Chapter Three
The Panthers
Asiyah’s phone rang the next day while she was practicing piano. She checked her phone’s display. It was Lucy.
I bet she’s calling about the travel team, Asiyah thought. Her stomach twisted as she hit answer. Am I good enough to make it?
“We’re both on the team!” Lucy shouted. “Coach Elise just posted the roster.”
“Really? Woo-hoo! I’m doing my happy dance with two thumbs-up,” Asiyah replied.
“Shivani, Jessica, and Rachel from our old team also made it,” Lucy said.
“Awesome! That’ll be so fun. So will practice start next week?” Asiyah asked.
“No, silly. Practice starts tomorrow,” Lucy replied. “We have one every day after school this week. We can walk over together. This will be great, I promise. Two thumbs-up!”
“Four thumbs-up!” Asiyah said.
Lucy laughed. “See you tomorrow!”
Asiyah felt more excited about the Panthers than she thought she would. I’ll get to play with all my friends. Maybe it won’t be so different from the old team after all.
* * *
The next day, Asiyah and Lucy went into the gym. They spotted their old teammates.
“Hey, guys!” Asiyah shouted. She ran over and gave everyone a big hug.
“Asiyah! I’m so glad you made the team,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, you always make practices fun!” Shivani added.
“I sure hope these practices will be fun too,” Asiyah said. “Because they’re going to last so much longer than our old team’s practices.”
The girls were still chatting when Coach Elise walked in. She blew her whistle, and the team gathered around.
“Welcome to the Lakeville Panthers!” the coach said. “You were all chosen because I believe you have the skills to be successful on this team.”
Asiyah and Lucy smiled at each other.
“You’ll notice big changes between rec volleyball and travel volleyball. You’ll be learning new positions. And you’ll be working extremely hard,” Coach Elise said. “Your teammates will depend on you to give it your all during practices and games.”
“Gulp,” Asiyah said lightly.
The girls around her giggled.
When Coach Elise finished, the team went out onto the court. They lined up.
“First is the warm-up,” Coach said. “We’ll practice getting to the net and lightly tapping the ball over.”
The girls took turns running forward. Coach bumped the ball over, and they tried to tip it back. When they did it right, the ball would gently fall close to the other side of the net.
Asiyah got ready for her turn. She rushed toward the net and jumped really high. She raised her hand and tried to tap the ball. But she pushed too hard. The ball went deep into the court.
“Try to keep your fingers together, Asiyah. But that’s a good effort,” Coach Elise said. “Keep going, girls. We’re going to repeat this drill until everyone gets comfortable.”
Asiyah went to the back of the line. As she got behind Lucy, she wobbled her knees.
“The same thing over and over? My legs are going to turn to jelly!” Asiyah said, expecting a laugh from her teammate.
Instead, Lucy sighed. “I might need to do this all day and night just to get it right. I wish I was tall like you. Then jumping high enough would be so much easier.”
Asiyah stood up straight. “You’ll get better at it,” she said.
“Maybe, but it won’t happen magically,” Lucy said. “It’s going to take a lot of hard work.”
Asiyah didn’t reply. Lucy was taking this way too seriously. Sports are supposed to be fun, she thought. If we’re working so hard, we should at least be enjoying it.