Ambushed

by Jill Williamson

  “Is that your interest, the way you listed those teams?”

  I thought it over. “For the most part, yeah.”

  “And where do we fit in?”

  Everyone said to be honest. “Second, I guess? I’m a big fan of UCLA, so I’d like to go there, but I also really like Arizona. You and UCLA are my top two. I’m, uh, curious about Gonzaga, but it’s a long way from home. If they don’t bring me up there, I’ll probably take them off my list. I’d really like to play for the Pac 12.” I said all that way too fast.

  “You visit UCLA?”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “But no offers?”

  “No, sir.” Not yet.

  He smiled. “You got any questions for me?”

  “Some, yeah.” I opened my notebook where I’d scribbled down my questions for Arizona. Coach had taught me all the things I should ask, but I’d added a few questions of my own. The first one seemed gutsy, but what did I have to lose? “How come you don’t play Gabe York more? He was in the top twenty recruits in the country last year.”

  “It’s nothing on Gabe; he’s a great player. We just had a stock of veteran guards. Now is too early to talk starters for next season, but I’m sure things will change some.”

  I didn’t know what to think about that. It was something that had nagged in the back of my mind. I didn’t want to come to a school and sit on the bench. It wasn’t realistic that I’d start as a freshman, but I’d like to at least make second string.

  “We recruit experienced players at U of A,” Coach Miller said. “Everyone can score, our bench is deep, we dominate on defense, we have stars in every position. We’re looking to win a championship here, and we recruit champions.”

  Nice speech. “Okay. So, where do I stand in the recruiting class?”

  “I won’t lie to you. We’re looking at a lot of guys, but we’ve liked what we’ve seen from you so far. We’re not ready to offer you, but I’d sign you right now as a walk on. Maybe that will change as I see you play your senior year, though.”

  Walk on? That was no good. Focus, Spencer. “Uh, okay, so what do you think I should work on to improve?”

  “From what I’ve seen of you, I’d like to see you consistently perform on the defensive end and in rebounding.”

  “Okay.” But really? That seemed like a generic answer. Had Coach Miller even watched my highlight video? I knew there was rebounding footage on there. I was one of the best rebounders on my team.

  “How come you don’t play AAU?” Coach Miller asked.

  I shrugged. “Never knew much about it. I grew up playing street ball. Then my grandma put me in Pilot Point Christian, and I’ve been tight with my coach. He has his summer program. But I’m thinking about getting on a team this season.”

  “I’d really like to see that. I’ve only got another minute or so. Any other questions?”

  Man, that went fast. I looked at my list. There were other questions, sure, but none of them seemed to matter much, knowing he was only offering me a walk-on spot.

  “What about a scholarship?” Grandma Alice said.

  Ug. I needed to teach her a little more about all this. “Walk-on means no scholarship, Grandma.”

  “No scholarship at first,” Coach Miller said. “But if you come play for us, we’ll do what we can to change that.”

  “Why can’t you give him one now?” Grandma asked. “He’s a very good player.”

  My face filled with heat. “Grandma . . .”

  “It’s a good question,” Coach Miller said. “We only have so many scholarships for the team, Mrs. Garmond. And right now we’ve either passed those out to other players or offered them to prospects.” He stood and walked around his desk.

  I stood too, guessing we were done. “Thanks for your time,” I said, feeling like an idiot and not too sure why.

  Coach Miller shook my hand. “My pleasure, Spencer. I hope we get to talk more this summer and fall. Game days are not the best for visits, but I understand you’ve got to come when you can. And I do appreciate your making the drive.”

  And that was that. Coach P and Jordin gave us a tour of the locker rooms, which were amazing, and showed us the court, which was beautiful. I also got to see the room filled with Nike shoes. Each player got three pairs of shoes at the start of the season. I also saw the weight room, the second gym, the conditioning facility, and the trophy case.

  It was all psychotically sweet.

