TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  The Flash

  Chapter 2

  Small-Time Hero

  Chapter 3

  New Team

  Chapter 4

  Flash Drills

  Chapter 5

  Flashy Moves

  Chapter 6

  A Tough Lesson

  Chapter 7

  Cut

  Chapter 8

  Community League

  Chapter 9

  New Life

  [CHAPTER 1]

  THE FLASH

  Joe took a deep breath. He glanced down at his expensive basketball shoes.

  Still shining, he thought. Now it’s time to turn up the heat.

  Joe looked up at the scoreboard. The game was tied, with one minute left.

  This is my time, he thought.

  From out of bounds, Joe’s teammate passed the ball to him on one bounce.

  Right away, Joe could tell there was a defender behind him. He had to move fast.

  He faked left, then spun right, pounding the ball on the floor. Whoosh. He was past the first defender in a flash.

  Joe sped up the court. Three teammates waited for a pass near the hoop, but Joe didn’t care. All he saw was the bright orange rim.

  As he crossed the half-court line, a defender ran over. Joe saw an open teammate out of the corner of his eye. Instead of passing the ball, Joe decided to take on the defender himself.

  He dribbled right at the defender, almost too close. Then he quickly put the ball between his legs and moved left past the confused other player.

  The lane was open for a second. But in the blink of an eye, two more defenders stepped into the lane.

  Adam, one of his teammates and friends, was alone under the hoop. Joe could pass to him. But Joe’s blood was pumping. He wanted to make the layup.

  He faked his way past one of the defenders. Then Joe decided to challenge the last one. He leaped straight into the other player’s path.

  Joe was so close to the bucket. If he could shoot, he was sure he’d make it. He bumped into the defender’s chest. Then Joe turned his body to the right, letting the ball roll off his fingertips up toward the rim.

  Bleet! The official’s whistle blew. Joe fell to the ground in a heap.

  As he landed, he saw the ball drop through the net. He turned to the official. Just as he’d hoped, the official was pointing at the defender Joe had bumped into.

  The crowd of parents and kids at courtside went crazy. “Way to go, Joe!” they called.

  Joe hopped up and put his arms in the air. Some people cheered.

  But not everyone was impressed. “There he goes again,” Adam said to Brian, another one of Joe’s teammates and friends. “He’s always showing off.”

  Joe headed to the free throw line. He made the shot, bringing his team to a three-point lead. There was still plenty of time in the game, but Joe wasn’t about to slow down.

  On the next possession, Adam stole a pass. Joe moved away from the player he was guarding and broke down the court all alone. Adam passed him the ball.

  Without a defender in sight, Joe could have easily just laid the ball up on the rim for the easy basket.

  Instead, he drove hard to the hoop and jumped. He put the ball between his legs in midair before he finally reached up and put it in the hoop.

  The crowd went nuts. They all cheered and clapped.

  “That’s why they call me The Flash!” Joe yelled.

  Moments later, Brian grabbed a rebound. Joe sped out to the wing to catch the pass Brian threw him.

  Joe brought the ball to the middle of the court. He had a teammate on each wing. One defender stepped in front of Joe to challenge him. Two teammates were wide open on the wings.

  Everyone thought that Joe would keep the ball and go to the basket. Instead, he threw a behind-the-back pass to Adam, who was on his left.

  The pass startled Adam, but he was able to catch it. He dribbled once and laid the ball in for a basket just before the final horn sounded.

  In just one minute, Joe had helped his team score seven straight points for the victory.

  Joe raised his arms in the air. “Oh, yeah!” he yelled. “The Flash strikes again!”

  “We’re both going to be hearing about this game for a long, long time,” Adam whispered to Brian.

  Brian rolled his eyes. He whispered back, “That’s what we get for being best friends with The Flash.”

  [CHAPTER 2]

  SMALL-TIME HERO

  Joe, Adam, and Brian always walked home from games together. They headed out of the gym.

  On his way out, Joe slapped hands with anyone who would give him five. Lots of people complimented Joe on his great play at the end of the game.

  It took forever to get out of the gym. Once they were headed home, Joe started talking.

  “Man, I was really The Flash today,” he bragged. “Did you see how stupid I made that one kid look? He’s probably still standing on that court, wondering what happened to him.”

  Adam and Brian glanced at each other. “Yeah, I saw that,” Adam said. “I also saw the time you tried to pass the ball off the backboard to yourself, and lost it out of bounds.”

  “Yeah,” Brian added, “and I saw the time you tried a fancy move on a kid and dribbled the ball off your foot out of bounds.”

  Joe laughed. “That’s fine, that’s fine, bring it on,” he said. “We all know that without my plays at the end, we wouldn’t have won.”

  “That’s true, but if you would quit showing off the whole game, maybe we wouldn’t need The Flash to save us at the end!” Adam said.

  Joe shook his head. “Say what you want, but we haven’t lost a game all year, have we?” he asked. Then he smiled. “I didn’t think so.”

  The team’s record was perfect. They had won every game all season.

