Team Manager 1: SWISH!
Chapter 6
“OKAY, LET’S GET warmed up,” Dennis called to the team on Tuesday at their first practice. He wasn’t sure about this, but Coach had told him it was part of his job. She didn’t plan to come out to the practice until they’d had a twenty-minute warmup. “Let’s start with some arm rotation. Straight to the side and small circles then let the circle grow until you are doing a full windmill. We’ll start with forward rotations and then do a set of backward rotations. Ready?”
“Hey, where’s the coach?” Diane called.
“She’ll be out as soon as we’re warmed up and ready to practice,” Dennis responded. He was doing the exercise to demonstrate and the girls started following him.
“Do you want us in some formation?” Roberta asked. “Like a certain distance apart or something?”
“This isn’t the army. Choose a position that’s comfortable where you won’t run into anyone else.” They finished the arm rotations. “Next is knee hugs. We’ll walk forward to the end of the court and then walk back. Each step, bring your knee up, wrap your arms around it, and hug it to your chest. Step out and hug the other knee. Ready? Let’s walk.” Several of the girls were panting a little before they reached the end of the court.
“Wow! That was harder than it looked.”
“It’s a good exercise for activating the glutes, hips, and hamstrings. Now we’re going to backpedal.” He had placed cones every ten feet down the gym floor sideline on one side. “For this one, you’ll line up on the sideline over there. On the whistle, you’ll run to the cone in front of you, cross over to the other side of it and run backward to the line. Remember to control your speed and slow down as you reach the cone. Don’t come to a screeching halt. Cross-over with the back foot and backpedal to the other side.” He blew the whistle and everyone took off at a pretty good clip. Several of the girls looked over at him to watch how he did the cross-over. When they were back, he blew the whistle and they took off again.
“We call this next one over the fence,” he called. “Watch and I’ll demonstrate the move. Basketball can be really hard on the hips and groin. This can loosen up those muscles so you don’t pull one. Bring your foot up like a march. Swing your knee to the side and stretch your foot out for the next step. Exactly as if you were stepping over a fence.” He demonstrated. The girls started giggling.
“Are you making these up?” Brenda asked.
“No, ma’am. These exercises are a legitimate part of the basketball trainers’ handbook. And believe me, I feel as stupid doing some of them as you do. Okay, once across the court. We’ll do ankle pops on the way back.” The girls followed his lead and started doing the awkward step. He jumped out in front of them and turned to watch their form. “Keep your heel under your butt when you rotate out,” he said. “If you kick your leg out, that’s getting on a horse. We just want to step over the fence.” They laughed and followed along as Dennis turned and continued across the gym floor. Dennis had a dozen exercises for them and they were all winded by the end of them. Then he had them shoot basketballs as the last thing. They took three shots and then went to retrieve balls after they were shot. Dennis stood at the bottom of the key and shoveled balls off the rack to the shooter. The girls retrieving balls put them back on the rack where he could reach them.
The whistle blast brought them all to attention as Coach stepped onto the floor.
Ardith hadn’t been in her office while Dennis led warmups. This was one of the things they’d all learned at the workshop and had practiced each exercise. She stood just out of sight and watched the girls as they followed Dennis in the exercises. She was very proud of the fact that he actually led them and did every exercise himself. And the girls all gave him the respect to do the exercises, even when they grumbled or complained a little. The team gathered around the Coach. Dennis grabbed his clipboard off the bench.
“Feel warmed up yet?” Ardith called.
“Feel like we’ve already had practice and need a shower,” Judith said.
“In the words of Lisa Marie Presley, ‘You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.’ Today we’re going to work on ball handling. It might seem simple to dribble a ball.” She held out a hand and Dennis tossed a ball to her. She kept looking at the girls and handled the ball, catching it with one hand and dropping it to dribble without looking. She switched hands, dropped to a crouch, stood up straight and passed the ball back to Dennis behind her back. “When we are ready to play at the end of November, you will always know where the ball is and always be able to control it. We’ll start simple and then work on switching it back up. In order to keep things moving and make sure I can pay attention to each of you, I’ll have Dennis take half of you to the other end of the court to work with while I work with the other half here. Then we’ll switch. I want to be able to see each of you and I can’t do that if you’re standing behind each other. Dennis?”
