by Lisa Gibbs
Eve snatched it up and put her toe to the baseline, ready for the throw-in. Prani ran down court, just managing to get away from the Paynetown Wing Attack, and took the high pass from Eve. When she landed, she carefully pivoted around in three steps to face the Marrang goals before passing. Maddy was there waiting for her and she looked at Prani quizzically. It was as if they could read each other’s minds.
I know, thought Prani. What happened to my twisty move?
She shrugged and kept playing, and although she worked hard to help the Gems win the game, all her moves were wooden and flat. She felt as if Janet didn’t want them to be spontaneous any more.
By half-time, the Marrang Gems were down by two goals.
‘Are they better than they look, or are we just playing badly?’ asked Maddy.
‘Let’s change things around but stick with the set plays,’ said Janet. ‘Sienna, you come on court into Centre. Lily, you come off. Isabella in Goal Shooter, Eve in Goal Attack and Maia in Wing Attack.’ Then Janet handed the Wing Defence bibs to Kasey, Goal Defence to Prani and Goal Keeper to Maddy, as she continued to talk about being sure of your passes and planting your feet so you don’t step. But Prani wasn’t really listening. She was distracted by the Paynetown team. She watched as the Paynetown coach put her hand forward and all of the girls planted their hands on top. Together, they yelled ‘Go, team!’ before running confidently out on court.
The second half of the game was tight and although it felt as if the Marrang Gems were the better team, they couldn’t seem to score the extra goals they needed to get ahead. The Paynetown defence was the biggest problem. Every time the Gems tried to get the ball down to the goalers, they would struggle to get it through. Prani watched in frustration. At each Marrang centre pass, the set play would get blocked or intercepted.
‘Throw it to me!’ Prani called out desperately, but Sienna was committed to throwing it forward in the set play and didn’t consider Prani as an option.
‘This is silly,’ Prani grumbled to Maddy after Paynetown got another goal from the Marrang centre pass. She found it hard to concentrate on marking the Goal Attack because she kept looking to Sienna, hoping she would forget the set plays and try something different.
Finally Sienna’s centre pass to Maia got through cleanly. Maia threw it down to Isabella in Goal Shooter and Isabella flicked it on to Eve, who shot a lovely goal. But it was too late. The siren went and they had lost another game, 16–10.
‘Bad luck, girls,’ said Janet. ‘There’s no single reason why we lost. They were just the better team on the day.’
Prani trudged across to the bench with Maddy. Her hair was wet with sweat and her feet were pulsing from the heat and exertion.
‘Prani, what was that? A no-twisty game?’
‘Don’t,’ said Prani. ‘It’s not funny. I need a whole pack of Twisties after that.’
‘Me too,’ agreed Kasey, coming up behind them, ‘Or an ice-cream … Or both!’
‘I’m not doing anything until I’ve hit the pool back at the caravan park!’ declared Sienna.
Yes, that’s what I need: cool water, fun … anything to forget that game!
‘Let’s go! I’m dying of heat here!’ moaned Lily on the porch of the Gems cabin.
‘I can’t wait to jump into cold, cold water!’ said Sienna. She waved her towel at the flies annoying her.
‘I’m going to beat you all to the pool!’ yelled Maddy, and she ran off.
‘Mum, come on,’ said Lily. ‘Everyone’s waiting for you.’
Janet answered from the door of her cabin.
‘You girls go ahead on your own. We’re going to get dinner organised for everyone.’
Just as the group started to rush along the path to the pool, Maddy’s mum called out. ‘Be safe in the water. Watch out for each other, and get back here by six o’clock – no later.’
‘Okay!’ Lily called over her shoulder, rushing to catch up with her friends. The heat wasn’t so terrible when she thought about the water waiting for them!
Prani grinned as Lily caught up with them. ‘Finally! No adults, no rules,’ she said. ‘Now we can just have fun!’
Lily flicked her towel at Prani. ‘You said it!’
When Prani and Lily opened the pool gate, they noticed that the other girls were slipping into the water at the end closest to the gate. They seemed unnaturally quiet and self-conscious. They definitely weren’t the noisy bunch they usually were.
