“Well, kid, thanks for being up front about it. I like that in my players. You’re a real stand-up guy. You could have just called, but you came all the way down here to tell me in person. Too bad you’re not able to play today—you looked good in that first round. I guess I’ll see you next season.” He offered his hand.

“Thanks,” said Derek, shaking it as he looked down at his shoes.

So it was over, then. “See you next season,” the coach had said. That meant Derek was out for this season.

He sat back down next to his mother. She threw an arm around him and let him lean his head on her shoulder. “Keep your chin up, old man,” she whispered. “You did the right thing. You’re doing the right thing.”

The other players began to file in. Dave waved to Derek and smiled, then saw the look on his face and came over. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“I can’t do it,” Derek said. “My neck’s messed up.”

“Wow. Seriously? That really stinks! Man, I can’t believe this.”

“Believe it,” Derek said.

The coach blew his whistle. Dave said, “I’d better get over there. Sorry, Derek. Maybe it’ll work out somehow.” He shrugged, then turned to go.

“It won’t,” Derek said, mostly to himself.

But his mom heard him. “You don’t know that, Derek,” she said. “One thing you do know—you handled it as well as possible.”

Derek and his mom watched as the kids went through their drills, then faced off in a full-court scrimmage. Dave and Sam both stood out at their positions—but all the kids were really good. Sitting there watching, Derek wasn’t sure he’d have made the team anyway, even if he had been down there playing.

At the end of practice Coach Nelson and the assistant coaches gathered the boys together on the bleachers, across the gym from where Derek and his mom were sitting. He told them they’d done well and that the results would be posted the following Friday. He told the kids if they didn’t make the team, it didn’t mean they weren’t good players. He encouraged them all to try again next season—the same thing he’d told Derek before tryouts began.

Then he dismissed the kids, and they began scattering, talking in groups as they looked for their rides home.

Derek watched them all go. Some were excited, feeling they’d played well enough to make the team. Others seemed less sure or even somewhat downcast.

At least those kids had been given a chance to prove themselves. He hadn’t even had that!

Just as he was really feeling sorry for himself, he looked up and saw Coach Nelson staring at him from clear across the gym.