But Uncle Noel said, ‘You guys did great for your first game together. The score is not an indication of how well you played.’
Despite Uncle Noel’s encouragement, on the way home I couldn’t help thinking again that maybe I just didn’t have what it took to be like my Uncle Danny.
‘I HEARD YOU GOT WHIPPED by the Jets last night, Patty,’ Tyson said as we shuffled into class the next day. ‘You should have joined the Titans. If the Jets beat you by twenty points, you’ve got no chance against us.’
‘You said I had no chance of beating you in the four hundred metres,’ I reminded him. But Tyson had got under my skin.
The next time I saw Tiago, I asked him, ‘Do you guys usually beat the Jets?’
‘We won the grand final last year so, yes. We beat them and everyone else!’ Tiago told me.
I gulped, thinking that I couldn’t stand to be around Tyson if the Titans thrashed us all year.
AT
RECESS I whispered to Josie, ‘We need to talk.’
Josie looked around to see that the others were out of sight. ‘Is everything all right?’
‘Did you know that the Titans won the grand final last year? That means they beat the Jets. And the Jets beat us by twenty points!’
‘Patty, it’s our first season of club basketball, who cares if every team beats us?’
‘I care! I mean, will you be able to stand Tyson paying us out all the time if we keep losing?’ I said, raising my hands in the air.
Josie screwed up her face. ‘You’re right, that won’t be any fun at all.’
‘When we play basketball at recess and lunch, let’s make sure we join the team with the least Titans players in it.’
‘Why?’ Josie asked.
‘So we can get used to playing against them, and learn their weaknesses.’
TYSON, BORIS, MANU AND TIAGO thrashed us during our game at recess, so I was already agitated going into our maths lesson.
Maths was my worst subject. At least when it came to literacy, history or geography I knew that if I was stuck, I could study hard to get on top of it. Maths was different. I could add and subtract, and I knew all of my times tables, but when it came to fractions, division and multiplication I got confused.
I would listen to Ms Baker’s explanation of the method, but after a while it felt like my head was going to explode. I didn’t want to keep asking the teacher for help, so instead I pretended I knew what I was doing. Eventually I wished the ground would open up and swallow me.
Ms Baker stood in front of the class and said, ‘Today we’re going to start learning long multiplication.’
She wrote ‘183 × 35’ on the board and showed us another way to write the sum, explaining that it would help us to solve it and that the tens and units of the number needed to be placed in the same columns.
When Ms Baker started to show us how to work through the problem, I was already lost.
I slumped into my seat. There was no way I’d get through my maths homework and tests. And at our school, students need to pass their tests by at least fourteen out of twenty to be able to play sport on Fridays. So there was no way I’d be able to play school basketball again, ever!
I WAS GLAD when dance practice came around. I’d been worrying myself sick about long multiplication, but I knew that as soon as I started dancing I’d stop thinking about it.
Although it was only practice, we all dressed in our traditional costumes. It always made me think of the Torres Strait and my family.
When Uncle Noel started banging his drum, which we call a buru buru, I started to pump my legs up and down.
Uncle Noel stopped. ‘Listen, Patty,’ he said. ‘Listen to the beat. You’re going too fast. Dancing isn’t about how fast you do the steps, it’s not a race. It’s about moving with the rhythm.’
Uncle Noel started beating the buru buru again and I listened to the beat, letting the sound vibrate through me before I started dancing.
As I began sliding across the floor in time with my group, I imagined the trade winds blowing across the islands, and the waves lapping against the shore. I felt warm inside and that everything was just as it was supposed to be: perfect.
LOOSENING HIS TIE, Uncle Noel called the Shadows together at training. ‘There are two elements involved in winning basketball, offence and defence,’ he said. ‘Tonight we’re going to focus on defence.’
We did defensive drills, shuffling across the court and side to side. It reminded me a lot of dance practice.
Uncle Noel showed us how to guard a player without fouling when they are driving towards the basket.
At the end of training, Uncle Noel pulled Benny and I aside and said, ‘Benny, I want you to guard the opposition player bringing the ball down the court. Patty, I want you to be our point guard. Do you know what that means?’
I had a bit of an idea, but listened to Uncle Noel carefully.
‘The point guard brings the ball into offence, sets the pace of the game, needs to know all of the plays and is like the coach on the floor.’
I nodded, happy that Uncle Noel was giving me the role, but realising I didn’t know what plays Uncle Noel wanted me to make happen.
‘A point guard has to understand the flow and momentum of the game, and I think you have a real talent for that, Patty. But we’ll spend a lot of time during the season teaching you how to become a great point guard,’ Uncle Noel said.
‘Cool,’ I replied. But I wasn’t sure if I could do a good job, no matter how much Uncle Noel taught me. What if I always struggled, just like I did with maths?
