Team Manager COACH!
Chapter 30
DENNIS WAS LEAVING more of the work to Lana, now that he was handling the coaching responsibilities. She’d been taking over more and more this year as he handled the warmups and conditioning.
“Honey,” he said as he stopped her after taking the towels to the dock. “You’ll need to lead warmups tomorrow night at the Chiefs. I have to dress in street clothes.”
“Oh, wow! I never thought about that. You have to dress like a coach.”
“Yeah. I might have to go shopping in the morning. I’m not sure I have anything appropriate.”
“Well, give me a quick kiss. I need to catch up with Diane.” She kissed Dennis firmly and ran off to catch her ride home. Leanne hopped in the car with Dennis.
“You need a nice shirt and tie and blazer,” Leanne said. “Let’s go to Des Moines.”
“Hmm. We need to check in at home, but that sounds like a good idea. Otherwise, I’ll end up cutting classes tomorrow morning,” he said. He stopped at their houses and while Leanne ran to tell her parents where she was going, Dennis went to his room to get some cash.
“Are you going out?” Dot asked. “It’s a school night.”
“Um… Official business, I guess,” he explained. “I have my suit that I wear to church on Sunday, but I don’t have anything appropriate to wear on the bench at the basketball game tomorrow. I can’t dress in my warmups.”
“Oh. Yes, you could use some nice clothes. Better change to your dress shoes before you go to town.”
“Yes, Mom.” Dennis got changed and met Leanne at his car.
“Where are we going?”
“I had good luck at that Warehouse place this fall when I was shopping for a suit. I think we’ll try there first.” They drove into town and went straight to the men’s store he had in mind. It didn’t take long before he was met by a salesperson who listened to what he wanted.
“School colors?”
“Close. They’re burgundy and light blue.”
“I think we have just the thing.” He led Dennis and Leanne to a section of blazers, got Dennis’s size, and pulled a burgundy microsuede jacket off the rack. “Try this.”
“Ohh! That’s nice, Dennis. We’ll all want to pet you all evening,” Leanne said, stroking his sleeve. It was a nice jacket. Dennis was a little worried about how much it would cost. He could wear a white shirt, but…
“What kind of tie should I wear with this?” he asked.
“Oh, don’t!” the assistant said. Over here. This is what you need.” He went to a stack of shirts and pulled out a powder blue silk T-shirt. “Let’s go back and have you try these on. You’ll want just plain black slacks with this, or you could use it to dress up a nice pair of blue jeans.”
Dennis was wearing his black slacks and shoes, so he just needed to strip off his shirt to try on the T-shirt and jacket. As he did, he surreptitiously looked at the price tags on each. He was instantly relieved to see the $99 tag on the jacket and $39 on the shirt. He could afford that. It helped him fall in love with the combo.
“What do you think, Leanne? Do you think I look like a coach?”
“Um… I think I’m gonna come,” she whispered, petting first the jacket and then the shirt.
Dennis paid for his purchases and they got in the car.
“Food?” Leanne asked.
“Let’s hit Sonic. I feel like a big burger tonight.”
“That’ll put me right to sleep,” Leanne giggled. “In your arms?”
“School night. And you’re starting tomorrow. You can’t stay up fooling around with the coach,” Dennis laughed.
They didn’t stay up late, but they did fool around a little in the car while they were kissing each other goodnight.
Dennis wasn’t used to walking through the school with his shoes clacking on the tile. He usually wore sneakers to school with jeans. Today he wore his dress shoes with hard leather soles. Of course, he still needed to duck into the coaches’ locker room to change into workout clothes for the after-school exercise program. The basketball teams all showed up to get warmed up, but then headed to their locker rooms to get ready for the game.
Dennis headed into the locker room to tape up the girls and found his stool occupied.
“Brenda? What are you doing here?” he asked.
“We practiced this morning so we’d all have the night off. We play the Lakers tomorrow afternoon at home. So, I thought I’d masquerade as a manager since you’ll be coaching.”
“Cool. It’s nice to see you in your burgundy warmups. Gosh, I guess there’s nothing for me to do in here, then.”
“You need to get dressed, too,” Natalie said.
“Yeah. My stuff is in the coaches’ locker room.”
“No, it isn’t,” Leanne said. “I brought it in here. That way the girls can all watch you dress for a change.”
“Well, that isn’t very interesting,” he laughed.
“To you, maybe. There are twenty-nine others of us who find it interesting. Come on, lover. Start changing.”
Dennis laughed and decided to humor them. His clothes were hanging in a locker in the middle of the aisle. By the time he had his shirt off, both ends of the aisle were filled with girls in varying stages of getting dressed. And Fred. He didn’t see Doc at first but then spotted him. His focus was all on helping Donna get her bra on. Shelby and Rae were both openly pinching their nipples as they watched Dennis.
Dennis spent a minute looking at his new shirt to make sure all the tags and size labels were off, then exaggeratedly reached above his head to slide the blue silk tee down his arms and over his head. As it fell around his torso, he found the sensation rather wicked and discovered exactly how and why girls did that little move where they seem to shift positions inside their clothes. It felt good. He unfastened his belt and unzipped, opening the front so he could smooth the shirt out and tuck it in, then fastened things up again. He’d done a pretty good job of not blushing as everyone watched him until he heard the collective sigh as he zipped up his pants. He quickly slipped into the jacket.
“Five minutes until we load the bus,” Pat called from the door of the locker room. She’d quit coming into the locker room for fear she’d find her daughter parading naked in front of Dennis. Everyone scrambled to get their warmups on and grab their bags. They’d come back to Bartley to shower after the game, but each had personal items they kept in their bags and left in care of the three players who weren’t dressed for the game.
