Full Court Fever by Fred Bowen

Author:Fred Bowen [Bowen, Fred]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-4297-9
Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
Published: 1998-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

NINE

Michael hurried down the school hall. “No running in the corridors,” Mr. Petty called above the noise of voices and slamming lockers.

Michael saw a familiar head towering above a clump of students. “Hey, Dikembe,” he called. “Are you going to practice?”

Dikembe turned and smiled. “You bet. I want to see you practice your new play.”

Michael and Dikembe fell in step together. Michael had to double his pace to keep up with Dikembe’s long stride. “How are the basketball drills that Coach Cummings taught you coming along?” Michael asked.

“They are okay,” Dikembe answered with another smile. “I am learning to dribble with my hands. But I still wish I could use my feet.”

Minutes later, Michael and his Falcon teammates were running their warm-up drills in the gym. The Falcons seemed happier and more upbeat now that they had a victory behind them. They were feeling so confident that they could tease each other and no one’s feelings got hurt.

“You call that a pass, Conor? That is so lame!”

“We’re running, not jogging, Kelvin.”

Following layups, Coach Cummings blew his whistle.

“Sit down on the stands, guys,” the coach said. “Get the chalkboard, Gina.”

Gina rolled over a large blackboard filled with basketball formations and set it in front of the stands.

Coach Cummings picked up a piece of chalk and said, “I’ve decided that we should play the full-court press all of the time.”

The team eyed each other as they squirmed on the hard wooden benches. Coach Cummings continued and began drawing arrows on the blackboard across the formations as he spoke. “The idea of the press is to speed up the game,” he said. “When a guy on the other team gets the ball, I want two Falcons on him. Don’t let him get anywhere. Make him pass.”

“We’re gonna play defense on the whole court?” Bobby asked in disbelief.

“All 94 feet,” Coach Cummings said firmly. He kept talking and drawing. “We’ll force the other team to make long passes that we can intercept and turn into easy baskets.”

Conor raised his hand. “What if the other team gets by the press, Coach?” he asked.

“We’ll have to hustle back,” the coach answered. “We can get plenty of steals by sneaking up in back of the dribbler and knocking the ball loose.”

“Aren’t we gonna get awful tired pressing the whole game?” Kelvin asked, his tongue dangling out comically.

“Sure.” Coach Cummings smiled. “That’s why we’re gonna need all the guys on the team to be in top condition and ready to play.”

The coach paused and looked into the faces of his Falcons. “John Wooden, the great coach at UCLA who used this press years ago, said that three things are important for success in basketball: physical condition, fundamentals, and working together as a team.” The Falcons nodded their heads in unison. “If we’re in better condition than the other team, they’ll get tired a lot sooner than we will. And the press will work much better.”

Coach Cummings glanced at Kelvin. “Don’t worry. If you or anybody else gets tired, just signal the bench by bending over and pulling at the bottom of your basketball shorts.

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