other kids in the coding club used at least he knew the basics of basketball Just for fun the park board put together a local championship of the traveling teams pitting the different counties teams against each other Through a series of close games and a forfeiture or two Grady’s team the Brock County Badgers battled against the Wilbur County Wildcats for the championship Now that it was nearly the end of the fourth quarter there was no getting around it Grady was exhausted The remaining two guys sitting on the bench were wiped too They’d played mediocre basketball up to the championship round But now that there was a chance they could win it all Grady realized no one on his team was in any condition to play as hard as the Wildcats The Wildcats had won the last three years in a row under the guidance of their leader the stern-looking Coach Dremble 6
Coach Olson called a time-out and the Badgers trotted over Grady was ready to collapse Okay you guys are looking a little tired out there Coach Olson said passing the parks and recreation water bottles around We’ve got just a few minutes left on the clock You keep these guys in line and we’re walking away from this thing as champions I’m so tired a forward named Brett Robbins groaned Me too Grady agreed I’m not sure I even want to win Coach Olson shook his head and lightly bonked both Brett and Grady on the head with his clipboard Snap out of it guys This is the big game The championship We win this and Coach Dremble doesn’t get his four-peat We have to shut em down 7
Grady took a deep breath and let it out For good measure he blasted his face with some lukewarm water from a bottle Then he looked up at the scoreboard It was 54 48 The Badgers had a six-point lead A few more minutes Hopkins he told himself feeling invigorated by Coach’s pep talk We got this The referee blew the whistle and the Badgers were back on the court The ball was thrown in and the Wildcats came out to play A tall mean-looking dude with serious eyebrows stole the ball from Grady’s teammate Amir and drove it to their basket for an easy layup not even looking for anyone to pass it to Closing in Grady thought He did everything he could to muster up some energy 8
Brett threw the ball in and the Wildcats moved in full-court press Number 11 the guy guarding Grady was all over him making it impossible for Grady to get clear to receive a pass You guys are slipping Number 11 said Might as well call it a day This is parks and rec basketball man Grady said Save it for the big leagues The ball went wild and one of the Badgers moved to stop it He grabbed the ball but stepped out of bounds The whistle blew It was the Wildcats ball Perfect Grady muttered Now the Wildcats had the ball in their half of the court Let’s go Badgers Big D big D Even though Grady was tired Number 11 had put the fight back into him 9