Prani dropped her towel on a chair and put her hands on her hips. ‘Why are you all being so weird?’
Maia looked meaningfully at Prani, then tipped her head towards the other end of the pool. At the deeper end, a group of boys were trying to dunk each other under the water or push each other off floating foam noodles. They looked vaguely familiar.
‘They’re the boys who saw you and me making faces in the car,’ whispered Kasey.
Prani peered intently at the boys. ‘Oh yeah.’ Prani waved her arms to get their attention. ‘Hey, you guys! Hi!’
‘Sh!’ said Eve. Red-faced, she tugged at her swimmers.
‘Oh my God, you are so embarrassing!’ said Maddy with a laugh. She sunk slowly under the water.
‘What? I don’t care,’ said Prani to the girls. She grabbed Lily and pulled her along. ‘Come on, Lil. Let’s do twists into the water.’
‘You’re on,’ said Lily.
They both stepped closer to the edge of the pool and Prani called out, ‘Ready, set, go!’
At the same time, they launched themselves from the edge. Twisting midair, they squealed and smashed into the pool, spraying water everywhere.
Prani’s face burst out of the water first. Pushing her thick hair out of her eyes, she grinned at Lily, who emerged next to her. ‘How’s that? Ten out of ten?’
‘No way,’ said Lily. ‘Let’s do it again.’
Prani and Lily clambered out of the pool, ready for another attempt at the perfect bomb. They beckoned to their friends, demanding they have a go as well. Prani then called to the boys watching from the deep end.
‘Hey, you guys can be the judges.’
Two of the boys nodded.
Prani grinned cheekily at them. ‘That is, if you’re too chicken to go up against all of us!’
Instantly, the four boys climbed out of the water. They positioned themselves near Prani and Lily, and Sienna, and Kasey and Isabella, who had joined them. A dark-haired boy wearing baggy red board shorts held up a hand. ‘Watch and learn from the masters!’
The boys leapt into the water, whipping their bodies in a twist. A huge splash of water sprayed out from the four bodies hitting the pool at the same time. It was a fairly impressive display, but Lily refused to give them a good score. ‘Pathetic!’ she called out, once they had resurfaced. ‘Your score is two. Come on, girls, we can do way better.’
Prani counted down. ‘Three, two, one, go!’
They all continued to twist, swim and laugh. The sun was hot and the pool was the best place to be. The time passed so quickly that Prani was surprised when Lily stopped her from doing another twist.
‘It’s time for us to head back for dinner.’ Lily raised her voice so that everyone could hear her. ‘Come on, guys, we have to go!’
Prani moved away from Lily and did a running jump into the water, and surfaced next to Sienna.
‘Come on, Prani,’ called Eve. ‘That was the rule. We have to be back by six.’
‘But I want this to be a place of no rules,’ said Prani. She put her fingers in her ears, and began to sink under the water. ‘Not listening!’
Sienna tugged Prani’s arm to drag her above water. ‘Come on, Water Girl,’ said Sienna. ‘I’ll race you back to the cabin.’
Waving goodbye to her new friends, Prani reluctantly followed everyone out of the pool gate.
Balancing her dinner on her lap, Prani just listened. The girls and the adults were sitting on chairs outside the cabins, eating huge bowls of pasta. The conversation eventually land
ed on their last game of the day. At first, the other girls talked of the set plays and how well they worked – at least most of the time. Some girls wanted set plays for both ends of the court. Then they began wondering what positions they might play in for their game the next morning, and asking Janet about being a coach. How did she decide where to place the girls on court? Did she have a plan that she always follows? What rules did she have about choosing?
Prani sighed. All of this is about rules, always rules. Doesn’t anyone ever just go with the flow?
Finally she stood up and went into the cabin. She couldn’t enjoy the evening, and she certainly didn’t want to join in a conversation about rules.
It’s not that I think rules are terrible, she thought. It’s just that they seem to be everywhere this weekend.
