Neriah

29

Neriah

"You guys aren't listening." I put the ball on the ground and sat on it to get a chance to catch my breath. "We're gonna do something you guys aren't gonna like but you need to do it."

I got up and jogged to my office and took a bucket of rope I use for dragging weights out the storage closet.

I grabbed it and came back into the gym.

"Grab a partner." They looked at each other. "C'mon, act like you got some sense and move." They all got in pairs quickly.

Except Jacq.

They're still mad at him for the lose yesterday. He tried to apologize but they weren't having it. 

I put the bucket on the ground and took a rope and tied it around Tristan and Kyrie's waists. 

I went down the line to everybody was tied to their partner. Jacq raised his arms so I could loop the rope around him.

"I kinda like you tying me up." I pursed my lips trying not to laugh.

"Shut up." I tied the other end around myself.

"I'm going to give each of you a ball and I want you and your partner to run up and down the court doing chest passes." I went to the rack and grabbed a ball. "Let me show you an example."

Jacq passed the ball to me and I passed it back we ran down the court doing that once.

"Got it?" They nodded. "Now it's you're turn. This will give you a chance to work with short passes, since most of you, I'm not gone say no names." I fake coughed in my first. "LeBron." He flicked me off. "The rope will keep you from venturing out from each other. You guys struggle to realize you have to work as a unit in order to score more points. Get started." They stood at the end of the court and started running.

I'm seeing mistakes so far.

"Un un. Start over." They smacked their lips. "You guys have to start at a steady jog. You must stay at the same speed to get a good pass. If not, the one running the fastest will drag the slower one behind. Now try it again." They started running and I watched for any one who was still running to fast but I saw no one so far. 

"Good now we're doing this twenty times. Or until your arms feel like they're gonna fall off." I waved Jacques on so we could join them.

Iman and Anderson fell to the ground. "Get up. Start over from one." This was going good. I've worked everybody extra hard since they wanna make fun of my baby. When they did weight training when practice first started I gave everyone 150 pound weights and only gave Jacq 100. Call it what you want they were talking to much on twitter about him. So instead of saying something I took the petty route.

After everyone did the twenty laps. I told them to unty the ropes so they were all connected. 

They stood there out of breath and sweaty.

"Can we get a break." Kevin asked. I dribbled the ball and thought for a second.

"Nah you guys are fine. Next. You're gonna do the same thing but as a whole." Coach came from his office with his clipboard.

He stood next to me with his arms crossed. He been looking pissed since yesterday.  

Be blew his whistle. "Quit complaining and listen up.  You sons of bitches have some nerves to be blaming rookie for the lose yesterday.  Zion come sit this one out. Matter of fact you can sit out for the rest of practice. The rest of you will stay till I say you can leave." Jacques untied himself quickly and sat next to me on the bleacher. "You all are walking around like sour pusses because of a lose like you've never had one before. Did you all forget you lost mine games last season and the one before that you lost ten. The Cav's are known for winning streaks and you all haven't lived up to that for the past two years. Rookie been on the team for two months and he's scoring more points than you LeBron. My stats here on this clip board says he's scored over 200 points this season single handedly. He missed that last shot yesterday because his teammates weren't open. So what did he do? He tried to score points from three point line since it was the only thing he could do. He's not a three point shooter but he tried. Anderson, Kevin, Iman, and Kyrie you all shoot three pointers you could've helped him but instead you all let dumb ass Kyle Brooks block your every shot. You guys are gonna learn how to pass the ball and be better teammates. You will remain tired up till I say otherwise." He took a ball from the rack and handed it to Iman. "You all are gonna pass this ball down to one another like you just did. Don't run to fast or run to slow or you'll fall since your all connected at the hip. You fall, you stay down and let the rest of the team drag your dead weight." Coach turned to me.