  Coach P and Jordin passed us off to a guy named Greg who gave us the rest of the campus tour since Coach P and Jordin had to get ready for the game.

  “If you were here on any other day, Jordin would have taken you everywhere,” Greg, who was a sports management major, said. “You could have even stayed the night in his dorm room.”

  “That would have been cool,” I said.

  The place was huge, and Grandma started slowing down. We left her at a coffee shop on campus while we went to look at the computer science building and the dorms. Greg told me which NBA players had come from U of A, including Luke Walton, Mike Bibby, and Jordan Hill. Then he went on for ten minutes about how Jerry Bruckheimer was also an alumni and what he thought of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

  “Athletes are treated really well here, especially basketball players since this is a basketball school,” Greg said. Then he went on to tell me about the parties and the girls and all the cool extracurricular stuff that went on at U of A. “Think your old lady would let you come out with me later? Not much going on around here on a Monday night, but I could probably get something started.”

  I laughed at the very idea. “Nah, my grandma won’t go for that.”

  When we got back to Grandma, Greg still asked if he could take me out.

  “Young man, this is a sixteen-year-old boy you are talking about here. I am not letting him out of my sight!”

  “Told you,” I said.

  I loved what I saw of the place, though. And when Greg took us to the game, I was floored by the full arena, all dressed in white, screaming for their team. I wanted to play for a crowd like that. We had really good seats, and I could see Gabe York sitting on the bench. I wished I could ask him what he thought of the place. He had a Facebook page, so maybe I could connect there.

  And then it was Tuesday morning, and we were driving back to Phoenix. It took us about an hour and forty minutes to get to the ASU college campus.

  The recruiting coach from Arizona State was named Larry Greer. I texted him when we got close, and he sent a few students to meet us in front of the Wells Fargo Arena: freshman forward Eric Jacobsen, a pretty brown-haired girl named Lisa, and a transfer student named Max.

  “This was a good day to come,” Eric said. “There’s not much going on, so we can spend all day with you.”

  Eric talked up the team as he led us to the locker rooms, then onto the court of the Arizona State University Sun Devils, where a bunch of players and the coaching staff were waiting. I instantly spotted point guard Jahii Carson and senior Carrick Felix, who was probably going to enter the draft this year.

  Wow. No other school had taken this much effort.

  “It’s really great to meet you, Spencer,” head coach Herb Sendek said. “We’ve been keeping track of you.”

  “Thanks,” I said, feeling a little overwhelmed with everyone looking at me. “Nice to meet you too.”

  “You were at Arizona yesterday, that right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “How did that go?”

  “Uh, good. It was a game day, so they were busy.”

  “They offer you?”

  I tried to look proud. “As a walk-on.”

  “Walk-on?” Eric said, as if the idea were ludicrous.

  “It’s still early,” Coach Sendek said, “and you’re not on the AAU circuit. Those AAU players are in coaches’ heads more since we see them play in tournaments.”

  “I was thinking of joining an AAU team,” I said. “Might be too late, though.”

&n
bsp; “Not if you got on a good team. And it would help you get seen by more coaches. But let me ask you, what’s your goal?”

  I loved no-brainer questions. “To play college ball where I’m a good fit for the team. I’d like to play point. I like orchestrating and feeding people the ball. I think that’s my biggest strength.”

  “And what would you say is your biggest weakness?”

  “Driving through the defense. I need to get a lot stronger if I’m going to go to the basket against some of these bigger guys.” I gestured to Jordan Bachynski, who was seven foot two. “And I could be faster on my feet.”

  “What about turnovers?” one of the assistant coaches asked.

  “I can steal the ball from anyone.” I grinned, and some of the guys laughed.

  “We can get you strong,” Coach Sendek said. “We work hard to develop our players. Look at the success of some of our guys. James Harden, Jeff Pendergraph, Julius Hodge, Cedric Simmons, Wally Szczerbiak, Eric Murdock, Eric Boateng. All of these guys have had longtime NBA careers, and we helped them develop as players. ASU is where they got their start.

