As I lowered my left hand which had three fingers raised in the air for the celebration, I looked at Jackson with a smile. Looking around him, his teammates all had gloomy faces or were looking straight down.
He looked at me and then quickly went to the sidelines to grab his stuff, leaving the park. I watched his back as he disappeared.
Looking at the other end of the court, I saw Mike jogging back.
"So, wanna get some food?" He smiled, though he treated the situation like nothing happened.
"Sure." I replied as I let out a small chuckle.
Daniel, from Jackson's team, saw me leaving and wanted to say something but was still remembering what just happened. He couldn't find the words. His mind was like a huge blank paper.
Sometime later after we left, he managed to mutter something.
"Fúck!"
As I arrived at Mike's house he said we could make some food in his kitchen. I agreed, wanting to say 'hi' to uncle Jake and aunt Rachel.
As I lowered my left hand which had three fingers raised in the air for the celebration, I looked at Jackson with a smile. Looking around him, his teammates all had a gloom face or were looking straight down.
Jackson looked at me and then quickly went to the sidelines to grab his stuff, leaving the park. I watched his back as he disappeared.
Looking at the other end of the court, I saw Mike jogging back.
"So, wanna get some food? I feel like eating right now." He smiled, though he treated the situation like nothing happened.
"Sure." I replied as I let out a small chuckle.
Daniel, from Jackson's team, saw me leaving and wanted to say something but was still remembering what just happened. He couldn't find the words. His mind was like a huge blank paper.
Sometime later after we left, he managed to mutter something.
"Fúck!"
Leaving the park like that, after playing just one match, seemed underwhelming, but Mike and I had both noticed the expression on the people surrounding us. Thus, staying and playing some more probably wouldn't be worth it.
As I arrived at Mike's house, he said we could make some food in his kitchen, to which I agreed, wanting to say 'hi' to uncle Jake and aunt Rachel.
After I left, I saw mom and dad were watching something on TV. After greeting them, I walked up the stairs, heading to the shower.
While I was leaving the bathroom, Jessica sent me a message.
Jessica [ Hey, great time today. If you want to go out again let me know. ;) ]
I felt happy with this message and replied quickly, afterward, going downstairs to sit and watch TV with my parents. They were watching an anime, surprisingly.
It was about a dude who stayed online after severs went down in a virtual MMORPG game. Waking up to find himself still inside the game, he assumed the name of the guild he used to play for, and decided to adventure himself in the game, or perhaps his new reality.
It's a great story.
As I was getting ready to go to sleep, Mike sent me a message saying that Coach received the date of our first game, later he would want to discuss it. I smiled seeing this.
I'm excited about playing in the first division, as well as playing organized basketball for the first time.
I went to sleep right after, the news actually helping me sleep well.
The next morning I woke up earlier, though having nothing to do, I resorted to watching basketball as most weekends, trying to pick new things I see in the NBA.
In the afternoon, I couldn't rest anymore and called the guys from the basketball team. After I spoke something with coach Kyle, we all headed to the school.
Mike and I arrived earlier, so we set the equipment around the court, waiting for the rest of the team to come.
"So, what's up with the call? I was about to play some games." Phil said.
"I just wanted to workout a bit, do some training. And most of all, hear about our schedule from coach. Though I warned you guys, if you don't wanna come, you didn't need to. It's Sunday, and we surely have a long week waiting for us." I replied, trying not to make this into something no one was going to like since it was Sunday, and they probably needed rest.
"No worries." Phil asured.
"What type of training do you want to do?" James asked after he greeted some of the others.
I smirked and replied.
"Since the coach said he is going to take a while to come and talk about our first matchup, I thought about doing something of our own. I already spoke to coach about it and he agreed. You guys will understand when he gets here later." I clapped my hands and start to introduce the circuit I made.
"For the guys that work on the block, Paul and Harris, you guys are going to practice with body weights, and play against each other for an hour. After that, you guys are going to practice your rebounding ability with this thing." I showed a big piece of equipment.
