Travel Team

Kelvin Norris—Coach Kel—returns to be the team’s coach for practice, having coached the travel team the year before. Danny helps to run the practice, and Coach Kel tells him, “I used to tell people I was just waitin’ on that little body of yours to grow into that big basketball brain” (180).

Practice is intense, but the team takes it seriously; they “all seem to know what they were supposed to be doing tonight without being told” (181).

At the end of the night, when Will says that he’ll see Coach Kel on Saturday, the coach explains that he’s only there for the night. The other parents were working on a Plan B for Saturday. Danny and Will decide to call Tess to see if she has any ideas.

Coach Kel drives Danny home where he finds Ali talking to Will’s mom about a plan. After Danny finishes his homework, he hears the phone ring and, once his mother says, “No. Absolutely not. Out of the question,” he goes out to practice on the driveway, despite the cold weather (183). Through the cracked back door, he hears his dad’s name, and he continues practicing, feeling like “he had the ball on a string” (184).

Eventually, he goes in, knowing his mom is still on the phone with his dad. He logs onto instant messaging and chats with Tess. He says his dad’s plan is for Danny to coach the team.

When he measures himself that night, he sees that he’s grown an inch. 

That same night, his mom makes hot chocolate, and they sit down to talk. He notices the bags under her eyes, knowing how worried she’s been. He asks what convinced her. She explains that she thought it was a lot of pressure to put on a twelve-year-old, but Richie explained that the other kids already all followed him; they didn’t quit because Danny never quit. Danny says that he can do it if it’s okay with the rest of the team. They plan to have a team meeting the next night.

The next day, Tess says that she messaged everyone on the team the night before, and they’ll all on board. At lunch, Danny learns that one of the Vikings’ players, Andy, slipped on ice and twisted his ankle. Tess also says that she plans to be involved with the team and that everyone better have not told their parents. They haven’t.

When Colby asks about what happens if the league won’t let Danny coach, Danny says that his mom already has a plan. Tess says that they’re on Plan D “for Danny” and holds his hand under the table (192). He lets her.

An hour before the meeting, Mr. Ross appears at Danny’s door. He asks to come in, and Danny lets him. When Ali’s mom comes downstairs, they sit down, and Mr. Ross starts by saying, “I don’t know what my evaluators were thinking, but you should have been on the Vikings this season” (194). He explains that he was trying to maintain the “integrity of the process” but admits that Danny’s size prevented him “for whatever reason” (194). Danny knows it’s because Ross wanted a bigger team. Ross also says that it was wrong. He then offers for Danny to join the Vikings. He doesn’t seem to care about the rest of the Warriors.

Ali says, “My husband always said that it’s not the team you start with that matters, it’s the one you end up with” (197). Danny notices that she referred to Richie as her “husband.” Ali then leaves Danny with Ross to give him his decision. Ross continues to schmooze Danny, but Danny turns him down.

Everyone arrives for the team meeting, and Ali explains Richie’s plans. The parents are initially split, and Will’s mom says that she called the league office that day and that there must be an adult on the bench. Ali quickly says that she’ll do it. Tess will also help with tracking time outs and fouls, and the prospects of more girls excites Colby. All the kids vote for Danny, and the adults join in. 

At his first practice as coach, Danny has a hard time getting everyone’s attention. Tess gives a loud whistle to get everyone’s attention. Danny explains their strategy for the next day’s game. They practice and quickly get the hang of the new defense.

When Will tries to show off because he has a crush on Colby, Danny yells at him, but he quickly realizes that he was acting like his dad the night he was hungover. He apologizes, and Will accepts.

The next morning, Ali and Danny stop at the hospital to see Richie. His mom explains that it’s important that Danny understand that it will take a long time for Richie to recover. When he walks in, Richie is excited to see him, asking him how he feels ahead of the game. Danny says that he’s worried he won’t be able to focus on coaching and playing effectively at the same time. Richie replies that he should act confident because no one is as brave as he for doing what he’s doing by coaching and playing. He also says that Danny should do it for himself. They each say that they love each other before Danny leaves. 

For the whole first quarter, the Warriors don’t score at all. Danny calls two time outs. One of their players keeps fouling, and he knows that they need to trade out. When he gathers everyone together for the second time, he doesn’t know what to say. Ty explains that he played with Bud Sheedy—the only player on the other team scoring—over the summer. He suggests a strategy that he has seen work against Bud. Danny tells Ty to stay and help coach.

The strategy starts to work. By halftime, the Warriors are only behind by two points. In the third quarter, they tie up the game at 24 points.

With 25 seconds left, the Warriors are down by two points, and Danny decides to try the play he’d attempted when he’d missed the game-winning basket weeks earlier. He succeeds and ties it up with the fifteen seconds left. He calls his last time out.

Danny outlines his strategy, trying to anticipate what the other team will do. He suggests that Will, who had been effectively guarding Bud, leave him to guard the point guard. When he sees Will coming at him, the point guard sends it to Bud to score, but Danny intercepts it and scores to win the game. 

When they shake hands, Bud tells Danny that he’d heard a rumor about him coaching and compliments him. Danny asks him if he saw where Ty went, and Bud says that Mr. Ross showed up and drag Ty out by his arm. He finds them but hides out of sight. For the first time, he notices that Ty’s cast is gone, and his hand is wrapped in an Ace bandage.

Ty starts to cry, and Mr. Ross stops talking. Ty heads toward Mrs. Ross, who is standing nearby. His dad tries to turn him back around, but Ty shrugs him off.