Summer Ball

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2007

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Chapters 7-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 7 Summary

A spot in the regular cabins opens up, but Danny surprises everyone by declining the spot and opting to stay with Zach. This impresses Tarik, who remarks, “‘[Danny] just sticks’” (64), which means Danny remains loyal to people, including Zach. The boys also return to practice with Coach Powers, who, despite outlining a passing strategy, allows Rasheed possession of the ball more than his other players. Coach Powers even makes a nasty comment to Danny about his previous team’s victory, implying Danny’s team only won after the referees made a call in their favor.

As Danny watches the other boys play, he tries to evaluate himself honestly because “Richie Walker, Danny knew, overpraised him sometimes” (68). Danny’s father claims Danny has something he calls “the eye” when it comes to basketball, which “‘means you see things happening on the court before they actually happen’” (69). At Right Way, under Coach’s disapproving gaze, Danny loses sight of the game long enough for Rasheed to knock him down: “[b]efore he hit the ground, before his head snapped back on the court, he had a perfect view of Rasheed continuing to fly toward the basket, laying the ball in, no backboard, all net” (74). With his knee hurt, Danny leaves the court, dejected.

Chapter 8 Summary

In Chapter 8, the boys receive a break from basketball and head into town for a night of relaxation. However, they begin to discuss basketball anyway. The conversation centers on Danny’s trouble with Coach Powers and Rasheed. Tarik remarks that Coach Powers likes things done his way: “‘[s]eems to be because he can only see basketball one way. Like it’s supposed to be one of those connect-the-dots pictures we all had to draw when we were little’” (80). The boys start to call Coach Powers ‘Coach My Way.’ Tarik also talks to Rasheed, who claims to get along fine with Coach Powers. Rasheed then confesses that he can get along with, and over on, anyone that tries to hold him back. The boys, including Zach, use the ball Zach always carries with him to play some impromptu basketball.

Chapters 7-8 Analysis

Now that Danny and Rasheed play on the same team, the theme of rivalry moves even further to the center of the plot. This rivalry disrupts the success of their team; instead of playing in harmony, Rasheed takes the limelight and refuses to work with Danny. According to Danny, “[i]t was as if they were on different teams, even playing on the same team. Different teams or maybe just different worlds” (65). Rasheed appears to be the very stereotypical basketball superstar: cornrows, tattoos, and a stoic demeanor that seems standoffish. He also comes from the inner city, from Baltimore. By contrast, Danny presents himself in a clean-cut manner, a basketball legacy from a wealthy suburb. The more Danny learns about Rasheed, the more emphasis losing the championship seems to have. For Rasheed, basketball becomes a ticket out of a bad situation, which explains his resentment toward Danny.

With Rasheed dominating, Danny starts to wonder who the better player really is. Danny reflects on the possible error in his father’s judgment, and how parents overpraise their children, especially when parents“couldn’t look at their kids without seeing themselves” (68). To add to his waning confidence, Coach Powers tells Danny, “‘I didn’t see that big travel final the two of you played down in North Carolina, but I heard it was some game until the refs decided it’” (67).

This comment further erodes Danny’s belief in himself and also highlights the psychological games in sports. Coach Powers attempts to get into Danny’s head by questioning the validity of the outcome of the championship game. Likewise, when Rasheed blames his defeat on Danny, claiming that Danny drew a foul to win, it robs Danny of his legitimate success. Danny’s ego becomes riled at the start of camp, so these comments easily get inside his head. Danny knows he “had to relax to play [his] hardest, to have any chance at all to play [his] best” (70), and he cannot relax until he and his friends go into town and play basketball just for the fun of it. Instead, with kids from Rasheed’s neighborhood competing, winning becomes life or death. When knocking Danny down, Rasheed sends a message without saying a word: I am bigger and better than you.