Courtside

Chapter 1

We made it! We finally made it! The Olympics. I never thought I would be standing here with a team I see as family. I left most of my family behind as I left to go to university overseas and never looked back. Well, now Im back in my native country, this time as a guest.

Come on, lads, lets find our room assignments, our head coach, Hanna Jennie Krumins, said as she passed out our key cards. Everyone will have a flatmate and each team will also be floormates with another countrys female basketball team. Our floormates just so happen to be the hosting team.

You mean the United States? Penelope, one of our starting forwards, cried out.

Yes, the United States. Now, go away! I will see enough of you in an hour at our practice arena.

Go! Shoo! she said as we all entered the lodging facilities.

We made our way up to the fifth floor, and Charlene, one of our other starting forwards, found ourselves in room 509. It was a much bigger room than my flat back in London with two king-size beds, a closet and dresser for each of us, an ensuite bathroom with two vanities, a jet bath, and a rain shower, and a station for a coffee maker, tea kettle, full-size fridge, a toaster, and a microwave.

Bloody hell, this is sweet! Lee said. Mate, if I could, I would live here indefinitely. My flat isnt even equipped with all this.

There was not much time from now until we had to be at the practice arena, so Lee and I quickly unpacked, showered to get the airport and airplane smell off, put on some seats, gathered our equipment, and headed to our practice gym. There were practice centers, one for each sport here, and, within each, there was a separate gym and locker room for each team. This years Olympics was much grander than the 2024 Olympics in France. The Americans always had to do it bigger, always bigger. Our lockers were all decked out with our names and numbers on a plaque, the rest of it being painted to resemble the British flag. There was an entrance to our toilet and shower stalls along the west wall next to the entrance to the gym and a large whiteboard with a court map-out on it hung along the east wall. The walls themselves were painted in various tones of rainbow, which I found fitting since most of our team identifies as a different sexuality than heterosexual. I, a guard, am pansexual; Lee is demisexual; Shila, a guard, is lesbian; Danica, a guard, is asexual and aromantic; Branimira, a shooting guard, is asexual and biromantic; Isabel, a guard, is omnisexual; Helka is bisexual; Penn is ceterosexual; Carita, a guard, is polysexual; and Izabella, a shooting guard, is greysexual. Iliana, a shooting guard, and Alazne, also a shooting guard, are our heterosexual teammates. Not only do we have an ethically diverse team, but we also have a sexually diverse team.

Slowly we all got ready and made our way out to the court for practice. It was not a hard practice, not that we were mad about it. We had just gotten off the plane and looked like zombies who were high. Needless to say, we were cranky. We pushed through it though, and, finally, we found ourselves sitting in the cafeteria eating a very greasy and fatty supper. In high school, I was always warned about the Freshman 15, but I didnt really believe it. I believe it now. No wonder Americans are overweight. If I ate food like this every day of uni for all three meals, I would be too!

The cafeteria slowly started to fill with other teams from all sports and countries when I saw them walk in. a bunch of my old teammates from junior high and high school. Theyre part of the reason I wasnt sure if I would be able to pursue my dreams. Out of all of us at my high school, I was definitely going to be a last-round pick, so I decided to go a different path. Luckily, it led me here today, so I will forever thank the Fates. There were so many familiar faces on that one team alone. Brynn, Clare, El, Char, Nat, Mar, Len, Clo, Stel, and Ly all looked as if they just walked through a beauty salon but still held a familial resemblance to the people with whom I was once inseparable.

Belle must have noticed my staring because she said, Ugh! Americans! I just had to laugh because she wasnt entirely wrong.

Hell, on the other hand, asked, Asena, you used to live in America, do you know any of them?

As a matter of fact, I do, I replied. I used to go to school with a lot of them.

Wow! Really? Ana piped up. What are they like?

From what I remember, I started. Theyre all nice. Some more so than others. Take Clarice Tracy, for example, shes nice, but I would consider her less so than Elva Neville because while she hogged the ball and ran to the basket, Elva passed until the defense splintered. Also, Clarice is homophobic.

Ooh, sorry, love, but I guess thats a valid reason for thinking of her as not-so-nice, Al said. Is there anything in particular you think we should know about their playing style?

Well, I said. They have a short team, much shorter than our team even, with their tallest player being 177.8 centimeters. They accommodate for this by playing with their bodies, if that makes any sense. They will body you out of the way and push on you, grab you, purposefully place their bodies in a place where it looks as if you fouled them, that sort of thing.

Huh, Mir said. So we need to look out for rough play?

Exactly! I exclaimed. They love to draw that foul, and, because were so much bigger than them, they can get away with playing dirty.

Interesting, Dan stated. Well have to discuss a course of action with Coach Krumins, then, about how to handle this sort of playing style.

We all nodded, opting to return to our meals instead of dwelling on the unique American team.

I couldnt get my old teammates out of my head, though, so I decided to take a walk down to the docks. I would say its just coincidental, but I dont know how much I believe in coincidences when the Olympic facilities were built just east of my hometown. I thought about what it meant being here and seeing them. They all knew I was some sort of gay. I never tried to hide it; its not my fault they didnt talk to me about it. I hoped at least one of them would be glad to see me. I never really got over her. I just learned to live with my unrequited love. Once I got to uni, I dated around and had my fair share of partners, but they just didnt feel like the one. I knew I was holding onto something that wasnt there, but I can always hope. As I looked out on the smooth, glassy water, I found myself wishing that my inner turmoil were as calm as the lakes surface.

Eventually, I made my way back, deciding to sleep on my thoughts instead of stewing them over and over in my mind. We had a big day tomorrow, anyway.