  “We’re also looking for guys with great character. Your coach told me a lot about you and how you’ve worked hard to stay out of trouble. I like that. And I like players who have your kind of passion for the game. But we ultimately want players who want to be here. That's important to us. We don’t want to be anyone’s last resort. The guys who want to be at Arizona State ultimately are going to be very successful.”

  And I had never wanted to come here. So maybe I should just say that. Instead I asked, “Why do you want me?”

  “One of our responsibilities as coaches is to put our players in the best position to be successful,” Coach Sendek said. “Talented and coach-able don’t come along very often, but when they’re paired, great things can happen. I’ve seen your game tapes. I’ve talked to your coach. You’re a special kind of player, Spencer. With your competitive toughness and high basketball IQ, I see you have two options. You could go mid-major and they’ll want you to score. Or you could play for the Pac 12 and orchestrate and be a floor general. Your primary goal would be to get the athletes the ball. That’s what we’d like to see from you at ASU. And we’re extending you an offer to come play for us that includes a full scholarship.”

  Really? “Wow. Thanks.” It sounded exactly like what I wanted in a team, but I’d never wanted ASU, so I didn’t know what to say. I remembered what the NCSA resource guide said to say when you get an offer and parroted it back. “It’s still early for me. I’d like to talk about it with my grandma and my coach. Plus I’d kind of like to see if I’ll go on any official visits. How long does your offer stand?”

  “We’re looking at some other guys too, but I think it’s safe to say you have until the end of September before a lot of decisions start being made. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call.”

  We talked a while longer, but it started to seem like Coach Sendek was repeating himself, so I complimented their facilities, which got some of the guys to give me another tour of the locker rooms and weight rooms and stuff.

  Jahii came with me this time, so I asked him what he liked about playing for ASU.

  “Our guys are tough,” Jahii said. “They can run up and down the court with me, and it’s great feeding them the basketball, knowing they’re going to be able to finish. It’s a point guard’s dream, man. And these guys are fun to be around too. I love playing with them.”

  “I wish I could play with you guys, but that’s against the rules,” I said.

  “It’s against the rules to play here, but we can go over to the rec center and shoot around.”

  I didn’t know if that was true or not, but I figured, who would know?

  So after our tour and after we said goodbye to the coaches, Jahii, Eric, Lisa, Max, and Jordan Bachynski headed over the rec center to shoot around. Grandma sat on the bleachers and watched as Eric, Jordan, and I played three on three against Jahii, Lisa, and Max. Lisa turned out to be on the women’s college team and was a good shot. Max sucked, so Jahii and Lisa did all the work. And I had fun playing with a guy almost a full foot taller than me.

  ● ● ●

  I went home a lot confused. I’d been so certain that, out of my choices, I wanted to play for Arizona. But I wasn’t sure I wanted to walk on, not that I could even afford to. Grandma didn’t have the money to pay my way through college, so the scholarship offer was a big deal. And I certainly didn’t want to play where I wasn’t needed. Arizona could get anyone, but ASU wanted me and that felt good.

  I went to Kip’s house on Friday before our game and filled him in on the trip. He logged onto his computer, told me there was something I had to see.

  “ASU sucked up because they need you more,” Kip said.

  “They don’t need me. They’ve got Jahii.” And Jahii was an incredible point guard.

  “Yeah, but he’ll go to the NBA before he graduates. They’ll want to make sure they have another floor general.”

  “Maybe.” And if so, that would be a great opportunity to get lots of playing time.

  “Okay, dude, check it. It’s a frat party at University of Arizona.”

  “That one that was all over the news for the fight?”

  “That was ASU. Just watch.”

  So I did. It was a bunch of guys going to buy two cartloads of alcohol at some store, then they were sitting around tables outside at night, talking. Then the party started. Dancing girls. Guys smashing full beer cans open on their foreheads. Two girls making out. Some guy drinking a beer underwater in the pool. Lots of grinding on the dance floor. Lots of kissing. Then a siren. Bottles and trash floating in the pool the next morning.

