The next morning Ox walked Jack to school and promised Jack that he would go by his mom's house to find the papers he needed to get enrolled back in school. Ox and Jack decided on the walk to school that they would both stay away from basketball tryouts for Mr. Roderick's team and Greg's team. They both were content to shoot hoops together and stay out of trouble. Besides the fact that they didn't know where they'd be moving too, both boys figured they would be enrolled in a new school in a couple of weeks and they could get away from the Keevan and Josiah's of the world. Luckily there had been no sign of Keevan or Josiah, but Jack knew he'd run into them at some point during the day. Ox had promised to meet Jack after school to make sure Keevan and Josiah didn't try to hurt Jack.
By the time school was out Jack had not seen either Keevan or Josiah. But when he walked by the gym and saw Mr. Roderick dressed in gym clothes and talking to someone who looked like his assistant coach, Jack became anxious about not going out for the team. He felt a burning desire to prove to himself that he could make the team. As he stood by the door and gazed in his mind drifted to the first day he arrived in Denver and how he and Ox had met up. He almost let out a smile when someone shoved him in the back.
"You think you gonna show up to my team's try out after you jump me last night!?"
Jack turned to see Keevan and Josiah. Keevan had a fat lip and looked a little intimidated while Josiah kept shifting back and forth and looking over his shoulder.
"I'll do what I want...but I wasn't planning on trying out for your sissy team."
"You comes in and see how sissy we play in da hood fool."
"So you wanna see me drop three's one you all afternoon?"
"Bring it boy!"
Jack glared hard into Keevan's eyes. He sensed some apprehension or fear coming from him, but couldn't quite figure out if Keevan was going to take a swing at him or break out in tears. Before Jack could say anything else the door to the gym opened.
"Keevan!...Josiah!...get in and start warming up...Are you going to try out Mr. Hampton or have you decided to spend more time with your criminal friend?"
"He's not a criminal Mr. Roderick and until this second I was convinced that I wouldn't try out for the team, but something inside me is telling me to get in the gym."
"That's good Jack...do you need to get dressed out?"
"Yes sir."
"Well you better hurry because we start warming up in two minutes."
Mr. Roderick went back into th gym behind a closing door. Jack looked around for a second and then took off to the locker room to change into his gym clothes. He didn't know what he'd tell Ox or his mom, but he knew he had to try out or he'd never forgive himself.
By the time Jack got back to the gym there were about thirty boys stretching in the middle of the gym. Keevan and Josiah were leading the warm up routine. Jack took a position as far from the leaders as he could. He did not want to focus on Keevan or Josiah, but focus on getting through the tryout.
After the boys warmed up, Keevan demonstrated an up down drill. He ran from the baseline of the court to the nearest free throw line, and then he ran back. After that he ran to the half court line and then ran back, after that he ran to the far free throw line and ran back. Finally he ran to the other base line and ran back.
"You all will run twenty up down drills in the next thirty minutes if you want to move to the next phase of the tryouts! Go!"
Mr. Roderick blew his whistle and most of the boys starting running as hard as they could. Jack took his time and lagged behind the larger group of boys. Keevan and Josiah were further ahead of the other boys. Jack was grouped with a really short Latino kid and a really tall, but chubby black kid. Jack could tell the tall kid was sucking air five minutes into the drill, but he and the other Latino kid were on a good pace and regulating their breathing.
Ten minutes into the drill at least five boys had stopped running and started walking. Fifteen minutes into the drill another ten boys had started walking. The boys that were trying to keep pace with Keevan and Josiah were starting to gasp for air, but Jack could tell they wouldn't give in very easily. Keevan and Josiah had finished the drill fourteen times at fifteen minutes in. He knew they would be finished in the next ten minutes. Jack and his running partner had run the drill eleven times at fifteen minutes in.
At twenty five minutes into the drill, Keevan and Josiah had finished the drill and the group that was behind them had faded to four boys. All the other boys were walking with occasional sprints or bursts of running, but they were far behind Jack and the Latino kid who were two drills away from reaching twenty. Jack could feel the burn in his lungs and the hot air of the gym weighing heavily on his shoulders. Still, Jack knew that he could finish strong and that's exactly what he did. On the last drill he sprinted and finished the drill with a minute to spare. The Latino kid came in just behind him with about ten seconds to spare and was the last one to finish the drill.