BENNY, ABDI, LUKE, AND RILEY were waiting for us as Josie and I approached the courts on our bikes on Saturday afternoon.
‘What are the teams?’ Abdi asked.
‘I’m with Josie and Riley,’ I answered. It would give Benny an opportunity to practise his defence against me.
We started, and Abdi teased me with the ball at first, bouncing it between his legs before running past me and passing the ball to Luke. He did a reverse layup and scored.
‘Nice one!’ I told him.
The game was intense. We didn’t even keep score, we just played as hard and fast as we could.
Benny kept up the pressure on me. Every time I had the ball his tongue hung from his mouth as he concentrated on my every movement, trying to slap the ball away at any opportunity.
After he dribbled his way around Riley, Josie and I to get a well-earned layup, Abdi said, ‘Let’s have a break.’
We all walked over to the benches and Riley asked, ‘What’s the time?’
I took my phone from my bag. ‘Oh man, it’s past four o’clock. We’ve been playing for almost four hours,’ I said. ‘I’ve got to go.’ Josie looked at me. She knew I was meant to be at home doing my maths homework by now. I felt sick at the thought of it.
Riley wiped sweat from her brow. ‘Yeah, a replay of the San Antonio Spurs versus Miami Heat game is calling my name.’
‘A replay of what?’ Benny asked.
‘You know, the Spurs against the Heat,’ Riley said, squinting her eyes and tilting her head at Benny.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Benny said, pulling down his cap.
‘Haven’t you ever watched the NBA?’ Luke asked, wide-eyed.
Benny shook his head.
‘Well, I’ll see you guys. My maths homework is calling my name,’ I told everyone.
‘Patty, don’t worry about your maths homework! Weren’t you listening? We need to bring Benny up to speed on the NBA!’ Riley said.
‘I’ll help you with your maths tomorrow,’ Josie said.
It didn’t take much to convince me. ‘How about you guys come to my place, then?’ I said. ‘Basketball marathon and sleepover!’
Everyone cheered.
I called my mum and luckily, she agreed.
DAD SET US UP with YouTube on the television and by quarter time in the replay of the NBA Championship game we’d almost finished our first pizza.
‘Why do they keep doing that?’ Benny asked.
‘Doing what, Benny?’ Josie replied.
He described a play that was almost like a choreographed dance, with players moving to specific parts of the court and passing to each other in a certain pattern.
‘That’s called a set play,’ Dad said, bringing some drinks in from the kitchen.
‘A set play?’ I asked.
‘Yes, teams will work out moves so that everyone knows where the ball is being passed and when a player will be clear to make a shot. You did well to work it out, Benny.’
‘But how do they know which routine they’re going to do?’
‘Sometimes the coach will tell the team at the jump ball or timeout,’ Dad said. ‘Other times if the team is finding it hard to score, the point guard will signal what set play he wants.’
‘Let’s look at that part again,’ I said.
Before we knew it, we were all on our feet, using
a cushion as a basketball, and Dad and Mum were helping us practise the set play we’d just watched.
We ran through the set play about ten times, then watched the rest of the game.
We went straight on to another game, then another, until none of us could keep our eyes open any longer.
I WAS FEELING GREAT at school on Monday, but the maths lesson after lunch soon put an end to that. I knew there’d be a test the next day.
Again I tried listening carefully to Ms Baker as she ran through the long multiplication equation on the board.
I scratched my head, looked around the room at everyone working on the calculation in their workbooks, then sank into my seat. I wished I could disappear, or at least fall into a daydream about swimming in the Torres Strait or dunking a basketball. But I was frozen.
Ms Baker surprised me when she put her hand on my shoulder. ‘How are you going, Patty?’
I looked up at her and said, ‘Yeah, all right.’
She glanced at my workbook. ‘You haven’t done any work yet?’
‘I’m just thinking it through,’ I told her.
‘Well you have a go and I’ll check where you’re up to in a few minutes.’
I looked at the equation again and started multiplying the numbers on the top of the sum by the ones on the bottom, but I couldn’t remember how Ms Baker carried the tens and hundreds.
When Ms Baker came towards me I tried to smile cheerfully at her. ‘It’s going fine now,’ I said, just as another student called her over. As she walked away, Tyson leaned over from the desk in front, eyed my page, and shook his head smugly at me.
THE NEXT MORNING I lay in bed until I heard Mum walk to my door. Then I started groaning. ‘I feel so sick, Mum.’
‘What is it?’ she asked.
‘My head, and my stomach and my chest,’ I said, coughing.
Mum raised her eyebrows, then went to the bathroom for a thermometer. She stuck it in my ear and then said, ‘Your temperature is fine, Patty.’
Patty and The Shadows Page 2