  “You could go here.” Kip dragged the slider back. The video started again, and Kip paused it on a girl who was dancing in her underwear. “You could dance with that girl.”

  “I’m not joining a fraternity,” I said. “Besides, I really liked what Coach Sendek had to say.”

  “Coaches say that stuff on purpose, man. They’re trying to sign you.”

  “Well, Coach Miller didn’t say anything like that. I’m not sure he’d even watched my game tapes.”

  “Arizona is in the running, though. ASU, not so much.”

  “I know. But ASU is offering me the better deal.”

  “But not better parties,” Kip sang. “At least not on YouTube.”

  “I’m not picking a school based on their YouTube parties. There are parties everywhere.”

  “Including my Jolt Revolt on March 3.”

  This ticked me off. “Why couldn’t you have waited until after state?”

  “Because it had to be in before March 15 to count for the freebies. Calm yourself, you prude. We’re not going to get in trouble.”

  We’d better not. I had way too much on the line.

  REPORT NUMBER: 5

  REPORT TITLE: I Fall Off a Mountain and Almost Die

  SUBMITTED BY: Agent-in-Training Spencer Garmond

  LOCATION: Pilot Point Mountain, Pilot Point, California

  DATE AND TIME: Saturday, January 7, 9:06 a.m.

  THE FIRST SATURDAY IN JANUARY, the Mission League met in the Verdugo Mountains for our first OST hike. The land around us was covered in sagebrush, dirt, and rocks since it never snowed and rarely rained.

  The first thing I noticed? Grace wasn’t there. But school didn’t start back up until next Wednesday, so maybe she and her family were still in Miami.

  “Today we’re doing a casualty evacuation,” Mr. S said. “One of your team was hurt in a fall. He’s drifting in and out of consciousness. You use your cell phone to call for help, but the terrain is too difficult for a rescue helicopter to land, and it can’t get close enough to send down a winch because of strong wind gusts.”

  “I don’t feel any wind,” I murmured to Gabe.

  “Your team must move your injured man down the mountain to the evacuation spot, which I’ve marked with an orange flag. You
have no stretcher, but you do have some walking sticks, a climbing rope, a tent, and the gear in your packs. It’s a race, but you need to be careful. I’ll be watching to see how you treat your injured man. Extra points for correct first aid.”

  “Who’s the injured person?” Arianna asked.

  “Your biggest teammate is injured,” Mr. S said.

  Great. I was the biggest person in our whole school, height wise. Wally was pudgy, but not pudgy enough to outweigh me.

  “I weight 152,” Wally said, as if it weren’t completely obvious which one of us was the biggest.

  “155,” Gabe said, though he had three inches on Wally. “How about you, Spencer?”

  I’d put on twenty pounds of muscle since last summer with all my workouts and a high protein diet. Plus I’d gained an inch and a half in height. “182.”

  “Man!” Gabe said.

  “I can’t help being awesome,” I said.

  Nick was the biggest on Diakonos team. He was about Gabe’s size. Diakonos had their whole team while we were missing Grace. But I guess she wouldn’t have been much help carrying me, anyway.

  Mr. S took the Diakonos team to another spot where he could time them, and we couldn’t see what each other was doing. Kerri stayed to time us. She made me lay down in the dirt.

  “Okay,” she said after getting a text. “You can start now.”

  “Give me the tent,” Gabe said.

  “We’re supposed to do first aid,” Wally said.

  “Right.” Gabe crouched down at my side.

  I made a gagging noise. “Can’t . . . breathe . . .”

  “Where does it hurt?” Gabe asked me.

  “Actually, I think I can get up and walk,” I said. “That will get us there first for sure.”

  “Spencer,” Kerri warned.

  “Okay, fine. My neck hurts, and I think I broke my ankle.”

  “What will the recruiting coaches say?” Gabe asked.