  But Adam and Brian knew that it wasn’t all skill. They played in a community league. All of the teams were made up of kids who went to their school.

  Adam, Joe, and Brian were three of the best players in the school, and they had all been put on the same team. Even before the season started, they were pretty sure that they’d win every game.

  “No, we haven’t lost — yet,” Brian said. “But we’re the best team in the league. We should be beating the other teams by twenty or thirty points every game. When you act like The Flash, we end up only winning by a few points at the end.”

  Adam nodded. “And one of these times, The Flash is going to fail,” he added.

  “No way, man,” Joe said, shaking his head. “No way.”

  Adam said, “But what about next year?”

  “What about next year?” Joe asked.

  “Next year we all move up to the middle-school team,” Brian explained. “All the kids on all the teams in our league will be trying out for one team next year. If you don’t work on your real game, not the flashy one, you might not make it.”

  Joe laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding,” he said. “Don’t you guys know who you are talking to?”

  “Yes, we know, we know,” Adam said. He sighed. “We’re talking to The Flash.”

  “That’s right,” Joe said.

  Joe tried to forget about what his friends had said, but he couldn’t.

  At their school, there were eight teams in the league. Each team had ten players. The one team at the middle school only had room for fifteen players.

  That meant that if all eighty guys from the community league tried out, sixty-five people wouldn’t make it.

  The Flash was trying hard to stop worrying.

  [CHAPTER 3]

  NEW TEAM

  There were three games left in the season, and they were all the same. Brian, Adam, and Joe’s team should have won all three games by a huge lead, but every time they started to pull ahead, Joe started acting like The Flash.

  He would make risky passes, even when a better, simpler one was there for him. He would dribble behind his back or between his legs.

  The people watching the game loved it, but The Flash didn’t always do the right thing for his team.

  Sometimes the ball would fly out of bounds, or the other team would steal it. The Flash was making it hard for his team to win.

  Finally, in the closing minutes, Joe would win the game with a few flashy plays that worked. When he really needed to play well, he never failed.

  At the end of the season, the team had a perfect record.

  Joe wasn’t worried anymore about whether he would make the middle-school basketball team. Any coach would see that he was the best!

  * * *

  The following October, it was time for tryouts at the middle school. Joe, Adam, and Brian felt ready. They had been playing basketball at the playground and in driveways since last season ended.

  Adam was one of the tallest kids in the school. He was a very good rebounder, and he had some good moves near the basket to make shots. He always listened to his coaches, and he practiced even boring stuff, like dribbling.

  Joe knew that Adam would make the team. He’d probably even be the starting center.

  Joe was also pretty sure that Brian would make it. He was tall and usually made his shots. He also had a quick first step, so he could take the ball and beat his defender for a layup.

  He was great on defense. Brian always worked hard on that end of the floor. He usually guarded the other team’s best player.

  Everybody knew that Joe was the most talented player in the school. Nobody could dribble the ball like him.
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  He could do more tricks than anyone else. Passes behind his back, dribbling through his legs, spin moves, double-pump shots — Joe could do it all.

  More than fifty players from the boys’ community league tried out for the middle-school team.

  When the boys gathered for the first practice, Joe, Adam, and Brian looked around at the other players. Joe didn’t feel nervous, but he was surprised by how many people were there.

  “Man,” Brian said. “It was one thing to play against these guys in the community league. Each team only had a few really good players.”

  “I know,” Adam said. “Now all the good players are in the same room at the same time.”

  Joe shrugged. “I’m not worried,” he said. “The Flash has tricks none of these guys have.”

  “Maybe the coach won’t care that much about tricks,” Adam said.

  Joe laughed. “Yeah right!” he said. “Tricks are what the fans want!”

  “All right, boys,” the coach called out. “I’m Coach Jenkins. I have a really tough job. I have to pick fifteen of you to play on my team.”

  The coach smiled. Then he went on, “I’ll tell you right now what I look for when I pick players. I look for talent, of course. But I also look for hard work, excellent defense, and rebounding. Most importantly, I look for players who will put the team ahead of themselves. So, here’s our slogan for this year.”

  Coach Jenkins pulled a T-shirt out of his bag. On the front, it said, “Richmond Middle School Basketball.” He turned it around. On the back was a drawing of a basketball. Underneath, it said: “We, Not Me.”

  [CHAPTER 4]

  FLASH DRILLS

  Adam and Brian looked at Joe. Joe just shook his head. “I’m not worried,” he whispered.

  Right away, Coach Jenkins ran the players through basic passing, defense, and rebounding drills.

  Joe hated drills. He even hated the shooting drills, which most of the other kids loved. He just wanted to play ball. He wanted to show off his tricks.

  “Man, this is boring,” Joe said to Adam during a break in a drill. “When are we going to actually play some basketball?”

  But they didn’t play that day. At the practice the next day, they didn’t play either. They just worked on drills.

  Near the end of practice on the second day, Coach Jenkins blew his whistle. Everyone walked over to him.