“Brenda, Roberta, Diane, Rosie, Amy,” he called off the names and tossed each a basketball. “You’re with me at the far end. Let’s go.” He grabbed a ball for himself and dribbled it to the far end of the court with the five girls following. Rosie had a little trouble controlling where the ball went. During tryouts, she’d kicked the ball all the way to the end of the court when they were dribbling and running to the end. Amy had to grab her ball with both hands a couple of times to keep control of it. When they reached the end, Dennis turned to face them. “Okay, I’m not the best at this but I know the principles. We’ll start with just stable dribbling in one place using your dominant hand. As you are able and start to feel confident in bouncing the ball back to your hand, bring your eyes up and look at me. That’s when I’ll know we’re ready for the next step.” They started bouncing their balls and learning to control them. Dennis could see why the women’s balls were smaller than the men’s Amy and Brenda had very small hands. It was easy for the ball to get away from them. Dennis tried to keep a smooth and even tempo to his own dribble while he watched the girls.
Just because he was small didn’t mean he didn’t like to play basketball. He’d never be able to play on a regular team. Between his stature and his eyesight that just wasn’t reasonable. But he spent hours in his yard bouncing his basketball and shooting it. Those were things he was pretty good at. So, at least he was comfortable dribbling the ball while he watched his girls. His girls. He’d been amazed when Coach put together the training schedule and went through the exercises with him. The male coaches—those he’d seen working—either worked together or assigned a player to lead some of the exercises. The team managers were nothing more than errand boys, responsible for water, towels, and cleanup.
They’d been dribbling with their non-dominant hand for about five minutes when Coach’s whistle blew. The girls turned and ran to the opposite end of the court, dribbling all the way. They did much better on this pass. Dennis faced five different girls—Carol, Daniella, Natalie, Judith, and Leanne.
“Okay, we’re going to start switching hands now. Let’s start with one bounce to each hand. Left, right, left, right. You remember what the ball feels like with each hand, just pass it to the other. When you’re confident of where the ball is, look up at me.”
And so the practice went. The group wasn’t always split. The last fifteen minutes of the practice, Coach Graves divided them into two teams, handed out practice jerseys so they could tell each other apart, and had them half-court scrimmage a while so they could feel like they actually got to play basketball. She encouraged them to put into practice all they learned about ball control. At the end of practice, she blew her whistle again.
“Good practice, team. Put in this kind of work at every practice and we’ll be ready to meet any competitor at the end of November. Dennis?”
“I went through the locker room before practice and made sure the soap and shampoo dispensers were full. There are towels inside the locker room door. One each. There are no extras in our allotment. Please return the used towels to the laundry bag hanging on the cart. You are responsible for your own practice clothes and jerseys. If you don’t mind wearing wet smelly clothes for the next practice, just leave them in your locker. I make sure there are fresh towels and I wash uniforms. Uniforms do not include your sports bra, underwear, and socks. You’re responsible for those yourselves. Judith, you wore a necklace out here today. Please make sure it’s stowed in your locker before tomorrow’s practice. No jewelry on the court. Rosie, that includes your rings. Carol, the ankle bracelet. A player can be tossed from a game for wearing jewelry on the court. Leanne, see me at the coach’s office and I’ll give you one of these stylish geek straps for your glasses. You don’t need to wear it to school, but you need it on the court so your glasses don’t fall off. I know you were all thinking I wore one just to be fashionable. Coach.”
“We are the Angelines. Hands in the circle and tell me on three. One two three! Angelines! Good. Shower up.”
“Hey, Dennis. Mind walking us home? Leanne and I live on the same block you do,” Rosie said.
“Um… sure. Just give me a chance to collect the towels. Is the locker room clear?”
“Anybody still naked in the locker room?” Rosie called through the door. “We’re sending Dennis in. Anything he sees is your own fault.” Brenda, Diane, and Judith came out of the locker room carrying their bags and scrubbing at their hair with a towel.
“Oops! Sorry,” Brenda said. “Towels in the bag.”
