Netball Dreams (3 page)

By half-time, we were ten goals behind. Our team stood in a huddle with red faces and drooping mouths. No-one was enjoying losing.

‘I wish we were playing basketball,’ said Claire, frowning.

Callum nodded glumly.

‘Yeah, netball’s so – ’ Angie started to say.

But she didn’t get any further, because I butted in. Claire had given me an idea.

‘What if we
were
playing basketball?’ I said quickly.

The half-time break wasn’t very long. If we were going to play better, we had to think of something fast.

‘That’s the problem!’ groaned Callum.

‘But you don’t always win at basketball, do you?’ I said, my hands on my hips. ‘What happens when you’re
losing
a game of basketball?’

Callum’s and Angie’s eyes met. I could see new ideas forming in their minds.

‘Well, our coach would make some changes,’ said Angie.

She and Callum started talking quickly, their heads together, arms gesturing.

After a while, they turned to the rest of the team with a new plan. Callum and Angie swapped some of our players around – Angie as centre, and Callum on defence with Mickey and me.

Angie turned to me and smiled. ‘Alex,’ she said, ‘stick to your player like glue.’

I nodded. Then Callum called to the team, ‘OK, let’s do it!’

‘YEAH!’ we all cried, and raced onto the court. We were pumped and keen to win.

My player moved fast. My throat was dry from puffing. My cheeks were burning hot. But nothing could shake me off her. I was like superglue. Wherever she went, I went too.

The changes Angie and Callum had made to our positions were working, and our team’s hope seemed to lift. Before I knew it, Claire had scored. Our team cheered as if we had won. Because now we thought we
could
win.

Again we scored. And again. Suddenly it almost seemed easy. By three-quarter time, we were only six goals behind. The gap was closing.

Soon we were only five goals down.

With only a minute to go, we were two goals down. We had a chance to win!

But the other team had the ball. They were about to score. Up went the ball, hovering on the side of the ring. But it didn’t fall in.

It fell off the ring, straight into Callum’s hands. Our team cheered!

I’m not sure what happened then. My player was running, trying to dodge me. I was being superglue. As my player ran into a gap, I heard Callum calling my name. ‘Aleeeeex!’

This was it! The ball was flying towards me. I gulped and tried not to close my eyes. A thought flashed through my head.

I have to catch this. I have to –

But the ball didn’t touch my fingers.

Like a cat leaping at a toy, my player plucked the ball from the air. I gasped – not just from surprise, but also because of what it meant.

The ball, the game, everything was suddenly out of my hands.

Before I knew it, the ball was falling through the other team’s goal.
Oh no. That
was my fault.

With wide eyes I stared at Callum. Would he yell at me for losing the ball? Or worse, would he wish I wasn’t on the team?

But Callum was already running back to his starting position. ‘Never mind, Alex,’ he called.

Behind me Becky called out, ‘Good try, Alex.’

No-one seemed to blame me for losing the ball. I kept my head down and kept playing. The rest of the team were acting as if we could still win. But there was no time to catch up.

Our chance to win was gone.

Mmmm … crunchy, salty, munchy, yummy
peanut butter.

The day after our first game, I sat on the office steps with the rest of the team, thinking about peanut butter.

I eat crunchy peanut butter sandwiches for lunch every day. The only thing I like to change is the bread – white, multigrain. My favourite is rye. That was what I was eating that day.

I was thinking a whole heap about peanut butter. But I wasn’t saying much. No-one was. Everyone was quiet and glum, disappointed about losing our first game of netball.

Even Angie and Claire were sitting with us instead of playing basketball. For once, there was another game that they cared about more.

I scrunched up the cling wrap from my sandwich and threw it down the office steps. I was aiming for a rubbish bin at the bottom. But just like a gremlin ball, the cling wrap didn’t do what I wanted.

It curved up, seemed to float in the air for a second, then fell silently onto the bottom step. Why did I even bother!

‘Good try, Alex,’ said Becky with a small smile.

Dunk … plop.
Callum threw his empty drink box at the recycling bin. But it didn’t go in either. It bounced off the side and lay at the bottom of the steps. He sighed.

Callum was taking our loss yesterday pretty hard.

Normally I don’t care about losing at sport. I’m used to it! But I felt bad about losing the ball yesterday because I’d let the team down. I know how hard everyone had tried to win.

By now, Angie had finished her lunch. She threw her paper bag at the bin. It sailed in with perfect aim. ‘Woo hoo,’ said Angie. But her voice sounded flat.

I glanced past Claire at Angie’s sad face.
Poor Angie. Poor team!

How could I cheer up my friends? I jumped down the steps and put my cling wrap and Callum’s drink box in the bin.

‘We need a name!’ I said from the bottom of the steps. I didn’t have to say
for
our netball team.
Everyone knew straight away what I was talking about.

‘Yeah!’ said everyone. In a row, the team sat a little straighter.

‘The Cockatoos?’ asked Claire.

No-one liked that idea much. That name was already taken for their basketball team. But we had other ideas. Already the glum mood was gone.

‘The Kookaburras?’

‘The Rosellas?’

‘The Mean Team!’

That last idea came from Mickey. When he said it, he jumped up and did a face like an angry wrestler. He’s such a boy.

But I liked how his idea rhymed. And then I thought of it – the perfect name for our team.

‘The Dream Team!’ I cried. ‘Like … we’re all friends. So we really are the perfect team.’

Angie and Claire did a high five. Then Becky joined in. Even the boys seemed happy with our new name.

We started talking then, loud and excited, about what went wrong yesterday and how we could play better. We talked and planned right until the end of lunch.