Coach Carter

One

"Carson? CARSON?! Are you even listening to me?"

"What? Yeah, sorry Coach." I said, shaking my head to clear my mind.

"As I was saying, I'm hiring an assistant coach for this year, and she will be working with the girls. Hopefully we can make another run at state?" He looked at me and smiled.

"Hopefully Coach."

"Her name is Anna Carter. She's one of the youngest athletes to win a PWBA Title. I think she's going to be good for the girls."

"Is she hot?" A guy asked from the back of the group.

"Shut up Alex." I said.

"Like you weren't thinking the same thing Carson." He replied.

"Not the point." I whispered.

"Anyway," Coach Adams said, glaring at Alex. "She will be here at some point tonight, but for the time being, Carson, lets start exercises."

I internally groaned, along with people who made comments about it.

"Alright, planks. On the floor. And Alex, since you can't seem to stop talking tonight, you can count it out. 10 of them, 20 seconds each." I stated, ignoring his snide comments.

We finished stretches, and I saw a woman talking to Brandon, our coach. She couldn't have been more than 25, but she looked like she was still in high school with the rest of us.

"7 shot warm up." Brandon yelled from his spot on the table behind us.

I did my pre-shot routine; blowing into my hand, shaking my wrist out a little, and wiping my thumb on my pants. I lined up, took a deep breath, and went. After hitting the 7 pin, us girls quickly finished up our warm up. We were lined up, well all except Jordyn, but she couldn't seem to figure out why her ball wasn't hitting the pocket.

"Hey Car?" She asked.

"What's up Jordyn?" I walked over to her.

"Can you help me line up? I've tried everything I can think of and I can't hit the pocket."

"Yeah, I'll see if I can get you lined up."

I watched her shot, she went Brooklyn. I thought for a second, before telling her to go again. Same thing.

"Try a 5 and 2." I watched her, making sure she moved. All 10 in the pit.

"Thanks Carson." She said as she walked off the approach.

I grabbed our drill sheets from Brandon and handed them out, before moving to the lane we designated to individual work. I grabbed my ball and got set on the approach. I let go of the ball and didn't bother watching it hit the pins. I wasn't worried about where the ball went, I was more worried about how well I posted. My trail leg was where it needed to be, my follow through was towards my target, but my kn-

"More knee bend Carson." Brandon yelled at me.

"That's what I'm working on over here." I told him with a smile. I walked back to the ball return and grabbed my ball, doing it all again. This time, my ball didn't sound like I dropped it from 20 feet in the air, it made no sound when it hit the lane. My knee was bent, just like it needed to be.

"Stay there." Brandon said as he walked over, the woman following him.

I stayed balanced, but let my right arm fall to my side.

"See how your body is lined up?" Brandon asked.

I nodded, smiling.

"Perfect. Now, get back over there and finish your drills. I have a little competition I wanna get to tonight." He said.