“Ugh. Can we bring our own towels to wrap our heads in?” Judith asked. “I’ll never get my hair dry with just that one towel. We need hair dryers.”
“That’s fine. You can keep a hair dryer in your locker if you want, but everybody needs to be out of the locker room in half an hour after practice. Okay?”
“Yeah. Got it,” Diane said. “We get less time than that after PE.”
“Here’s the towel cart, Dennis,” Brenda said, pushing it out of the locker room.
“Thanks. I’ll be ready in five minutes,” he said to Rosie and Leanne. He hustled to put the laundry sack on the loading dock and to make sure the equipment cage was locked. He pulled his backpack on and left with the two girls.
“It was neat that you did everything we did,” Rosie said. “It made following your instructions a lot easier.”
“Yeah. We didn’t feel like you were just ordering us around,” Leanne added. “You’re little, but you must be in pretty good shape.” Leanne was about three inches taller than Dennis’s five-two while Rosie towered over them at six-one.
“I just like basketball,” he answered. “I play a lot in the back yard. I don’t think I’m particularly strong or fast. I just have pretty good wind.”
“That was obvious.”
They walked on, chatting about school and how classes were going.
“Oh, man! Am I going to be sore tomorrow,” Rosie said. “This is my house. I’ll see you guys in the morning.” She looked up and down the street before she turned and went into her house. It was only three houses down to Dennis’s house.
“I’ll walk you over to your house, Leanne,” he said.
“You’re sweet, but it’s just across the street. See you tomorrow.” Leanne turned and gave Dennis a quick kiss on the cheek then ran across the street to her house. Dennis watched her disappear and went into his own home. Wow!
“You kissed him!” Natalie accused Leanne when several of the girls sat down to lunch. “You weren’t supposed to kiss him!”
“It wasn’t really a kiss. I just gave him a little peck on the cheek to thank him for walking me home. Did he brag about it or something? How did you even know?”
“I saw you,” Rosie said. “I was watching out my window to make sure you got home.”
“Well, I still don’t see what the big deal is. We do it all the time. A little peck on the cheek doesn’t mean anything,” Leanne insisted.
“That’s not necessarily so,” Brenda said. They all looked at the former cheerleader expectantly. “Look. How many girls has Dennis dated? How many friends, even? Leanne? Diane? Natalie? You’ve been in his class for eight or ten years. Does he have any friends or people he hangs out with?”
The girls looked at each other with an element of understanding beginning to creep in.
“Fuck!” Natalie breathed. “He’s always been around but I never even thought about who his friends were. Can he really have gone to school with us for ten years and not have any friends? I feel like shit.”
“We can’t go back and change the past, but in spite of the way he handles practice with authority and confidence, when he’s off the court, he’s really unsure of himself. He just doesn’t have any experience. Something we think nothing of, he could put a lot of significance on. I found that out when I gave him a lift Monday. It’s real easy for him to misunderstand a simple gesture.”
“I didn’t put that together when we gave him a ride Monday. We even told him he was like one of the girls. He got embarrassed when we were talking about our bras,” Natalie said.
“You were talking about your bras?” Rosie said. “With a boy there? I’d never do that.”
“Oh, it was just that we were talking about getting measured for uniforms and that he probably knew more about us than our boyfriends do. Not that anyone but Roberta has a boyfriend. It was just an illustration,” Natalie said. “We talked it out, though, and he said he didn’t consider getting embarrassed a little to be abuse. Not like…”
“Like what?” Diane asked. “Did he tell you what it was all about last year?”
“No. He said he didn’t want to talk about it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t just getting shoved in a locker or something,” Natalie said. “I shouldn’t have brought that up. Don’t try to talk to him about it.”
“I agree,” Brenda said. “When he’s ready… When he knows he has friends, he’ll tell them. Just be careful of what you do that he could take the wrong way. I kind of like him and I don’t want to see him hurt.”
“Like him? You mean like, like him?” Rosie asked.
“Um… No, not exactly. See how easy it is to misunderstand?” Brenda asked. “But he’s hard not to like once you get to know him. And then watching him in action yesterday at practice… God! He’s so commanding and take charge. He doesn’t go easy on us but he’s quick to help and polite as all get-out. It’s almost enough to make you overlook his size and those glasses. I mean, a girl could get turned on by it.”