They headed out to the bus.
It was just half an hour to the Chiefs—once again, a much smaller 1A school with only eleven girls on their team. Pat and Dennis went to the scorers’ bench while the girls pulled their uniforms on and got ready to warm up.
“Officials, I’m Pat Fisher, Coach at Bartley. You may have heard about our regular coach being in an auto accident on New Year’s Day. She’s still pretty banged up and I’m filling in. But this is Dennis Enders, her Student Assistant Coach. Frankly, he knows much more about the game than I do and he’ll be calling the shots tonight.”
“Coach Enders,” said one of the refs. “I like the sound of that. I’ve worked a few games where you were the team manager. You understand the rules governing coaches? You’re expected to stay at your bench, not come onto the floor, and keep your cool.”
“Yes, ma’am. I understand and will be a good representative of Bartley. I have two team managers who will be covering things like mopping up the court and assisting players on the bench. Lana and Brenda.”
“Good. It’s not so hot in this gym that we should have much problem with wet spots on the floor, but be especially mindful of when a player goes down. That’s often when we get a slick spot,” the ref said. “Good luck to you all.”
Lana handed the scorers their team lineup and they went to get the team.
The Angelines were hot from the moment they took the court. Daniella easily covered the tipoff and Natalie shoveled the ball downcourt to Leanne for a classic layup and the first two points of the game. A Chief player had to run to the end of the court to inbound the ball and was so flustered when she got there that she passed the ball inbounds to Natalie who dropped it in for a quick and easy two points.
Sadly, for the Chiefs, that was the way their night was destined to go. They played hard, but the bigger and better conditioned Angelines ran circles around them. At the end of the first quarter, the Chiefs had scored only once and the Angelines led 18-2.
Dennis started shifting people around more, experimenting with people in new positions. He saw something neither he nor Ardith had been aware of before. Natalie was consistently driving under the basket and both scoring and collecting rebounds. At the next buzzer he made a shift.
“Nat, left forward. Amy, go to point. Roberta, breaking guard. Let’s see some action!” he called. It was a little awkward as the girls got used to the new positions for a minute. Then, under the Chiefs’ basket, Natalie grabbed a rebound that was way off the rim. She shoveled the ball off to Amy who turned to find Roberta already at their foul line. Roberta grabbed Amy’s pass, dribbled twice, and launched herself into the air for her first slam dunk of her career.
The Angelines led 39-9 at the end of the half.
“Natalie, Roberta, Daniella, great job out there. We might have found a new system. I like what I’m seeing. You’ll get a little more rest this next period,” Dennis said. “Let’s give Karen, Bobbie, Jayden, Janice, and Shelby a shot at this quarter. Show us what you’ve got, ladies.” Shelby flashed her boobs at him and started giggling as they headed for the gym.
If Dennis expected it would slow the game down, he was surprised. Bobbie, Janice, and Shelby each made a basket in the first two minutes of the quarter and the 35-point continuous clock rule took effect. Still, with the Angelines’ youngest and newest players in for the entire quarter, the Chiefs failed to score in the third quarter. The Angelines led 54-9.
“Tori, Debbie, Laura, and um… Bobbie, stay in. You’re doing good, honey. Four points! Janice, you stay in, too. There won’t be much opportunity to send in substitutions this quarter. The clock is simply going to keep running. Do your best!” Dennis said. The team sorted itself out on the floor and Debbie took the jump, but tipped the ball to a surprised Chief player. The girl actually scored before Bartley had a team arranged under the basket.
Inexperience on the part of the Angelines third team showed in both shooting and rebounding. As a result, the fourth quarter was a real contest between the two teams, exchanging shots and rebounds. In the fourth quarter, the Chiefs scored as many points as they had in the rest of the game, but the game was way out of their reach. The Angelines won, 64-18.
The boys had a less easy time controlling the varsity Chiefs, but still pulled out a 47-35 win. The girls stayed through the game, encouraging other Bartley fans to remain as well.
Brenda was inspired by her former teammates, all of whom came to Boone for her game against the Lakers Saturday afternoon. The Bears came out looking like a winning team. By the end of the game, they had shown they knew how to play basketball and came away with a 76-62 win. Brenda played most of the game and was the high scorer with 16. But four other Bears also scored in double digits.
After the game, however, there was also a special ceremony honoring the coach’s 300th win in his career at DMACC. It was quite an honor and his team surrounded him with congratulations as he accepted a plaque. It had only taken him fourteen seasons.
Having finished The Christmas Reindeer story, Peg moved to Mother West Wind “Why” Stories and the whole crew sat in the living room while Dennis read.
“‘There’s a stripe for every tear made in your old coat by the claws of Mr. Bob Cat the day you saved Mr. Meadow Mouse. They are honor stripes, and hereafter you and your children and your children's children shall always wear stripes.’
“And that is how it happens that Striped Chipmunk comes by his striped coat, and why he is so proud of it, and takes such good care of it,” concluded Grandfather Frog.
Everyone clapped and Peg jumped up to put the book on the shelf. Then she made a big production out of hugging her mother, brother, and all twelve sisters to give them a kiss on the cheek. She skipped down the hall to brush her teeth and get ready for bed.
As soon as she was settled, the crew cycled through the bathroom and into Dennis’s room where they proceeded to strip Brenda and all give her a massage. Of course, Natalie, having scored 21 points the night before, was also given high score honors and the accompanying massage. The girls made sure neither teammate lacked for attention as they loved each other and Dennis late into the night.
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