There were fifteen spots on the team—three players at each position—and Derek could see that there were easily fifty kids there in the gym—probably even sixty.

Derek’s energy kept threatening to overflow as he paced back and forth and hopped up and down, waiting for his turn to get on the court.

The coaches began by dividing the boys into groups of ten. Derek and Sam were put into the same group, and Dave in another. Derek wished it were the other way around. He did not relish the thought of having to go directly up against Sam. He wished Sam the best, but if only one of them was going to make the team at point guard, Derek didn’t want to be the odd man out.

“Okay, kids,” said Coach Nelson as everyone came to attention and stopped chattering. “We, um, well, I have to admit, more of you showed up than we expected. So my apologies to those of you who are going to have to wait a little while, but we can only handle three groups at a time. All right? Let’s go!”

There were murmurs from the kids and concerned looks from their parents, who began checking their watches. But really, what could anyone do? There were only three coaches, and the gym was packed with kids wanting to try out.

“First group, go with Coach O’Neill. Second group”—this was Dave’s group—“you’re with Coach Bernstein. Group three, you’re with me. Groups four through six, hang out here awhile. We’ll get to you in a few minutes.”

So Derek, who was in group four, had to sit there, along with Sam and about thirty others, watching the first groups do drills.

It was pure torture. Derek was so full of nervous energy that he felt like it was going to overwhelm him, like a giant wave. Pretty soon he found himself unable to sit at all. He popped up like a piece of toast and began pacing around in front of the bleachers.

He wasn’t the only one, either. It’s hard to wait when you’re primed for action—especially when people are going to be judging you on your performance!

Derek watched impatiently as Dave, Sam, and the others were put through a series of drills by the coaches. Dave and Sam’s group started with layups, taking their turn in line before running toward the hoop and taking the bounce pass from the coach.

When they were done with layups—after tossing up five or six shots each—they switched over to Coach Nelson, who had them running up and down the court doing suicide sprints till they were ready to drop. Then they were sent to the other end of the gym, where they had to take shots from various points on the court, including free throws from the line.