“A girl? Or all of us?” Leanne asked.
“Oh, I’m sore,” Daniella moaned when they got onto the court that afternoon.
“I’m not used to these exercises either,” Dennis said. “I admit I feel it today, too.”
“So, a lighter workout today?” Judith asked.
“No, but I want everyone to really take her time warming up and make sure we get those stretches in. More than anything else, we want to prevent injuries. Building strength is one aspect of that. Stretching and flexibility is another. Okay, now let’s start with those arm circles.”
Dennis did take it a little more slowly, but insisted they work through all the warmups before Coach Graves called them in to repeat the dribbling exercises. Some of the girls were beginning to wonder if it was all worth it.
Dennis waited outside the locker room while the girls finished their showers and left. At half an hour, he had only two left. He knocked on the door and opened it a crack.
“Ladies, it’s time to get moving. I need to get the laundry out so we can have clean towels tomorrow.”
“Sorry, Dennis. We’re on our way,” Diane called. The door opened fully and Diane and her sister Judith pushed the towel cart into the hall. “We’ll help take this to the dock for you. Go ahead and grab your bag and I’ll give you a lift. I’ve got my license now and a car. If you’ll dare to ride with a new sixteen-year-old driver.”
“Thanks, Diane. I think you’re safe,” he said as he went to the equipment cage to retrieve his backpack and lock up.
He met the girls and they walked to the parking lot.
“Um… we should hurry and get in the car,” Dennis said. “I see a couple of thugs headed this direction.” Diane looked in the direction Dennis was and saw two boys cutting across the parking lot toward them. She sprinted to the car and unlocked the doors with Dennis and Judith right behind her. They jumped into the car and locked the doors as Diane started the car. The two boys kept on walking right past the car and into the woods beyond, intensely discussing something between them. Dennis didn’t recognize them.
“That’s Jim Davis and Dan Randolph,” Diane breathed. “God, you scared me!”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell who it was. I hate being a baby like this.”
“Hey. That’s not being a baby,” Judith said, reaching over to touch his hand. That was the first Dennis realized she’d gotten in the backseat with him on the other side of the car. “If I’d seen them first, I’d have run, too. Admit it, Diane. You didn’t recognize them when you looked. If you’d have been the first to see them, you’d have run anyway.”
“Yeah. You’re right,” Diane said. “Everybody is spooked about everyone these days. You’d think we had a town overrun with gangsters.”
“It only takes a couple to seem like we’re overrun,” Dennis said. He glanced down at where Judith’s hand was still touching his. She suddenly snatched it back.
“Sorry! I just was still scared. I usually ride up front but stupidly went to the driver’s side of the car because it looked like they were coming toward the passenger side where you were. I just took the nearest door,” she said. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Just a little shaky I guess.”
Dennis shrugged. “It’s okay. I felt the same way. Oh! Don’t you girls live the opposite direction, out of town?”
“Yeah, but with a car it’s not much of a detour to get you home. Judith can switch up front when we stop at your place. Is it on the left up here?” Diane asked.
“Yes. Fourth house. Thank you guys a lot. I’ve been cutting my time with my sister short lately and she’ll be glad to know I’m home earlier,” Dennis said.
“She’s a lucky girl to have you as a brother,” Judith said. “My brothers only spend time with us when they need another basketball player. Then they put us on the court and ignore us.”
“It’s not quite that bad,” Diane said. “Besides, our only handicap is being girls. Dennis’s sister has… Oh! I’m sorry, Dennis. I wasn’t meaning to badmouth your sister. I agree with Judith; she’s lucky to have a brother like you.”
“It’s okay,” Dennis sighed as they pulled up in front of his house. “Everyone knows she has Down Syndrome. As long as people don’t treat her mean or call her names, she’s just like any other eight-year-old. It just happens that she’s eighteen.”
He and Judith both got out of the car and he held the front passenger door open so Judith could slide in.
“Thanks again for the ride. I really appreciate it!” Dennis watched the girls drive off and went into his house.
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