Maddy had watched her friend Prani remove herself from the group. It was not at all like the Prani she knew. Something must be bugging her. Maddy stood and placed her empty bowl on the table. She planned to go in by herself and see if Prani was okay, but then Lily and Sienna stood up, too, and placed their bowls on top of Maddy’s.
‘We’re coming with you,’ said Lily.
‘Yeah,’ said Sienna. ‘Something’s wrong with Prani. One minute she’s happy, the next she looks miserable.’
Isabella and Maia stood up with them. ‘We need to find out what’s going on with Prani,’ said Maia.
‘I don’t want her to be unhappy. This is our special weekend,’ said Isabella.
Maddy beckoned to Kasey and Eve. ‘Come with us. I think it’s time for a team meeting.’
Maddy led the girls to their cabin, calling over her shoulder to her mum. ‘Won’t be long, Mum. We just need to talk about something together. I know we left our bowls, but can we clean up in a little while?’
Maddy’s mum nodded, giving a puzzled look to the other adults.
Maddy opened the door and stepped into the cabin. Everyone piled in behind her. Prani was sitting on her bunk, rummaging through her bag. She pulled out pyjamas and her toothbrush.
Maddy stepped closer. ‘Hey, Pran, whatcha doing?’ she said.
Prani didn’t even glance up. ‘Just organising my stuff,’ she muttered.
Maddy tried to smile. ‘Who are you, and where is the real Prani? The messy one!’
When Prani just shrugged, Maddy’s face fell. She sat on the bunk, shoving Prani’s bag aside. The rest of the girls either sank onto a bed, or sprawled out on the floor. Everyone watched silently. They all seemed to believe that Maddy, as Prani’s best friend, should be the one to talk to her.
Maddy gently tapped Prani’s knee. ‘Come on, Pran, talk to us. You don’t seem happy.’
‘I’ve noticed something,’ said Eve.
Everyone looked at her in surprise, including Prani. After all, the other girls knew Prani really well – a lot better than Eve, who had only recently joined the team.
But Eve didn’t change her mind, or feel the pressure of all those eyes on her. ‘Prani is such great fun, and always smiling.’
Everyone nodded. That was the whole point. Obviously something was bothering her.
‘Well,’ continued Eve, ‘think about today. Prani was herself most of the time except when we were playing netball.’
Everyone thought for a moment, then turned to look at Prani.
‘Is Eve right?’ asked Maddy.
Prani’s brown eyes filled and fat tears sat on her eyelashes.
Maddy immediately shifted closer and hugged her.
‘Please tell us what’s wrong, Prani,’ Sienna said, looking up from her position on the floor. ‘We really want to help.’
Prani sniffed, then started to talk. She told her friends how she felt about the set plays, that they made her feel tight, that she couldn’t relax and just run wherever she wanted and that they stopped her playing her best.
‘It’s just not fun to me, being locked into a rule like that. It feels different to the normal rules of netball.’ Prani sighed. ‘If a set play isn’t working, why can’t we do something else?’ she added.
‘Actually, that makes a lot of sense,’ said Lily.
Suddenly all the Gems were talking at once. Everyone had an opinion they wanted to voice. But it was Isabella who had the winning suggestion. With a few interruptions, a team plan was agreed upon.
‘Okay, so it’s settled,’ said Maddy. ‘For our game tomorrow, we want to have the two set plays.’
Everyone nodded.
‘But we also want to be able to decide to have no set plays if we need to change things,’ she continued.
‘Yeah, and whoever’s Centre decides which one it will be,’ added Lily.
‘Everyone jump up and practise the secret sign!’ said Maia.
She called the plays, and the cabin shook with the stomping of eight sets of feet, jumping into position.
‘Show me set play to Wing Attack!’
Eight right feet landed in front.
‘Show me set play to Goal Attack!’
Eight left feet landed in front.
‘Show me no set play!’
Eight pairs of feet landed evenly planted.
The Gems grinned at each other.
‘There’s still one problem,’ said Prani.
Everyone’s faces dropped. What was the problem now?