  “Trying to pick from this many players is hard,” the coach said. “I decided to put you through a couple of days’ worth of drills to see who has the basics down. We’ll be cutting down to twenty players today. At the end of the week, I’ll tell you who will be playing on the team.”

  Some of the guys started whispering. Coach Jenkins raised his hand for quiet.

  “There will be a list in the locker room in ten minutes,” he said. “If your name is on the list, then you are still on the team. If not, you should sign up for the community league so you can keep working on your skills.”

  After shooting for ten more minutes, Adam said, “I think it’s been enough time.”

  “Let’s go check out the list,” Brian said. “Come on, Joe.”

  Joe laughed. “I’m not in a hurry,” he said.

  Adam and Brian looked at each other. “Okay,” Adam said. Then he and Brian headed to the locker room. Joe followed, but he didn’t look at the list. He just changed his clothes and got ready to go home.

  Soon, Adam and Brian walked over. They started getting ready to leave.

  “Why were you guys so worried?” Joe asked. “You knew you were going to be on the list.”

  “You can never be too sure,” Adam replied, taking his gym bag out of his locker.

  “Well, were you on the list?” Joe asked.

  “Yes, I was,” Adam said. “We all were.”

  “See what I mean?” Joe said. “Nothing to worry about.”

  [CHAPTER 5]

  FLASHY MOVES

  They finally played basketball the next day at practice. Joe was thrilled. They started with drills, but then it was time for a game of five-on-five.

  As soon as the game started, Joe turned into The Flash. Right away, his teammates were frustrated. He almost never made a normal bounce pass. Instead, he’d throw a more difficult pass, sometimes without looking.

  Once, the player he was passing to missed the catch because Joe’s aim was off. Another time, the ball sailed right out of bounds.

  When that happened, Coach Jenkins just shook his head. Adam noticed that the coach didn’t seem pleased. His eyes lit up once when Joe faked out a defender and scored. But Coach Jenkins didn’t seem very impressed with Joe’s style.

  Near the end of the game, Joe was leading a three-on-one fastbreak. A defender headed toward him, and Joe moved left.

  When the defender moved the same way, the teammate on Joe’s right was wide open. If Joe sent him an easy bounce pass, he could make the layup.

  Instead, Joe leaped in the air and spun around fast. Then he tried to throw a behind-the-back pass to a different teammate. The defender reached out and easily blocked the pass. Another defender caught it, and within a few seconds, the opposing team had scored.

  Bleeeeet! Coach Jenkins’ whistle blew. “That’s it!” he yelled. “We’re done for today. Hit the showers.” Then he added, “Joe, please stay here for a minute.”

  Joe proudly walked over to the coach. He was sure that Coach Jenkins would tell him what a great player he was.

  “Joe, I think you are one of the most talented players out here,” the coach said. “You might be the most talented. But you’re throwing it away, just like you threw away that pass.”

  Joe felt confused. “What?” he asked.

  “There have been a lot of players with fancy moves,” Coach Jenkins said. “Some of the greatest players ever had some really fancy moves. But what made them great was that they knew the right time to use them.

  “If you know great moves, the right time to use them is all the time!” Joe said, smiling.

  Coach Jenkins frowned. “A flashy play is also a risky play,” he said. “On that last play, you had a wide-open teammate. That would’ve been an easy pass. Whenever you can, make the easy pass. Save the flashy ones for when it’s your only option. Then, the flashy play will also be the smart play. Get it?”

  “But Coach, they call me The Flash,” Joe said. “That’s who I am. That’s how I play.”

  “No, Joe,” the coach said. “You call yourself The Flash. Nicknames like that have to be earned.”

  Joe looked down at the ground.

  “I think you can be a great player,” Coach Jenkins said. “But if you want to play on my team, you have to learn when to make those flashy plays. You also have to know when to play it safe. Remember, it’s about the team. We, not me.”

  “Got it, Coach,” Joe replied. “We, not me.”

  [CHAPTER 6]

  A TOUGH LESSON

  Joe stormed into the locker room. He couldn’t believe what Coach Jenkins had just said.

  Was he saying that if Joe didn’t change his playing style, he would sit on the bench? Or worse, was the coach saying that The Flash might get cut?

  “No way,” Joe whispered. “No way.” He quickly changed his clothes. Then he, Adam, and Brian headed home.

  When they were away from the school building, Adam asked, “What did Coach Jenkins want to talk to you about?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Joe replied.

  “Come on,” Brian said.

  “He actually told me that I needed to play boring in order to make the team,” Joe said.

  “That’s exactly what he said?” Adam asked, looking at Joe. “He told you to play boring?”

  “Well, not exactly,” Joe said. “He said something about knowing when to play safe and when to be flashy. He said everything I did needed to help the team. You know, ‘We, not me.’ That means play boring!”

  “I don’t know. It sounds like good advice to me,” Brian said.

  “Oh yeah?” Joe said. Frowning, he turned to face his friend. “Well, I have my own version of ‘We, not me.’ It goes like this: We do not win without me.”

  “Nice,” Adam said, shaking his head. “Before you put that on a shirt, you might want to think about what the coach said.”

 

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