Team USA *Adam Banks*

Move As One

    As soon as we got to practice and got our gear on, Coach tied all of us together when a bad smell came out of nowhere.

    "Awe, I smell something," Guy said with a sour look on his face.

    "Goldberg!" we all yelled simultaneously.

    "It wasn't me!" Goldberg insisted.

    "No, it was me!" Portman raised his arms into the air then put them back down soon after.

    Coach whistled and said, "I don't know how to make this any clearer, you are a team and to win this thing, you have to work as one. Now as one, skate," he instructed and the whole group fell when we did what he said, "Everyone goes their own way, everyone falls down. Now get up and try it again."

    "All right, all of you move to your right. Now," Portman demanded.

    "Who made you boss? Everyone to the left,"  Fulton yelled and again we all fell.

    "You guys can argue all you want...but I am not untying you until you move as one," Coach said, then we all started to get the hang of it, "Now you're learning! Communication!"

    "You guys are starting to look like hockey players, I'm proud of you, team, you worked hard today. But hockey should also be fun," Coach said after untying us, "Rancher Dwayne."

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Round me up some stray cattle there," Bombay handed Dwayne a rope.

    "My pleasure!" Dwayne exclaimed making us all skate away.

    The game was that if Dwayne could catch you with the rope, you had to sit on the bench and the last one to get roped would win. Dwayne got Averman, Charlie, Gaffney and so on, I do agree that it was really fun.

    The rest of practice we just had fun and after we changed out of our gear and into out clothes we were called into the cafeteria, Tibbles had something to show us.

    On our way out of the locker room Connie kept asking Gaffney all these questions and apparently she was a straight A student and she was actually really nice.

    When we got to the cafeteria I took my seat with Charlie who sat next to Coach, I looked over to see Adam walk in and take the seat on the other side of me, Tibbles was standing in front of a box.

    "Now, just to make sure that everybody knows who you are...try on one of these," Tibbles pulled out a red, white, and blue long sleeve hockey jersey that read 'Fulton' on the back, "Brought to you by those wonderful people at Hendrix...for all your hockey needs, here you go Fulton."

    "That's nice, Coach, but we're Ducks, this stuff says 'Hendrix' all over it," Charlie noted to Coach.

    "Well, yeah, they're our sponsors, Charlie."

    "So what? Can't we be U.S.A. Ducks? Or at least keep our own colors?" Charlie was trying pretty hard, I could tell he missed being a duck.

    "It's business stuff, Charlie, don't worry about it."

 

    "Ancient Greece was the beginning of Western Civilization, see, in Greece, they didn't have professional sports...or trophies, so the athletes competed for another reason," We were outside beside the lake in the park being taught by Ms. MacKay.

    "Falafels?" Goldberg asked, making everyone chuckle.

    "Adam?" Ms. MacKay called on Adam who was raising his hand next to me with his other hand on top of mine.         

    "Pride," he answered and looked over at me.

    "That's right, the various city-states waved their flags and wore their home colors proudly."

    "Did America always dominate?" Fulton asked making everyone shake they're head and chuckle.

    "Hey, that's a good question," Dean defended Fulton, they've become pretty good friends, they were a lot alike so it made a lot of sense.

    "Don't forget that compared to other countries...America is still young, still forming its own identity," Ms. MacKay replied, "But always right there on the verge of greatness."

    After we were done, we got our skated on and skated around with Coach driving a golf cart guiding us down the roads.

    Tomorrow is the day we leave for LA.