‘We don’t know if Janet will agree,’ she said.
‘Of course she will!’ said Lily. ‘Let’s go and talk to her now.’
Lily led the way, and the team filed out of the cabin. The Gems gathered in a group in front of Janet. Prani hung back, hovering nervously in the background.
Lily quickly outlined the team’s suggestion. Janet listened to her daughter, Lily, without comment. She looked at each of the girls, clearly noticing Prani’s red, anxious face.
‘What do you think, Mum?’ asked Lily.
‘Well …’ said Janet thoughtfully. ‘Do you know what? It’s just the plan I hoped for all along! Of course set plays don’t always work. When you play netball, you need to be ready to change the game and go with the flow at any moment. The only reason I asked you to stick with the set plays this weekend was because I thought it would be good for you to get the hang of them, without it affecting your results in the summer competition.
‘I’m really proud of you all for working it out yourself. Tomorrow, try the set plays but if they don’t work, of course you can try something different. And did I mention that I love your idea for the secret sign for no set play?’
The team burst into chatter, thanking Janet, and squeezing Prani. Kim and Radha smiled at each other.
Prani grinned with relief. She was looking forward to tomorrow, now!
Prani’s eyes were shining as she tumbled out of the car with the others, ready for their second day of the tournament. They knew they wouldn’t make the finals but they wanted to at least win one game.
This time, Prani was well rested. She had fallen asleep early with all of the others, exhausted after a day of netball, heat, disappointment at the courts, fun at the pool and then the emotions of the team meeting.
This time, the game would be different because they could go with the flow!
I know it can be good to use the set plays, but only if it works. She grinned to herself. This is going to be fun!
Prani stretched with the others, giggling at Sienna’s jokes and bouncing up and down with excess energy.
‘I can’t wait to see where I play,’ she said to Maddy.
‘What position do you want?’ asked Maddy.
‘I don’t care!’ And she didn’t. Prani loved playing every position and was happiest if she got moved around. She looked up as Janet started passing out the position bibs, ‘Sienna – Goal Shooter. Eve – Goal Attack. Lily – Wing Attack. Kasey – Wing Defence. Maia – Goal Defence. Isabella – Goal Keeper.’
Prani looked at Maddy. She had a sudden sinking feeling that she was going back on the bench. Her shoulders sagged and her bottom lip started to tremble. She stared down a
t her shoes so no-one would see.
‘Maddy, could you start on the bench please.’
Prani looked up in surprise. She didn’t want Maddy to sit out but she couldn’t help a quick smile of relief. Maddy didn’t seem to mind. It was her first turn off court the whole weekend.
‘Prani, I’d like you to play in Centre. You can decide which set plays to use, or when you need to do something different. Just relax and have fun with it.’ Janet smiled at her. ‘How does that sound?’
‘Amazing!’ Prani grinned up at Janet.
‘Great. Let’s go in. Court five again, where our first game was,’ said Janet.
The Gems followed Janet into the stadium, only to see players in green and white preparing to go on.
The Marrang players stopped and stared.
‘Are we playing Harrington again?’ asked Lily.
‘Different team, same club,’ said Janet. ‘This is the Harrington A side.’
The Marrang players stared again.
‘If this is the A side, who did we play yesterday? The A plus side?’ said Sienna.
Oh no, Prani’s heart sunk. We’re going to get thrashed!
‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if we beat their A side?’ said Lily.
‘Yeah, we can do this!’ said Maia.
Prani watched her teammates as, one by one, they got caught up in the idea of winning against such a good team.
Can we do this? she wondered.
Without even thinking, Prani put her hand out flat in front of the others, just like she had seen the Paynetown coach do. Each of the Marrang Gems, along with Janet, slapped their hand on top. They lowered the pile of hands together, then sprang up in the air and shouted, ‘Go, Gems!’
Now we’re ready.
Prani stood in the centre circle with her right foot pointed towards Lily in Wing Attack. She looked at Eve in Goal Attack to try to trick the Harrington Centre into thinking she was going to throw it that way.
