Chapter 3

COACH JACKSON

The locker room was filled with nervous chatter when Annie, Megan, and Emma walked in after school.

With shaking hands, the girls opened their lockers and pulled out shorts, T-shirts, socks, and shoes. They dressed quickly and quietly.

From the other side of the lockers, Annie could hear Sarah saying, “Wow, nice shirt. I wonder if she got it at a garage sale.”

“And did you see the band geeks over there? Who are they kidding?” Dani said.

“Let’s go!” Emma whispered to Annie and Megan. The three girls were ready, so they slipped into the gym.

Their new coach was already there, talking to Coach Miller, the assistant basketball coach. Both coaches looked up at Megan, Emma, and Annie. The new coach smiled at them.

“Grab a ball and shoot around,” said Coach Miller. “We’ll start in about ten minutes.” Soon, the gym was filled with the sound of bouncing basketballs.

After almost ten minutes had passed, Coach Jackson glanced at the clock on the wall. Then she walked to the locker room and opened the door.

“Anyone not out here by the time I count to five is cut!” she yelled. “One! Two! Three …” Then Sarah and Dani slowly walked out of the locker room.

Coach Jackson grabbed the whistle from around her neck and blew. She yelled, “Put the balls away! Five laps! And if I catch anyone cutting corners, I’ll double it. Go!”

Megan put the ball in the wire cart. Then they started running.

“When you’re done, make a circle in the middle for stretching,” said the new coach.

Annie was nervous as she ran around the gym. She could hardly pay attention to how many laps she had run. On the third lap, she almost bumped into Sarah. Sarah didn’t say anything, but she glared at Annie and sped up.

After everyone finished their laps, the girls gathered in a circle in the middle of the court. Each girl was breathing hard.

The coach walked into the middle of the circle. “Hi, girls,” she said, smiling. “I’m Coach Jackson. I teach third grade. I played basketball in high school and college. I was a point guard.”

She went on, “Not all of you will be here at the end of the week. I hate to cut anyone, but there are just too many of you trying out this year.”

Coach Jackson looked around and said, “While you’re here, you will follow my rules. I don’t have very many of them, so it won’t be hard. The first rule is you will try your best, no matter what, at all times. The second rule is that you’ll always be a team player. Let’s get started!”

Everyone stood up.

Annie looked at Megan. “She’s tough,” Megan whispered.

“I like her,” Annie whispered back.

Coach Jackson clapped her hands and said, “Okay, everybody grab a ball and line up on the end line. We’re going to do layups. Follow me.”

Coach Jackson started dribbling toward the basket on the right side of the court. She dribbled in, made her layup, got her rebound, and then dribbled across to the left side. There, she made another layup.

Quickly, the girls lined up and followed Coach Jackson through the layup drill.

Annie and her friends ended up somewhere in the middle. Sarah and Dani were at the end.

Annie and her friends finished in time to watch Sarah and Dani slowly jog to the last basket and shoot layups. It didn’t look like they were trying. Sarah didn’t even make her shot.

When everyone was done, Coach Jackson shook her head. “Well, that was terrible,” she said. “Do you all remember the first rule? The one about trying your hardest?”

The girls all nodded. Then Coach Jackson said, “Let’s do this again. This time, if I catch anyone not hustling, or if you miss more than two shots, you have to run five more laps. Go!”

Annie was so nervous that she missed her first shot. She was embarrassed when she saw that Coach Jackson had seen her.

Annie grabbed her rebound and dribbled to the next basket. She made that one, but she already felt like she had screwed herself up.

For the rest of the tryout that day, things just didn’t seem to be working right for Annie. She dropped easy passes and missed shots. And to make matters worse, it seemed like every time she made a mistake, Coach Jackson was watching.

When five o’clock finally rolled around, Annie was tired. She was sweating and exhausted as she headed into the locker room. Emma and Megan jogged over to join her.

As they opened the door to walk in, Annie said, “Emma, you had a really good tryout. I saw you block Dani’s shot.”

“I was horrible,” said Megan. “Did you see me dribble off my foot?”

“I wasn’t so great either,” said Annie.

“Tomorrow has to be better, right?” asked Megan as the girls changed back into their school clothes. “I mean, I can’t get any worse, can I?”

“We were all nervous. I didn’t see anyone having a great tryout,” said Emma.

“You did. You did everything right. I know you’ll make the team,” said Annie.

But then she thought, I just don’t know if I will.