Last summer I found this thing to work on my rebounds. It's basically a ball tied to a rope, which is pulled around the equipment and tied to your body on the other end. The objective was to catch the ball but to train the tempo in which you jump.
Using the arc that went above you, the ball would be flung up as you jumped, you needed to jump at a certain speed and timing to be able to catch the ball. And if you don't jump consistently, that jump becomes off, so overall great to train conditioning and rebounding.
"Also, when playing against each other, I want you guys to work on this footwork." As I spoke, I showed a video with detailed instructions.
After I finished saying some other things, I went to Phill and James.
"Phill, you will work with Mike. I already explained to him, you will work all around. We gonna work mostly on your speed. I hope one of your parents can come to get you after we finish, you are going to need it." I said as I tapped his shoulders and Mike walked away with him, smirking at Phill who felt a bit lost and panicky.
Then I looked at James and said.
"James, you will work with me. I'm going to better your plays and notion about attacking using the team. Basically, attacking logic. Though that will happen with this." I showed him a tablet, having a software show some of the movements and plays that I had also researched a while ago.
After 4 hours, coach Kyle arrived and was all smiles as he saw the whole team working out, by now I could see Phil dead tired on the floor while breathing like his lungs left his chest.
Harris and Paul were still battling each other in one hoop, and Mike was hitting Phill with cushioned sticks while the latter drove to the basket.
One thing in common, they all were dead tired, even though programmed rest allowed them to rest in these last 4 hours, but still, the toll was great on them.
James was the exception, being the one who only started to work out one hour ago. But he also felt tired, just not like the others.
Seeing the results of today's training, I asked everyone to stop and come to listen to coach. And as they sat around, coach Kyle began to speak.
"So, as I already informed you guys. Yesterday evening I received the schedule for the matchups ahead. This year, the SNAB said it's going to be two or three games for each team per week, the days most likely to happen will be Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. They decided to use this way because the last years proved to be inefficient with so many schools and teams to compete. This time around they are trying to reduce costs and danger for the players, so that's why it's more intricate." Coach nodded his head, seeing the point in the decision.
Everyone had solemn looks, hoping to have a complete season. Last year, the fiasco was huge, as the SNAB (Schools' National Basketball Association) tried to make the championship a bit too scattered, and ended up having to cancel the national championship for middle school, this year they hoped to complete it.
"As for the season, the teams are divided in four divisions, North, South, East, West. It's going to take 29 games until the state tournament. We play each team in our division, meaning the schools will be limited to 30 schools in the regional level and every win will count before the tournament. We don't have qualifiers, so the first 4 teams in the seedings are the ones to dispute the state level.
In the next stage, the state tournament will occur based off the best 16 teams, 4 from each division, will play for the championship itself. From there, it will be the 50 states teams' state champions against each other, and as the final stage before the National, the state championship will be in Austin during Spring break week." As coach Kyle stopped speaking, everyone looked at each other.
"This year is going to be a lot longer for middle school basketball." Phil said while smiling.
"This year also has great chances of recognition. As the NBA and SNAB are connected, they managed to deal a TV contract for the National Championship, so arriving at that stage, we are also going to be on TV." As coach Kyle finished speaking with his smile, everyone was pleasantly surprised.
This is one of the greatest opportunities one could have to show their skills. That might even set the future of new NBA stars if the person gets enough attention, maybe even sponsorships or recruited by someone.
"There's more." I said still smirking.
"Yes, the season ending will coincide with just before the start of the NBA's playoffs. Meaning that inbetween the regular season and post season is where the National Championship will happen. As with the state, we are playing in 4 divisions. West, South, East, and North. There will be an analysis and the best 12 teams are not playing the first round, it's also direct elimination if you lose. Imagine your self playing the Nationals and millions of people watching your games, everything on the line for each team. This is going to be on another level." Coach Kyle had a dreamy expression as he imagine.
From the boys on the team, some were anxious, others were as dreamy or excited as Coach Kyle.
One thing is certain, it's going to be exciting.