Mr. Roderick dismissed the twenty two or so other students who didn't finish the drill and had the remaining boys get some water and take a two minute break. As Jack was drinking from the water fountain in the gym he saw Ox in the hallway. Jack looked up and walked toward the gym doors. Ox shrugged his shoulders; Jack motioned for him to come in. When Ox came into the gym Jack was surprised to see him dressed in shorts and a basketball practice jersey.
"What are you doing Ox?"
"Why you not meet me after school?"
"Something told me I had to try out."
"Cool!...Somein' told me to register for school. I's registered at Davis."
"Are you gonna try out?"
"If Mr. Crazy let me."
Jack let out a huge smile and almost went to hug Ox, but offer a hand slap instead. Mr. Roderick approached the two boys.
"What's going on Ox? You aren't supposed to be in school unless you're a student here."
"Tell him Ox."
Ox looked at Mr. Roderick and then lowered his head before he spoke.
"I jus enrolled today sir."
"I'll check with the office on that Ox...do you wanna try out for my team?"
"Yes sir."
"Then start running the up down drills. You got to run twenty of them in the next twenty five minutes or you won't make my team."
"The rest of us had thirty minutes Mr. Roderick."
"The rest of you were here on time Mr. Hampton...you gonna run em?"
"Yes sir."
Ox jogged to the baseline and started running off to the side of the court. Mr. Roderick pointed to his assistant to start timing Ox. Jack let out a huge smile before Mr. Roderick blew his whistle and all the boys came to center court.
"Congratulations young men...I call you young men because boys cannot accomplish what you just accomplished...basketball is not a sport for boys who want to be selfish, violent, or lazy. This is a sport only elite athlete's play. You may think you're tired after running that first drill, but wait til you see what I have planned for the next hour...we're gonna start with passing drills and we're gonna run those drills until we get them right...even if it takes us until the next practice. Keevan...Josiah!...show these young men how we run passing drills."
Keevan retrieved a ball from a ball rack and stood on one side of the key. Josiah stood on the other side of the key. Keevan passed the ball directly into Josiah's chest and Josiah caught it while the boys faced each other and moved their feet in a side step motion up the court. When they reached the other side of the court they passed the ball on the ground with one bounce before the other boy caught it. After they got back to the other end Mr. Roderick blew his whistle.
"That was one passing drill executed perfectly...I expect thirty perfect drills from each of you before we move on to the next drill. Everybody partner up!"
Jack immediately looked at Ox who was still running his up down drill and doing it rather easily. Before he knew it the Latino kid had tapped hi
m on the shoulder.
"Hey bro...you's wanna play wit me man?"
"Sure...my name's Jack."
"I'm Cisco...les go."
Jack and Cisco lined up along the gym and at Mr. Roderick's whistle started passing the ball to one another and side stepping up the court. The first drill was clean, but the second was not. Cisco missed one of Jack's pass and Jack accidently bounced the ball twice before Cisco caught the ball. Another pair of boys also ran into problems. Mr. Roderick made the boys start over. The group couldn't seem to get past six or seven drills without running into a problem somewhere. One of the boys would drop a pass or another boy would trip. One time Jack accidently ran into the wall on the other end of the court. The good news was that Ox had finished running his drill in just over twenty minutes and was catching his breath. The bad news was that Mr. Roderick was getting frustrated by the lack of concentration of the other boys.
"We are gonna run this until we get it right! You got it!?"
All the boys shouted "Yes Coach!"
"Ox! Did you make the time?"
"Yes sir."
"Good!...You get to bounce your passes off the wall since we have an odd number of survivors...You good with that?"
"Yes sir."
"Let's run it again!"
Mr. Roderick had the boys run the drill over and over. The only boys who didn't mess up were Keevan, Josiah, and Ox. Jack thought Ox was crazy, because even when the rest of them had to start over, Ox just kept on bouncing the ball off the wall and side stepping around the gym. After an exhaustive hour of running the drill and only reaching fourteen perfect drills; the entire team was deflated except Ox. Mr. Roderick had the boys come to center court and take a knee.
"Now you know that my basketball is not a joke. We will run this drill until we get it right thirty times. Next practice is tomorrow after school. Who still wants to play?"
The entire team shouted "Me Coach!".
"Good...now go hit the showers and don't forget to do your homework."
Jack looked over at Ox who was grinning. He introduced Cisco to Ox and the boys went to the locker room to change out of their gym clothes.